When Derek was sure she'd finished, he closed the distance between them, covered her hand with his and pressed his forehead against her shoulder, taking a deep breath to center them both.
He didn't think of himself as ruined...as somehow damaged by Kate, and it stung to know that she viewed him as so much less than he'd been before, when he'd been a child. But right now, it was more important to keep the pack together.
"You're not a bad Alpha," he said softly. "I wonder sometimes...if it's getting to you. The power. If it's...making you like this." How could they know? When the power had come to her, she hadn't been ready. How could she have been?