"I despised myself for the weakness of bringing you here," Dain said, his eyes soft despite the waver in his voice. "I was so certain that the only thing I could get from having a soulmate was more pain. Surely you would be a traitor, a nemesis, a betrayer. I walked into that room for the first time ready to see horror on your face when you saw me unglamored for the first time, like I've seen on so many people. But you didn't shrink away. You defied me, and if you'd thought of it I think you might have spat in my face."

"I was really mad at you," I said.

He laughed once. "Yes, I know," he said. "I made it very easy for you to be mad at me. But then, in that room with my mother, you took my hand without any hesitation, and I didn't know what to do. My mother is beautiful and charismatic, and I'm... what I am."

"Your mother is a stone-cold bitch," I replied.

Dain flicked water into my face, making me splutter. "Who's baring his heart right now?" he asked, with what sounded like mock-anger. Mock-anger was good. That meant he was teasing me. He liked that. I'd picked the right thing.

"You are," I said obediently.

"Yes, I am." My soulmate smiled down at me. "You kept surprising me. You took my hand again, when it would have been so much easier to reject me. You called yourself my soulmate. You even chose to have an ongoing exchange of questions with me, as if you wanted to get to know me." Dain took a deep breath and let it out, his face softening. "And then..." He reached down and took my hand out of the water, folded my fingers, and laid my index and middle fingertips against the scar that split his eyebrow.

"Getting to know the tiger," I said, remembering the moment.

With a nod, Dain let me go, and I settled my hand back on top of my stomach, under the warm water.

"Nobody touches me like that except for you, Leah," Dain said, sounding as if his heart was in his throat. He looked down at me with complete love and trust.

We never could have been nemeses, I realized. Never, never, never. I trusted him with my life, to keep me safe and to have my back, and he trusted me. Dain would rather die than leave me unprotected. Just like he was protecting me right now, sitting in this bathroom with me, watching over me.