Brave (15 page)

“Well,
that’s not news to me,” I said resigned to the fact that
my parents would never change and be what I wanted in a family. I
knew now after experiencing the love I had for Dakota their version
of love just wasn’t enough anymore. “I’ll explain
why I did what I did. Hopefully you can all understand how much I
loved Charlie and his dying wish was something I couldn’t
refuse.”

“We
have generously kept a roof over your head and provided everything
you need for your whole life. But after what you’ve done, we
don’t know you anymore. Your mother and I agree that you should
finish your education, and we will continue to support that. But once
you graduate, it all ends.”

“That
suits me fine. I’ll go back home with you, but I won’t be
staying. I’m moving into the dorms.”

“That’s
your decision, Alissa. But it’s going to be difficult to
overlook this transgression.”

After
that he said nothing else to me, and it was a relief.

It
was an ugly scene between me and Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins. They were
horrified at what I had done. They told me I had no right, but I
yelled back at them that I had every right. That they hadn’t
cared about him, making him feel he was nothing but a burden to them.
That I’d loved Charlie and he loved me. That was more than I
could say for them. It was Charlie’s last wish, his Christmas
wish. I told them I had made the right decision. Now he was soaring
free just as he’d wanted. They decided not to cause any
embarrassment to my parents and didn’t press charges. They let
Charlie go as easily as they had ignored him.

I
kept to my promise and I moved to the dorms. With Charlie’s
money, I was free of them financially, and after the soul-searching I
did in that cabin with Dakota, I was also free of them emotionally.

I’d
left my heart at that cabin on the cliff, though. With Dakota and
Charlie.

#

Thankfully,
Dakota and I have been in constant contact, speaking on the phone
almost every day, sharing our progress and our dreams. His therapy
was doing him a lot of good, and he was having fewer and fewer
flashbacks.

During
spring break, I was one of a few people in the dorms who hadn’t
left. There was a knock on my door and when I opened it, I let out a
joyous sound. “Dakota!” I threw my arms around his neck
and just held on to him breathing in his scent. Our lips met and I
kissed him with all the longing I had been feeling. “What are
you doing here?”

“I’m
heading down to Coronado. I made an appointment with Sergeant
Daniels, one of the SEALs who rescued me. I wanted to ask you to come
with me. I need your support and I needed to see you, Alissa. Will
you come?”

“Yes!
Of course I’ll go.”

“I
thought we could fly down to San Diego and spend some time there
relaxing. I’ve never been to the city, and then we can drive
back up the coast?”

“A
week with you? That sounds like pure heaven.”

And
it had been. Meeting with that Navy SEAL had been the best medicine
for Dakota. He told Dakota that what he did was self-defense, and he
had been trying to protect the doctor and Elsa. That any sane man
would have done the same thing. That there was no shame in it, and he
hadn’t lost anything by doing it. He told Dakota more about the
scarred man, and I know now absolutely that he was a terrible human
being and the world was better off without him.

And
then the SEAL told him that killing that maniac didn’t make him
less of a healer, it just made him more human.
That
helped him so much, that SEAL making him understand that he didn’t
have to feel that terrible guilt and the fear that by taking a life
he had become a destroyer instead of a healer. He hadn’t. He’d
gained something, something important. The knowledge that he’d
acted bravely on behalf of two other human beings. He couldn’t
save them all, but Elsa’s death and all those other people
who’d died in the camp had meaning and were remembered, because
Dr. Sanchez and Dakota survived.

What
the SEAL said made so much sense to me. It was Dakota’s healing
instinct, his need to save people that motivated him to protect Elsa,
even by killing that terrible man. I’d told Dakota that we
wouldn’t rejoice in that, but we’d understand it.

#

Now
four months have passed since Christmas and I was getting ready for
graduation, musing over what might be next as I applied my make-up.

As
I slipped into my graduation robe, I heard a knock on the door. When
I got there, a delivery man handed me a box, and I signed for it.

I
closed the door and, with trembling hands, opened the box. My breath
caught at the exquisite carving of two wolves, their lupine bodies
intertwined.

