"To be loved and to love, takes courage. To be fully seen is incredibly rare and breathtaking."
~Carolyn Riker
********************

For an agonizing ten minutes, nothing happened. Dom's heartbeat continued to beat too fast, too hard, and I mentally started preparing myself for making the call to Lily to let her know her brother had died at my hands because I hadn't been quick enough on the uptake to smell the wolfsbane.

You stupid, stupid idiot! I chastised myself. You let your emotions cloud your judgment, and now Dom could be dying! You fucking moron!

"Anna?" Dom coughed weakly. I snapped my head up to see his eyes fluttering open. His focus went in and out but remained on me. "Wha- happened?"

"You passed out because of the wolfsbane," I said, my voice hitching. It was only then I felt the hot tears rolling down my cheeks. Not wanting him to see me crying, I hastily got up and grabbed the antibiotic cream and ibuprofen, which gave me time to wipe away my tears. Upon returning, I explained, "The claws must've been dipped in wolfsbane. You're lucky you're in good health; otherwise, it would've acted a lot faster. How you lasted as long as you did..."

"I had to take care of you," Dom said weakly as he tried to prop himself up. I carefully helped him.

"I can take care of myself. Besides-" I began applying the antibiotic cream- "Lily would have my head if I let something happen to you."

Dom frowned, scanning my face. "What's wrong?"

"You almost died. Am I not allowed to be worried about you?"

"Yes, but you're angry, too."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are. You're... being short."

I sighed, handing him the ibuprofen and some water. "Heal up and rest. Then we can have that discussion."

"Anna-"

"Come on." I threw Dom's arm around my shoulder and lifted him. We struggled to the corner of the room, which gave us a good vantage point of all entryways into the room, in case the Shadows or Controllers came after us again. I hoped they didn't because Dom and I couldn't take any more fights in the shape we were in.

"Thank you," Dom murmured, slumping against the wall.

"Wake me up if you need anything," I said. "I have our alarms set for five. It should give us enough time to get out of here before the construction crews return."

Dom nodded, placing his hand over mine. Within seconds, he was fast asleep. I closed my eyes, grateful for the sleep that quickly overtook me.
********************

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Groaning, I furiously turned off my alarm. I pushed my aching body up, scanning the room to get a bearing of my surroundings. To my surprise, Dom walked out of the bathroom, looking ten times better than he had last night, but his wounds were still blatantly obvious.

"Hey," he said, "I've already gotten the car up set up and loaded, except for your bag since you were sleeping on it. When you're ready to leave, let me know."

I nodded, heading to the bathroom myself to freshen up and brush my teeth. I avoided the mirror like the plague, not wanting to see the bags under my eyes or the stress and worry etched permanently onto my face. My nerves were too frayed, and seeing the physical signs of them might send me over the edge I teetered on.

Finishing up, I grabbed my bag and went downstairs with Dom, tossing my stuff into the car. As I opened my door, Dom stopped me and said, "Before we leave, we need to talk."

"About what?"

"About what's going on with you. You're mad. I might've been out of it last night, but I still remember our conversation." His green eyes searched mine for answers, but I gave him nothing. Sighing, Dom added, "I'm not driving the rest of the way with this tension in the car. I don't need it, and neither do you. So, why are you angry with me?"

"Because you took me away from the people that could've told me where Elsa was," I replied, clenching my fists. "We might've been outnumbered, but we could've taken them, with or without the Kellermans, and I could've discovered where Elsa was, but no! You listened to the god damn Controllers and dragged me out of there!"

"You're the one who said we needed to get out of there."

"Yeah, so we could get out bearings, not to leave! I fully intended on going back in there and kicking the Shadows' asses to hell and back until they told me where they were holding my sister!"

"They would've died before telling us where Elsa is," Dom countered. "She's obviously holding out on them if they came after us, which tells us she's alive."

"How much longer can she hold on, though, Dom?"

"I don't know, but we're going to find her. Even if the Shadows did tell us Elsa's location, what could we do? Neither of us would've been in fighting shape. You're still healing from Callie's attack, and now the Shadows, and I'm in shit shape too."

I snapped, finally losing my last ounce of self-control. "Don't do that! Don't act like you care about my wellbeing when all you're going to do is push me away whenever I get too close! Elsa is my sister, my twin, and I can sense she's in mortal danger! Do you know what that's like? To feel when someone you love is in a life-or-death situation? And whether they live or die is all dependent on how long it takes you to find them? I'm barely hanging on to my sanity right now from the worry and stress over whether or not I'm going to reach her in time, and I can't be worrying about where I stand with you too!"

Dom took a step forward. "What do you mean?"

