Choosing Drake would be the last decision she made. It had to be the right one, otherwise everyone involved would suffer, and maybe worse.
When she looked up again, Drake had risen from his seat. “Where are you going?”
“To my quarters to rest.”
She stood, moving closer to him. “How long do you have?” she asked. “Before…you know?”
Drake shrugged his shoulders. “It isn’t an exact science. The frenzy has progressed, you saw that when I couldn’t leave your door. It won’t be much longer.”
The thought that he was suffering made Jamie want to cry. She reached out to him, but he moved back. “I had hoped to spare you this.”
She frowned. “It’s my decision. It was right that you shared this with me.”
His smile was sad. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. After a moment he turned away, moving towards the door.
“You don’t have to go,” she said when he opened the membrane.
“I do.” He didn’t turn back around. Jamie wondered if he couldn’t. It was already torture for him to depart.
“Drake, I—“
“Don’t,” he said, his voice ravaged by emotion. He stepped through the door and was gone.
Jamie was hit by a wave of emotion. She felt his loss keenly, considered going after him. Instead she slid to her knees, confused tears falling from her eyes.
His suffering was so visceral, she felt an answering pang in her guts. Could she let him go on suffering, knowing the eventual result?
“No,” she said to herself. “I can’t.” There was no way she could let him die. Even the thought shook her to her core.
She loved him. It was true, and she didn’t want to deny it. But, although he’d admitted his desire for her, his undeniable attraction to her, he hadn’t told her he loved her.
Could she live with him forever, not knowing if he could love her? He’d be by her side, but that did not ensure happiness. And being locked in misery for the rest of her life was a frightening thought.
Jamie wasn’t sure how long she’d sat there in thought before she heard the knock. She pulled herself up, going to the membrane.
“Hello?” she asked, unsure about conventions on this planet.
“It’s me,” her sister’s voice said from the other side. “I’m coming in.”
One look at Sylvie’s face and the tears started all over again.
“Oh, honey,” her older sister said, pulling her into an embrace. “What’s wrong? Talk to me.”
“I love him,” she said simply, unable to stop herself. “I love him and I don’t know if he loves me.”
“Shh…” Sylvie stroked her hair gently. “I know what you’re going through. After all, I have a Zantharian mate.”
“Are you happy?” she asked her sister. She saw the answer written large in her eyes.
“Ecstatic. I’ve never been happier in my life.”
“But, is it true? Is your mate overbearing, overprotective, never giving you a moment’s peace?”
Sylvie laughed. “Yes, that’s all true.” Jamie frowned, and her sister put an arm around her. “But I love it. I want to be with him as much as he wants to be with me.”
“Did he tell you he loved you? Before?” It was the single thing that kept Jamie from seeking out Drake and begging him to claim her.
Sylvie gave her a look that said more than words could. “It was complicated. We’d been set up by shape-shifters, had barely escaped death. To be truthful, I’d made up my mind before he said the words.”
