My brows pinch together tightly as I stare in disbelief. “What?”
“When I came back to the house, I found you there on the floor, unconscious and bleeding. He knows that you’re my mate.”
I sniffle and shake my head. “W-why would you go with him after what he did?”
Caleb presses his fingers into his eyes and releases a haunting breath. “Because he’ll make me kill you if I don’t.”
Everything starts to spin out of control, my heart thrashing against my ribcage, making the machine I’m wired up to go crazy.
“What are you talking about?”
He snaps his head towards me with tears staining his cheeks. “He forced me to strangle you last night, Evan,” he chokes out. “That bruise on your neck is from me.”
I raise my hand and brush over the tender skin. I don’t even remember.
“I did that to you.”
“What—” I say as my face twitches in deep confusion. “No, you wouldn’t hurt me.”
“I’dneverhurt you, but he made me. He made me do it, and it almost fucking killed me to see my hand wrapped around your throat, and the way your face turned purple,” he says through gritted teeth and endless tears.
I can’t stop my own eyes from leaking.
“And the only way to make sure you stay safe is to go with him. He said he wouldn’t hurt you again if I did,” he whispers painfully.
“No,” I whimper as my heart shatters into a million pieces. “No. No. Please.”
Caleb leans back and tilts his head up to the ceiling. “Fuck.”
“We’ll—” I think for a moment through my hazy head. “Uh, we’ll leave. Go somewhere else. Run and hide and?—”
“No, pups.” He shakes his head.
“Caleb, please.”
“He will find us, and he will make me do terrible things to you.”
“B-but he might not,” I sob in despair.
“He will,” he states heavily. “Everything he did to you last night, it’ll be a thousand times worse.”
The cry that tears through me hurts more than any of the injuries I endured. “We can fight back,” I gasp. “We can do something.Anything.”
“I’ve run out of time,” he croaks. “And even if we did, as soon as he knew we were planning something, he’d come for you, and I’m not letting that happen. I’m not risking your life.”
“I can’t be without you,” I whine.
Caleb nods as he scoots closer and cradles my face in his hands. “You can, and you have to. I’m doing it to protect you. My father will not let this rest.”
“But I love you,” I cry desperately. “I love you, and you’re leaving me.”
The words I’ve been dying to say for months in circumstances I wish were different, not like this. But he has to know how I really feel.
He presses his forehead against mine and releases a long, trembling breath. “Ah, fuck,” he says hoarsely, as if he’s about to break down. “I love you so much, Evan, but you have to let me go.”
My heart feels like it’s being stabbed a million times over.
“No, please. I can’t.”
