10
Corin
All those wasted months, all his miserable, self-denying self-control. He had almost lost her.
He had almost lostthis.Not only his mate’s presence in his life, her scent in the air she breathed, but her laughter.
“Corin?”
He stepped away from her. Away from her warmth, her sweet scent, her dancing eyes. The sudden blossoming of laughter that had turned all the burning desire within him to bitter regret.
“What’s wrong?” The laughter left Maya’s eyes. “Did I—”
She stopped herself before the sentence could escape. The muscles in her neck tightened.
He’d been worried about his duskfire hurting her.
As though he needed magic to do that.
“It isn’t you.” He dropped his head against hers, breathing in the sweet delight of her hair, her skin, her arousal. “Never believe that. It has never been you.”
Her laughter was a hiccup of disbelief. “I mean, you’re not wrong—”
“You have always been my mate.” He didn’t want to look into her eyes and see the hurt there, but he wanted even less for her to think for a single second that any of this was her fault. He raised his head and put a finger beneath her chin.
For a moment, she resisted. His heart froze. Then she lifted her eyes to meet his, guarded and challenging.
Relief surged in his chest.
“I have made you feel unwanted. Unappreciated. I have not treated you as you deserve, and I take the blame. It is not your fault. It is mine.”
“But you don’t want to…”
She gestured, and even that embarrassed gesture made him hard again. “I want it more than almost anything,” he growled.
“But?”
“But,” he continued, his voice like shards of glass, “you are not the only one for whom it has been … a while.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh.” And then, before he could say anything to make it worse—not worth hoping he could say anything to make itbetter—her eyes narrowed again.
“However,” he said quickly, before those narrowed eyes could see too much, “our arrangement was about relieving tension, and that matter is dealt with.”
Dealt with.His dragon hid its head. The gravel and broken glass in his voice was gone, replaced by a chill that he instantly regretted.
Thank god, it didn’t freeze Maya away. Instead, she leaned against the wall, her eyes still far too perceptive. One hand went absently to the bare, dimpled skin of her stomach between her jeans and her rucked-up shirt. “Oneside of it is dealt with,” she pointed out. “You don’t want—”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea.” The words were too harsh. Too brutal.
And Maya seemed to expect them. Her mouth twisted, wry, butaccepting.And he hated it. He hated that she expected this of him, and he lived up to all her expectations.
She shook her head. “Maybe this strategy isn’t going to be as helpful as we hoped. Just … another mistake.”
“Certainly not.”
Her eyes flew to his, bright with hope—and wariness.
“I can’t be the mate you deserve,” he told her. “Nothing will change that. But until I am sure you are safe, I will remain here to protect you. And I will provide all thereliefthat my presence requires.”
