"You can't know that."
Troy cupped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her in for a searing kiss. When he finally pulled back, his blue eyes were dangerously bright.
"Sweetness, when it comes to you, I know everything."
* * *
Troy wasn't used to Faith being so quiet. Since the moment they'd met, she'd either been fighting him or writhing against him. There had been no in-between.
But now she was sitting at the table, picking at the last scraps of breakfast on her plate, totally silent.
Of course, silent didn't mean still. Troy had sensed the storm of conflicting emotions swirling inside her ever since their conversation in bed.
A part of him wanted to help Faith figure this out, but the smarter part knew that she had to do it herself. Troy knew his talents and his limitations. There were two things he could do better than anyone else—fuck and fix cars.
Honestly, those two things really weren't that different. You just had to know what parts needed attention, and the proper tool to use.
But a crisis of faith? Just like a decent game of pool, that shit was beyond him.
Troy could sense the subtle shifts in Faith's scent as she experienced fear, guilt, shame, and desire…and a hundred other emotions that all battled for supremacy inside her. But he had no idea how to break up the fight.
The world she'd grown up in was so different from his. She'd been fed lies and bullshit for so long that she couldn't tell the difference between right and wrong. Even worse, she couldn't tell the difference between what she wanted and what someone else had told her to want.
But he knew. There had been a moment last night when she had let go, when her walls had come tumbling down, and he'd felt the real Faith for the first time…and it had been better than anything he'd ever imagined.
That was why this morning was so different from all the other mornings with her. It was why he wasn't driving himself crazy with thoughts of claiming. Because he finally knew for certain that was what she wanted.
She wanted him.
She longed to be his mate. To be filled with his knot. To be the mother of his pups.
That longing came from the most elemental part of her. There would be no denying it, no matter how hard she tried.
It was only a matter of time before Faith overcome all the crap that had been forced on her over the years, and gave in to her fate. Until she shrugged off who she'd been told she was and became who she was meant to be—his omega.
It didn't matter to Troy if that happened today, tomorrow, next week—or months or even years from now. As long as he knew what was in Faith’s heart, he was secure enough to be patient.
He might not be able to erase all the trauma she'd endured in the past, but he could take care of her. He could fuck her until pleasure drove out the bad memories. He could hold through the night and keep her safe and warm.
She'd see that soon. He just had to give her time.
"I need to get some work done today," he told her. "Why don't you go for a walk? The sun will be out all day, and you can get to know my land. Our land."
Faith lifted her head. "You're not afraid that I'll try to escape?"
"This isn't like the house you grew up in," he told her. "It's not a prison."
"So, I can leave if I want to?"
Troy suppressed a smile. It was kind of adorable, the way she fought against her nature, even as she was changing before his eyes, becoming the gorgeous, strong omega she was always meant to be.
"How many times do I have to tell you? I know you don't want to.”
Chapter Twelve
The forest was oddly peaceful.
Faith didn't know what she had been expecting…but it wasn't this. She'd never traveled more than an hour outside the town in which she'd grown up, and the only images of the wilderness she'd seen were in the few textbooks that her church deemed suitable.
Those photos of forests may have featured trees and brush like the foliage on Troy's land, but they failed to capture the glint of the sun on the icicles hanging from boughs, the beauty of bright red berries on winter-bare branches.
In fact, those photos had made the forest seem ominous, as if sharp-clawed beasts were hiding behind every stone and bush. They showed a forbidding place of shadows and decay, a place no one would want to go.
But that's not how it felt now that Faith was in the middle of it.
There was no doubt that she was in the wild. Great redwoods towered above her, their needles dusted in glistening white snow. Under the cover of their canopy, the snow on the ground was patchy. Most of the undergrowth had gone into hibernation for the winter—losing their leaves, or curling in on themselves. The wind that gusted among the tree trunks felt like shards of ice against her cheeks.
But all she had to do was duck her chin, and Troy's soft woolen scarf warmed her face. His jacket kept the rest of her body nice and warm, reaching almost to the ground on her small frame.
Faith would never admit it, but she liked wearing Troy’s clothes. With every breath, his scent enveloped her, almost as if he was standing right beside her.
But why should that give her comfort? Nothing had changed between them—at least, nothing major.
It was true that Faith no longer thought Troy was the devil's spawn. A man who touched her the way he did, who sparked all those glorious sensations while making her feel safe and protected, could not be
