With Hearts to Hear| ✔

|32|

"I know we said dinner, but if you're up for it, I want to take you somewhere else first." Killian held open the car door for her, Rachel could do little more than give him a questioning glance before he closed the door for her and walked around to the driver side of the car.

"Where exactly are we going?" Rachel watched him as he clicked his seatbelt into place, started the car. She watched the scenery fly past her window fading into a blur, trying to figure out where they could be going.

"Well, I realised that I told you a lot of things 2 years ago but I never really brought you into my world." Killian began, his smile flickering with nervous excitement. He stopped when the light turned red giving Rachel a thoughtful glance. "Do you trust me?"

Rachel stopped, her breath catching at the poignant question. Did she trust him? They had been through so much, and though they had once had hurt between them, they were moving forward. Even so, they were still only at the beginning of that journey.

She knew her pause didn't inspire confidence, the little hope that had been present on Killian's face slowly fading to an awkward grimace. She wondered then what he was thinking, because in all honesty she wasn't sure of her own mind.

"I don't know, but I want to."

"I suppose I walked right into that," Killian forced a small pained chuckle. He knew that he didn't deserve her trust, in fact he had not even expected it– but hearing it still hurt. He didn't want her to think that he was upset, so he backpedalled. "I mean you do trust me enough to know that I'm not going to murder you and leave your body in tiny shreds in the woods somewhere...right?"

"That's really specific." Rachel raised a brow, her lips twitching with a smile. She forgot what it was like to be around someone who it was easy to be with; after Diana, she hadn't had time for dating, and the few men that she had decided to give a chance could not measure up to Killian. "If I didn't literally feel fireworks whenever you touch me, I might have felt like I was insane to say yes."

"Ouch, I think my self confidence just took a permanent hit." He laughed, the booming sound filling the space in the car. Rachel couldn't help but feel hugged by the sound— she had missed that. "I don't blame you though, your human society is odd to me. It scares me to think that Diana might have to experience hardship for just being a woman, y'know?"

Killian couldn't deny that between the time he had seen her last, he had spent much time thinking about his conversation with Leandra. He had thought about Diana, and her future— he had thought about her growing up as a human and what that might mean. It troubled him to think that there were disadvantages in this world for her because of arbitrary things like gender or race.

Yet, he couldn't deny that she would probably still face challenges within his own pack too. He knew that, but at least they were not based on things that she herself would not be able to shape and change for herself. She would be an Alpha, and that meant everything in his world.

He had not meant to make it seem as though he was rushing, or even trying to convince, Rachel to move back to the pack. He realised his wording might have been received wrongly; a fact which was only confirmed when Rachel shot him a heated glare, her hackles raised.

"You think her living in your pack will be any different? As a human in a pack of wolves?"

Killian paused, he wondered if she was talking entirely about Diana. There was no doubt in his mind that the first time Rachel had stayed with him had been incredibly lonely for her— she had not met anyone beyond Leandra, Aiden and his mother. One of whom she had not got along with at all, the other she had limited conversation with, and the last who though had been the friendliest was still entirely dedicated to her role as Beta.