But as perfect as this should have been… If we did this… If he realized who I was and what we were together…
He’d die.
And even if it was his own, selfish fault, his scent was already imprinted in my mind, and my own drive to protect him overrode the one to feel him inside me.
“Stop,” I whispered, putting my hands on top of his to halt their progress. Tears pooled in the corners of my eyes and began to spill over. “Please.”
I thought my resistance would be futile, but to my great, sad surprise, he stilled that instant, the craze in his eyes clearing to the cold reality that I didn’t want this.
His teeth and nails shrank back to their usual size and he backed completely off me, regret and horror blanketing his face.
“Oh, shit.”
Slowly raising myself up on my elbows, I managed to sit back up, picking the leaves out of my hair as he rambled his apology. And my heart broke even more at how unlike Victor he was, how the absence of my enthusiasm had stopped him in his tracks instead of enraging or encouraging him.
“I’m so sorry… I… I’m in a rut. And I know that’s not an excuse, it’s no one’s responsibility but my own. I just… the suppressants don’t work against your scent for some reason. I was out of my mind.”
Because I’m your mate.
It was hard enough turning off my own desire, my own body’s slow return to normal after shutting down with Victor, so I could only imagine how much his rut had been riding him.
I drew my knees up, holding onto them for support. And to keep me from seeking solace in his embrace.
Because it would only betray me in the end.
“It’s okay. I’m used to it.”
His face fell, and I couldn’t even look at him. I just wanted to cup his cheek, to feel the scratch of his short beard across my palm. To kiss the tip of his nose and tell him I was fine.
Even if I really wasn’t.
“Victor sent you, then?”
“Yes, I’ve been hired to bring you to him, and I’m afraid there’s no getting out of it. I’ve made a deal.”
And there it was.
I couldn’t hope to outsmart or outrun him at this point, so the only way to get away would be with his help. Help he would surely grant if I told him the truth about us, and what Victor had done.
But if I did that, he would die. And then I wouldn’t even care what happened to me afterwards, anyway.
I had to protect him. Even if it meant Victor would keep me locked up for the rest of my life, meant I’d have to endure every bite, every touch, every violation.
I would choose Ronan.
Because he was my mate, and I wanted him to live.
III
RONAN AND SAGE
32
Daddy Issues
Ronan
“‘Hi, Dad?’ Is that really all you wanted to say to me?”