"I already said. Sometimes you act like you like me, but the second we verge on personal territory in your direction, you shut down and push me away. I don't know what we are, Dom. I don't know if we're just allies traveling together to achieve the same goal, or if we're friends, or if there's-" I halted immediately, not wanting to voice my last idea. It was impossible, which meant there was no use in bringing it up. "Just tell me why you do it. Tell me why you keep me at arm's length. Is it because I'm a Laroche? Is it because you don't trust me? Why?"

"It has nothing to do with you being a Laroche. If it did, trust me, we wouldn't be traveling together right now." Dom took another step towards me, and I took one step back, staring doubtfully at him. "I consider us friends, Anna, and I wished to God we could be more, but we can't."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I can't give you what you want." Dom ran a hand through his hair as he sank against the car. "Our legacy as shifters is to breed, to create families, to continue our bloodline. It's hardwired into all of our brains: yours, mine, Elsa's, Spencer's... I know that based on the conversation we had during one of our rendezvous, the six of us."

"I don't understand. What does this have to do with me?" I inquired, cautiously approaching him.

"Do you remember when you asked me why I wasn't betrothed to anyone? And I shut you down?"

"Yeah, I felt like an idiot for asking when we weren't even friends."

"I wouldn't have told you even if we were. I don't like talking about it because it destroys me to do so. The thing I want most for my future, I can't have."

"I still don't understand."

Dom stared at a spot on the floor, wringing his hands. "As punishment for our parents' part in the last war against the Controllers, the Lawmans cursed me to be unable to have kids. The firstborn is always the most important in any family, especially to alphas. We're the ones who are expected to carry on the family name and bloodline. It was meant to serve as a reminder to my parents of how they failed not only to beat the Controllers but that they also failed to protect me from them, that the Controllers do just that: control our entire lives. They threatened to do it to Spencer if our parents tried to wage another war, which is why they were so hellbent against Elsa and Spencer being together."

I closed the distance between us, processing his words. "What about my family? Why didn't the Kellermans do the same thing to Hunter?"

"The Laroches' punishment was the death of half your pack. It was a little after Hunter and I were born, and your parents were forced to watch half their pack be slaughtered by the Controllers." Dom finally met my gaze. "I'm sorry for making you feel the way you did. It was never my intention. If you knew how I really felt... I didn't want to lead you on to believe you could have something you couldn't."

"You mean a family?"

"Yes."

I clenched my jaw, choosing my next words carefully because I needed what I said to get through to him. Heatedly, I declared, "You know what? Fuck the legacy! So, you can't have kids? You can adopt or be the cool uncle who gets to spend as much time as he wants with his nieces and nephews and then still get a full night's sleep. Make your own legacy, a new legacy! Helping me, helping Elsa, helping Spencer, defeating the Controllers, let that be your legacy!"

"You don't get it, Anna," Dom said, pushing himself off the car and towering over me.

"Then help me! What do I have to do with this legacy of yours?!"

"You want to know how I feel about you?"

"Yes!"

There was a tic in Dom's jaw, then another, before his hands cupped my cheeks. Suddenly, his lips were on mine. My body went rigid, unable to comprehend what was happening. Dom ended the kiss as quickly as it began, whispering, "There. Now you know. I've wanted to do that since I met you."

My breath caught in my throat. "Dom-"

"You want kids, Anna, and I can't give that to you. I didn't want to risk starting something with you, only for it to end on heartbreak on both sides."

"Not having kids isn't a deal-breaker for me," I said softly, lifting my hand to cradle his face. "I have four siblings, so my parents are going to get some grandchildren out of at least one of them. If I don't have any, it's no big deal. Not to me, and anyone who disagrees can go to hell."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Now, kiss me like you've been wanting to all this time."

It only took a second for Dom to comply. A cocky smile spread across his face, and his hands traveled down my body to the backs of my thighs, gracefully lifting me up. I wrapped my legs around him, crashing my lips onto his. All the pent-up longing for him, the stress over the past year, the worry over Elsa, manifested in this kiss.

I wanted to lose myself in Dom; I wanted to forget everything in my life; I wanted to wonder where my body ended and his began. I wanted to know what it felt like to be with a guy in so many ways.

Dom placed me on the hood of the car, and I took the opportunity to slip my hands under his shirt and lift it over his head. I could feel my grin reaching from ear-to-ear, the excited, breathy laughter escaping my lips as Dom nearly tore my shirt over my head.

Our bodies pressed up against each other as if we couldn't get close enough to each other. So many months of wondering, wishing, wanting... it all came crashing down on us now, and neither of us would stop until we satisfied our craving for the other.