Through
my tears, I read the card.
Wolves
mate for life.

My
heart leapt, and I closed my eyes with joy. Without hesitation, I
grabbed my hat, my bag, and my keys, clutching the carving close to
my chest as I rushed out of the dorm and headed for the stadium.

When
I got to my chair, my cell phone rang. I smiled at the number. “I
love it,” I said as I answered.

Dakota’s
voice was soft and warm. “I knew you would. I’m here with
you right now, sitting in the stands. I wanted to surprise you.”

I
looked for him and found him waving to me.

After
the ceremony ended, I met Dakota outside. We went to my dorm room and
made love. Afterwards we held each other. He looked amazing. And he
smiled at me with love, instead of ghosts, brimming in those
ever-changing gray eyes.
He
just stared at me, closed his eyes and pulled me roughly into his
arms.

He
drew a deep, uneven breath, his voice raw with emotion. “My
beautiful Alissa, it’s so good to see you, hold you. I intend
to never let you go again.”

Moved
by the depth of feeling in his hoarse declaration, I shifted my head,
my mouth connecting with his in a kiss that was filled with so much
emotion, with such open, unfettered, joyful love, that nothing else
existed. I molded myself tightly against him as he shifted his hold,
bringing me fully against him from shoulder to thigh. Nothing was
held back in that kiss, nothing. And I felt the fire in him—the
wonderful, hot, all-consuming fire that seemed to come from his very
soul. It was so magnificent…

He
dragged his mouth away, his breathing uneven, his hold almost savage.
I wasn’t sure whose heart was pounding harder. Dakota sucked in
a deep breath, then dragged his hand up my back, enfolding me in a
gentler, protective embrace.

When
I opened my eyes, he said “My therapy is ongoing, but I’ve
let go of the guilt completely, and it’s been so freeing. I
can’t tell you how much your support has meant to me. You were
right, the isolation, the silence hurt me more than letting it all
out. Letting myself heal has made me realize that I simply cannot
live without you, Alissa. Will you marry me?”

He
reached into his discarded jeans beside the bed and opened the box.
Inside was a precious, beautiful, perfect ring.

Resting
my forehead against the angle of his jaw, I weakly closed my eyes,
trying to catch both my breath and my balance. He was really here,
and he was mine. “Yes. There isn’t anything I want more
than to live and love with you for the rest of my life. I’m so
happy. I’ve missed you so much, and prayed every day that you
were healing and growing stronger.”

“You
were brave enough to wait for me, and I was brave enough to come back
to you. I love you, Alissa. It’s what has kept me going through
all the pain and hard work to get my head on straight.”

“I
love you, too, with all my heart.”

“Then
the next question is, where do you want to live? I have two job
offers. One here in L.A. and one in Portland.”

“There’s
nothing for me in California. Nothing at all.”

“You
won’t mind living in Portland? It’s not as sunny as
California.”

“No,
not at all. Wherever you are, Dakota, I’m home.”

Alissa

I
leaned my shoulder against the cabin’s back door, gazing out to
the cliff. Dakota’s mother and three sisters were putting the
finishing touches on the Christmas Eve dinner that we’d be
feasting on in just a few minutes.

Dakota
and I had found a nice little house overlooking the city of Portland,
and we’d settled in. We got married in September in a beautiful
ceremony. And I have the sisters I always wanted, and we’ve all
bonded and are completely in love with each other.

“Are
you ready, Alissa?”

Dakota
slipped his arm around me and I snuggled into his warmth.

“Get
a move on, you two. Pay your respects and let’s get to eatin’,”
his grandfather said. He was a gruff, craggy old man, but he was all
bark and no bite. I smiled at him and he winked at me. “Get on
with you, you beguiling little pixie.”

“Pixie
magic,” Dakota whispered into my ear.

I
giggled.

We
stepped into the frosty air, the heavy snowfall creating a beautiful
white Christmas, but I couldn’t wait to snuggle up into that
big warm bed with Dakota and give ourselves to each other…just
as we had been doing for the eight months we’d been blissfully
and awesomely happy.

