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secretly hoped that when the day came and he shared their secret with Hunter, he would give them his blessing and be happy for them. That hope shattered to a million pieces when Hunter had confronted Dylan.
     
    “How did he find out?” Aurora asked.
     
    “He found one of your letters to me.”
     
    “Did you show it to him?”
     
    “Absolutely not,” Dylan said. “You asked me to keep it a secret and I did.”
     
    Aurora fumed. “He had no business going through your things.”
     
    “I agree. Of course, I had no business keeping secrets from him. Especially when it came to you.”
     
    “That’s bullshit,” she said, shaking her head. “What happened between us was none of Hunter’s business. It was our secret to keep.”
     
    “I want to believe you. Trust me, it would make me feel a lot better. But come on. I was his best friend. You were his sister. You and I getting together, he had a right to know.”
     
    “Maybe,” she admitted. “Still, even if he had the right to know, he didn’t have the right to tell you to stay away from me.” She jabbed her finger into Dylan’s chest. “And you shouldn’t have listened to him.”
     
    Dylan grabbed her hand to stop her from poking him. It felt so small and soft and warm. He realized he didn’t want to let it go.
     
    But he knew he had to. With every ounce of self-control, he gently moved her hand down to her side before releasing it.
     
    “It wasn’t just that he didn’t approve. He was right to tell me to stay away. I’m no good for you.”
     
    “What are you talking about?”
     
    Dylan growled in frustration. He’d never been good with words. Not like Noah or Xander. It had always been harder for him to express himself, at least when he was face to face with someone. It’s why the letters between him and Aurora had deepened the relationship in a way it never could when they were together.
     
    Still, he had to try.
     
    “You don’t understand what I’ve been through. You don’t know what I’ve done. All the fighting. All the killing. I’m not the man you used to know.”
     
    “You’re still the man I knew. You’re still the man I loved .”
     
    “You wouldn’t be so quick to say that if you knew the things I’ve done. The things I had to do to survive. I’m corrupted inside.”
     
    Aurora placed a hand on his arm. “I’m sure you went through hell.”
     
    “That’s just it. War was hell, but I was the devil. The devil, the boogie man, and the grim reaper all wrapped into one. Everyone thinks I’m some kind of hero, but the truth is, I was the villain out there on the battlefield. There’s no forgiveness for the things I’ve done.”
     
    Tears welled in Aurora’s eyes. “You just did what you had to do. You did what you needed to come back home.”
     
    “Yes, and I have to live with all the things I’ve done. I have to live with the fact that I’m a monster.”
     
    “Don’t you say that. You’re not a monster.”
     
    Dylan shook his head. “But I am.”
     
    She grabbed his face in her hands. “Then you’re my monster, and I love you anyway.”
     
    He pulled away. “You can’t mean that.”
     
    “I can and I do.”
     
    He searched her face for the truth. Her dark eyes blazed at him. She seemed to mean every word, impossible as it was for him to believe.
     
    How did she not see the evil man standing before her? Clearly, she had no idea who he really was or what he’d really done. She might believe the things she was saying, but he didn’t believe them.
     
    But he could let himself believe, just for now. Just for a moment. Just long enough to do the thing he’d been aching to do for the last four years.
     
    He kissed her.
     
    His arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her soft body against him. He savored the feeling of her curves as he parted her sweet lips with his tongue.
     
    She moaned into his mouth, and the sound was like gasoline on a fire. The heat within him blazed into an inferno.