“Why didn’t you bond with me?” I pressed. “You seemed just fine to bond with Eva, but we fucked for days, and you had no inclination to do it to me? I thought you loved me.”
Good job acting calm and reasonable.
Indi didn’t seem upset, as if they expected this reaction.
“Come here,” they said, in that way that left no room for argument. I did, and they took my hand, leading me out of the room, down the hall, and to the bathroom.
I wanted to demand to know what we were doing here, but I kept my mouth shut as they turned on the bathwater. They plugged it and let the water fill. Then, they went to the cabinet and pulled out a wicker basket.
“Pick a soak and a bath bomb,” they said.
Confusion filled me. What were they doing? But they only shook the basket at me.
I picked a jasmine and bergamot bath bomb, and a sandalwood soak.
Indi took my choices from me, put the basket back, then tended to the water. They moved around me as I stood there dumbfounded.
When they came back to me, they took off their own clothes, momentarily distracting me before they stripped me down. Indi got in the bath first, then invited me in, slotting my back to their front. The water was the perfect temperature, and the scent that rose from the bath was divine. They grabbed the bath bomb from the ledge and plunked it in as we both watched it fizz in the water.
“So,” they started. “Can we try that conversation again?”
I sank against them. “I just… don’t understand,” I said quietly.
“Ask again, reasonably, and I’ll tell you.”
My knees came up to my chest as I held them for comfort. “Why didn’t you bond me?”
What’s wrong withme?was the question that wanted to fall from my lips, but I kept it to myself.
“Because I wanted it to feel special,” they said easily.
I turned, not expecting that response at all. “What do you mean?”
The water in the bath sloshed as they grabbed my half-turned form to turn me all the way, so I was placed across their lap, one knee on either side.
“Joon, we’ve been talking about this for so long. And I know that nothing else went to plan, but the one thing I wanted,needed,was for our bonding to feel special, and to be about us. Because I love you so much. And when it happened, it needed to be the way it started, just me and you.”
Tears fell from my eyes without my permission. What was with all the crying lately? Was this Eva’s bond influence? I vowed after this to put a stop to it, happy tears or no.
“So you don’t hate me?”
“No, butterfly, I could never hate you.” They pulled me in for a kiss. “You mean everything to me. The whole pack does.”
“Me too,” I sighed.
He kissed down my neck, down my shoulder, over my arm, to my tattoo. I couldn’t help but flinch when they touched it.
“Does it hurt?” they asked.
“Not physically, but sometimes the memories do.”
Indi nodded in understanding. “Does it bother you?”
“What?”
“That I call you butterfly?” Their finger traced across the design. “I thought it was cute, but now I’m worried it’s only caused you pain.”
“No,” I said quickly. “From the moment you started calling me that, you turned something I hated about myself into a nickname I’ve come to cherish, and I’ll never forget it.”