I
was working for the city and he was loving his job at the hospital.

We
ambled toward the cliff, arms around each other’s waists. “How
are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m
doing great. I miss him so much, but I’m happy to know that
he’s free. We’re both free. I feel so strongly that
Charlie
brought me to this spot, so that I could pay it forward and help you,
just as Charlie helped me. I found, in you, the man I was destined to
be with. So Charlie hasn’t left me alone or abandoned me as I’d
been afraid had happened when he’d died. Instead, he has given
me his final gift. You.”

Dakota
stopped and pulled me against him, just holding me in a tight
embrace. When we finally got to the edge, I remembered falling,
falling, falling in love with Dakota. I turned to him, and as our
eyes met I heard laughter on the wind.
Thank
you, Charlie.
I
wrapped my arms around Dakota. I looked toward the cabin and saw six
faces peering through the windows. “Your family is so
wonderful.”

When
I inclined my head, he glanced at the cabin and laughed. “They
love you, too.”

“I
love you so much. You’ve not only given me yourself,” I
looked down and twisted the gold band butting up against my beautiful
engagement ring, “but you’ve given me a close and loving
family, too.”

As
Charlie’s faint laughter continued to dance on the breeze, and
Dakota covered my hand, his ring winking in the sunlight, my heart
was so damn full. For a moment I paused in my bliss and recalled
Charlie’s dark hair, his wonderful smile, his expressive and
beautiful eyes, the joy and love that he had always given me…and
my love for him mingled with my love for Dakota as I kissed my
husband until I was sure he, and his endearingly nosy family, knew
just how much I did love him.

#

Dakota

Christmas
Day dawned clear and bright, and I opened my eyes to gaze at Alissa
beside me. She was on her stomach, her arm thrown over her head, the
other one along the bed so that the underside of her forearm was
exposed. I saw the faint traces of her scars, and I remembered how
open and genuine she’d been with me when she’d told me
about her cutting. She was such a brave woman, whether or not she
acknowledged it.

The
sheet curled around her tiny waist, the edges of her breasts
flattened by her weight against the mattress. The strands of her pale
hair lay across that creamy, tantalizing back.

Tears
gathered in my eyes. I blinked against the strong emotion. Love. It
was the ultimate feeling.

I
didn’t think that I had ever felt such intense joy. The hard
work that I had to do to get to this moment was behind me. The
flashbacks were rare, and now they had diminished to remnants that
barely plagued me. Alissa surrounded me so completely with her love
that I never doubted myself anymore, never doubted that I deserved
her.

And
my family had embraced her like she was their own. My mother loved
the way she handled me, gave as good as she got, and loved me. My
mother especially loved that part the most. My grandfather was a
besotted fool for her, and my father wasn’t far behind. My
sisters thought she walked on water.

And
I? I just loved her. With everything in me.

She
stirred and opened those blue, blue eyes. When she saw me watching
her, she smiled. “Good Christmas morning,” she whispered
hoarsely.

I
moved my hand across her back and she shifted, slipping up against
me. I brushed back the tangled hair around her face.

“Merry
Christmas, babe.”

She
pressed her mouth to mine and sank against me with a sigh. I opened
my mouth over hers and caught her against me in a viselike hold,
unable to stifle a ragged groan as she took my mouth with a kiss that
shattered my senses. My hand supporting the back of her head, I
locked my other arm around her hips, hauling her beneath me. My mouth
opened hungrily against hers, feeding the need that raged in me, and
Alissa lifted her hips against mine, the frenzy in my chest making it
hard to breathe. Thank God we didn’t need any more condoms now
Alissa was on the pill. Just searing heat, and bare skin to bare
skin.

She
pressed her tongue into my mouth, drawing me in deeper and deeper as
she took me. I was completely hers. Another guttural sound was torn
from me when she moved against me, her hand reaching down and sliding
along my dick as I jerked in her hand with a thick, heavy need.
Alissa hummed her pleasure, and I absorbed the vibration, the feel of
her grip making me lose focus on her mouth. I threw my head back as
hot, pulsing desire slammed though me.