What I’d felt for him had terrified me. I’d thought to end it then and there as I’d entered the bedroom and found him lying where we’d made love. He’d been asleep, looking so peaceful and vulnerable. I’d thought to wake him… until I saw those scars. I hadn’t seen them when we’d lain together, so they must have appeared sometime after.
How could I leave him when he’d already been hurt so deeply?
Arlo sucks in a gasp, then another. I’m horrified when his knees give out and he crumples onto the bathroom floor, arms around his scarred upper body.
“Lo. Lo, it’s all right.” The tiles dig into my knees when I drop down beside him. He doesn’t reply. Tremors rack his body, and he sounds as if he’s suffocating. I reach for him, but the second my fingers brush his shoulder, my mate flinches and withdraws into himself. My heart shatters in my chest.
“Lo. What can I do? Tell me what I can do.” I feel so useless, so damned helpless. “Please, Lo. Can I hold you? Do you want me to draw you a… a bath?”
A choked sob rattles his shoulders.
Hooves clop behind me. I whirl around and find Truffles, her tail lowered and ears drooped. “I can hear his thoughts,” the familiar says softly. “He thinks you’re disgusted by him. That he’s weak and stupid and ugly.”
A lump rises in my throat. “He isn’t any of those things. What does he want? Can you tell me?”
She’s quiet for a moment, her tail flicking side to side. “He wants you to hold him, but he’s too ashamed to ask for it.”
Goddess, my sweet mate.
“Lo. Let me hold you. Please. Don’t shut me out. You’re strong and beautiful and I could never be ashamed of you.”
Arlo curls into himself with a gut-wrenching sob.
“Please, Arlo.”
He moves fast, flinging himself into my arms. The shock of his acceptance almost paralyzes me, but when he sniffs and shivers against me, I pull him into my arms and hold on tight. He breaks down against my chest in broken sobs I’ve never wanted to hear from him. Carefully, I lift him and carry him to the bath. I get the water running and the tub fills quickly while I rub his shoulders and kiss his hair. The tub’s over full, water sloshing over the sides when I settle in with him.
I hold him for what feels like hours, kissing his hair, stroking his trembling back. Arlo’s sobs quiet to whimpers and sniffles, then to slow breaths. I tighten my hold on him, worried he’ll get embarrassed and try to distance himself. My wolf needs him close.
“He was my friend,” Arlo whispers. “My best friend. I trusted him. I—I loved him.” His voice shakes, and by Fenrir, I want to howl my anguish until the walls come crashing down around us.
“H-he told me I was his chosen mate. I was scared. B-because we weren’t fated. I thought he’d leave me for someone else if we mated.” The words come out strangled. Arlo takes several shuddery breaths. I want to beg him to stop, but he needs to get the pus out so this agonizing wound can begin to heal. “It was an accident. My rejection pushed him into a berserker rage.” He heaves in a shuddering breath.
I grind my teeth against the sudden rush of fury and pain.
Now I understand why his friends and family were so suspicious of me. Why Arlo would panic around me sometimes.
“Is he dead?” The words are a growl.
“H-huh?”
“If he isn’t, I will hunt him down and make him beg for mercy at your feet before I kill him.” I mean every word. No one hurts my mate. Not ever again.
“That… shouldn’t be such a turn-on.” Arlo laughs wetly. The sound is so fragile and sweet, I want to cradle it in my hands for safekeeping. I need to remember that despite his pain, he can still find the strength to laugh.
“You are… what is that word Kieran uses? Freaky, aye?” I press a kiss to his forehead.
“Says the werewolf.” He sighs, sniffling. “No, he isn’t dead. He turned himself in to the Council, and they stripped him of his wolf. He apologized to me again and again, begged for my forgiveness, but I just—I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t trust him anymore.” A sob falls from his lips.
“Is…” I squeeze my eyes shut against the sting of tears. “Is this why you’re making that potion?”
I feel him nod. “It is. So no one else gets hurt like I was, and so wolves never have to fear hurting the ones they care about.”
My mate has the purest heart.
“That wolf wasn’t your true mate, Arlo.”
“I shouldn’t have been so selfish. Because of me, he lost control. I was so stupid—”
