Chapters (12)
She turned to look at him. “You’re right. I … I know what I did last night, and I’m sorry. I don’t regret it.” She licked her lips, and he saw the tears in her eyes. “I wanted to hate you so much, and I … I didn’t want to be here. You know that. I don’t want to let this work, but you’re different. You’re not like the asshole I remember. The guy I know well. He, I hate. He is the one I can resist. Who I don’t want to ever be mated to. Ever.”
“He’s not coming back, Mabel.”
“But what if he does?”
“He won’t. I promise you. He’s gone. I don’t even … I can’t make excuses for the way I was.”
She held her hands out and took a breath. “Can we like agree to not talk about then?” She looked toward him. “I … I did my research, and severed mates … they don’t.” She stopped and glanced down at her hands. “They never find anyone else. They’re doomed to be alone.”
“You don’t want to be alone.”
“It wouldn’t just be me, would it? You’d be alone as well. Even if you slept with all the women in the pack, you wouldn’t find anyone else.”
“Mabel, don’t think about me, okay?”
She swiped at the tears, and it fucking destroyed him to see her crying. “Ever since I was a little girl, I have wanted to be mated. It’s not that I wanted a man or felt I needed one, it was just that I saw my parents. The couples in the pack, and they always looked so happy. Even when I was younger, I saw the way single people looked at them. They wanted what others had.” She pressed her lips together.
He folded his arms across his chest. The need to comfort her was strong, but he held himself in check. “Mabel, what do you want from me?” he asked.
“I don’t want anything from you. I swear. It’s just that, I want to give this a try with you. I won’t fight it anymore. I won’t try to make sure we’re separated before it’s over. I’m open to this with you. If you are willing as well.”
On the inside of his arm where Mabel couldn’t see, Lucas pinched himself hard. There was a shot of pain, but he didn’t wake up. “You’re willing to give this a try?”
“If you are. Do you want to?” she asked.
“Yes, I do.”
She smiled at him. “Then, would you like me to move into this room?” She stood up and tucked her hair behind her ear. “It’s what mates do, right, share a room?”