Kylie groaned. She turned around and Derek had made his way up to them. She grabbed him by the arm and yanked him in front of Perry. "You're not shadowing me anymore. Derek is."

"Great." Derek smiled and she knew he was reading something into this that wasn't there.

Perry shook his head. "But Burnett-"

"Burnett's not going to get mad. I'll explain it to him. Now go before it's too late and Miranda decides not to forgive you. Go!" She gave the little twerp a shove.

Perry transformed himself into his bird form and took off flying. Kylie knocked a few of the electric sparkles off her arm, and then confronted Derek.

"Come on," she said.

"Where?" The look he shot her came complete with a sexy smile.

"To talk," she said. "We have to talk."

"What about Campmate hour?" he asked.

She let go of a deep sigh. "Forget Campmate hour. You're coming with me!" She grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him.And, of course, that was when Lucas walked up.

His blue eyes met hers. She saw the way he looked at her. She had the oddest desire to stop and explain, but when she tried to think of exactly what she'd say, or why she felt he deserved an explanation, it just seemed too hard.

So she just met his eyes with a look of apology and went back to dragging Derek behind her. Later, she would deal with Lucas. How she would deal with him, she didn't have a clue.

* * *

"Do you want to go to the rock?" Derek asked, now walking beside her.

"No." The hurt look in Lucas's eyes kept echoing in her heart. He'd hurt her, but hurting him, even unintentionally, sent regret tightening her chest.

"Why not?" Derek asked.

"Because we have to talk, and I think you know what it's about, too."

For a second she wished it wasn't so. It would be so easy if she could just pick Derek. He didn't have a pack trying to keep them apart. He hadn't given up his quest and wouldn't someday blame her. But you couldn't make your heart take the easy way out, it felt what it felt, it wanted what it wanted.

Her heart obviously wanted Lucas. Whether or not she'd give it what it wanted was another matter. But she couldn't give Derek what he wanted either. It just wasn't right.

He exhaled a frustrated gulp of air. "Why do I have a feeling this isn't going to end well?"

She glanced at him. "It may not end the way you want it, but it's the right thing."

"I'm not so sure," he said.

She led him to her cabin and then remembering Miranda and Perry could be inside working out their own issues, she flopped down on the porch step and motioned him to do the same.

Giving the door a quick look, she hoped Perry had been able to calm Miranda down. Heck, maybe they were in there having a make-up make-out session.

Taking a deep breath, she faced Derek. "You know how I feel. Why are you trying to convince yourself that it's not true?"

"What's not true? Come on, Kylie. You love me, too," he said.

She pulled one leg up to her chest and hugged it. "Yes. I won't lie, but it's not the kind that I'm feeling for Lucas. And I know you know that, because you feel what I feel."

"But if you and I got back together, we could fix this."

She shook her head. "You don't deserve that."

"Don't deserve what?" he asked. "I want you back. You think I wouldn't be happy?"

"Not really," she said. "You shouldn't be. You deserve someone who's as crazy about you as you are about them. You don't deserve someone who ... cares about someone else."

She bit her lip and realized another reason she felt so strongly about this. "This is what happened to my dad and my mom. She loved my real dad. She cared about my stepdad, but he always knew she loved my dad more. Even my mom says it's probably part of the reason he ended up cheating on her. She can't forgive him, but she knows it's partly her own fault."

He sat there frowning. "So you're going to take Lucas back. You are going to forgive him for running off and getting engaged to someone else."She tightened her hold on her leg. "He didn't really get engaged. He stopped it before he got to that point."

Derek's frown increased. "Only because you showed up-because you discovered his dirty little secret."

"I know that. And I don't know what I'm going to do. I haven't forgiven him yet, but I haven't stopped loving him either."

"But if you gave us a chance, maybe you'd really fall back in love with me. I think you were really in love with me at one time. We could get back there where we feel that way again."

"We?" She sighed, realizing what he said. "See, you don't even feel the same way anymore, either."

"I didn't mean..." He shook his head.

"Yes, you did," she said. "Derek, I think we were in love with each other," she admitted. "And I don't want to hurt you, Derek. I really do care about you and I still love you, just not ... that way. And I think it's the same with you."

He stared off at a line of trees and she knew he needed a few seconds to get his feelings in order. She saw him swallow and she felt his pain.

He inhaled. "But what we had was so great."

"I know and I'm so sorry." She felt her voice shake with emotion. Hurting him was so hard.

He looked back at her and she saw the honesty, the genuine concern in his gaze. And wasn't that just like Derek. He was such a great guy. And for that reason alone, he deserved someone who adored him, who loved him more than anyone else.