“I hope so. Now that I’ve seen your leopard and it didn’t eat me or anything, I kind of like the idea of her.”

“She’ll be tough to handle at first, but you’re strong and you’ve got courage. You’ll do fine with her.”

She looked up at him from under her long lashes. “Do you know how many times you’ve said nice things to me, Eli?”

“Someone should have been saying nice things to you your entire life, Kitten. You shouldn’t have had a junkie for a mother, or Rafe for a guardian. You should have grown up in a house filled with love. I can’t do a thing about your past, but I can make damn certain you feel loved in your future. And when we have kids, we’ll be saying nice things to them a hundred times a day.”

Her gaze clung to his. Again he saw hope there – and fear mixed up with it, like she was still afraid to believe, but willing to try. “I’ll get the dishes. You get dressed to work out. Have you climbed before?”

“Climbed in what way?”

“Up a mountain. A boulder. A climbing wall. Anything at all.”

“They don’t have mountains where I come from, and Rafe would never have allowed me inside of a place where there was a climbing wall. I had men following me around all the time.”

“How did you get away from him this last time?”

“He had sensors on the windows and doors. He forgot the floor. I was careful, so there was no evidence I was pulling up the floorboards so I had a space big enough to drop down into. He didn’t put cameras in the bathrooms or the bedrooms, other than mine. I just had to take my time. I figured out how to beat the combination of his safe so I’d have running money. I learned to read by watching children’s shows. He’d hear them on and it would only reinforce his belief that I wasn’t too bright.”

“Cordeau didn’t want you to be educated?” He was beginning to detest the man. He felt the leopard rise close to the surface in direct response to his rising temper. He knew his eyes glittered because he could see heat waves banding across his vision. Cordeau wanted a teenage girl so trapped and so alone she had no friends and nowhere to turn. He also ensured she would feel bad about herself, inferior to him.

She licked her lips, drawing his instant attention. “No, I asked once if I could have a tutor and he got mad at me. Not just mad, but scary mad. You’re the only other person that can do that.”

She was plucking at the silverware on the table and he reached out to lay his hand over hers, stilling those restless fingers. “What do you mean, ‘scary mad’?”

“When you’re angry, Eli, you can walk into the room and I feel it, the sudden onslaught of frightening, intense, very powerful heat. The energy is so strong, I sometimes think you could knock someone over with it.”

He knew what she was talking about and he couldn’t deny it. He could shut down a room full of macho men with his anger. It wasn’t that difficult to feel the presence of his cat, a moody, brooding, vicious, bad-tempered animal that could tear a man apart in seconds.

“I know, baby,” he admitted softly. “I can get like that. I can be mean. I got a temper. For you, I’ll try to keep it in check, but if I get ugly, you have the right to say so. Just don’t walk out on me. If I say something that hurts, let me know. Don’t hold it inside. You have to learn to live with me and I’m not saying that’s going to be easy. I told you, I like things my way, and I’m not taking any chances with your safety. I’m guessing we’re going to butt heads a few times.”

“When you say I’m your woman, Eli, what does that mean, exactly? For me. What do you expect and what can I expect?”

His thumb slid over the inside of her wrist, checking her pulse. Her heart beat just a little too fast. She was scared, but she was determined.

“When I say you’re mine, it means you’re my mate in shifter terms. My wife in human terms. We build a life together. That’s what we’re going to do. I’ll have your back and you’ll have mine.”

“So a partnership.”

He saw instantly where this conversation was going. He had to be honest with her about who he was. He wasn’t going to change, not with his leopard so dominant. Not with so many years of being the man he’d become. He liked the way he was. It was important for her to know the truth of him, even if it was a little risky so early in their relationship.

“Yes and no, baby. I told you, I like my way. My rules, my way. That’s just how it is. I’ll make certain you’re happy. Just like the way I talk sometimes. You don’t always like it, but you’re okay with it. I think you’re in danger, you will do exactly what I tell you when I tell you. It’s that simple.”

“I see. So really a dictatorship.”

He shrugged. “I don’t give a damn how you want to label it, Kitten. The bottom line is we’ll work it out. You don’t like something, you tell me. We’ll work it out.”

“Will we, Eli? Will you listen to me?”

He heard the slight tremor in her voice. She was being very brave, trying to get a sense of her future with him. He didn’t want to lie to her and paint a pretty picture. He wasn’t going to be easy to live with, but he’d been with her enough to know she fit with him. She didn’t know it yet, but he knew it. He felt it.

He brought her hand to his mouth and slowly pried open her fingers. Pressing his mouth to the center of her palm he looked into her brilliant blue eyes. She was really trying for him and he appreciated it. His heart turned over, like it often did when she looked so fragile.