"Not just for my freedom," I said finally, the words coming out rougher than I'd intended. "For the pack's future. For the chance to be something more than a monster hiding in the mountains."
Lucas studied my face for a long moment, and I saw the exact instant when his resistance crumbled. He'd been with me through the worst of the curse's effects, had seen what the isolation and enforced loneliness had done to my sanity over the decades. Whatever reservations he had about bringing Catherine here, they were outweighed by his loyalty and, perhaps, his own desperate hope for a different future.
"The blue suite," he said finally. "I'll have Mary prepare it. Fresh linens, flowers, whatever touches might make a frightened woman feel more welcome."
Frightened. The word hit me like a physical
