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“So you’re trying to break up with me on a hypothetical?”
“It’s not?—”
“Yes, it is. You think you know my mom’s reaction already because of Nicky, and you don’t. You could at least treat what we have with enough respect to see how my mom would actually react instead of assuming.”
Her bottom lip wobbled dangerously. “I’m sorry. I just?—”
I sighed, pulling back on my emotional reins. “Don’t leave me, Luna. I know you’re scared, but don’t. Please. If you’re going to go, then let it be because you know the facts, not because you’re letting your anxiety run your life. If you care about me at all, you’ll do that.”
“Luca…” Luna swallowed hard. “I have to prepare myself for it. If I go to your mom, holding on to hope, and she hates me… You should be ready for it too.”
Like fucking hell. I wasn’t going to get ready for a damn thing.
“You think I would let you go that easily?”
“You can only keep someone who wants to be kept.”
My heart pounded like a drum, tendrils of my own panic slipping down my limbs. It couldn’t be time yet. I hadn’t had enough time to love her. I wasn’t sure if I ever would.
“You don’t want me anymore?” It was a struggle to breathe past the lump in my throat. “But…” My voice got small, terror that she actually meant what she said sinking under my skin. “I love you.”
Luna shoved the bubble tea into the cupholder and buried her face in her hands. “Luca, please. I love you too much to ever make you choose. You don’t know how your family is going to react to me either. You can’t tell me you’re going to choose me. I can’t ask you?—”
Three words shone through, sunlight bursting through the cracks in my foundation. “You love me?”
I told myself I didn’t need the words, but I cradled that knowledge like the precious thing it was.
“Of course that’s what you pick out of that.” She let out a sob tainted by laughter. “We have to be practical about this.”
“I’m pretty sure the practical thing would be to not break up over a hypothetical reaction. Mom could go any direction. Sidney and Allie were happy. Just because Nicky wasn’t, doesn’t mean the odds aren’t in our favor. Could you please have a little faith? Don’t make me think about losing you.”
Luna curled into herself, resting her cheek on her knees. “I think about it all the time.”
“Why?”
“That’s just how my brain works. I’m basically always ready for someone to walk away, but I don’t know how to get ready for it to happen with you.”
I unbuckled her seat belt and flipped my seat back, pulling her across the gap to hold her on my lap. “You never have to get ready for that. If anyone in my family would look at someone I love and not want them in my life, then they’re not the people I thought they were. I know you don’t believe I would choose you, but I’ve never wanted anyone in my whole fucking life the way I want you. If shit hits the fan, we’ll clean it up together.”
She squirmed around in my arms and tucked her face against my throat, her fingers curled in my shirt.
“I’ll choose you today, and tomorrow, and every single day going forward, but you have to let me do that. You have to trust that I know my own mind, that I know what I’m getting myself into, and you really, really have to trust the fact that I love you. I’d have bonded you during your heat if you’d wanted to bite me for real and I wouldn’t have regretted it for a moment. And it’s okay if it’s gonna take you time to believe me, but I’m not going anywhere, not unless you tell me to go and actually mean it.”
The sharpness of her scent sweetened and I felt the softness of her lips against my throat. “I could tell you to go, but I wouldn’t mean it. I want to keep you.”
“Then I’ll stay.”
“What about Nicky?”
“I can apologize for keeping it hidden, but if she doesn’t come around, that’s her problem. She’s my sister and I love her, but it’s not like I’m out here dictating her choice of partner. She doesn’t get to do that for me either. Plus, I’m pretty sure if you left me because of her, that would do way more damage to my relationship with her than if you stuck around.”
Luna let out a long sigh, some of the tension in her muscles relaxing. A rough, crackly purr filled my chest. My omega needed soothing, and thankfully I had enough alpha in me to manage a purr.
“You’re going to get sick of me panicking,” she said quietly.
“Most of my plan was loving you hard enough that eventually you would realize you didn’t need to panic about it. But even if you don’t, that’s not going to change the fact that I’m going to keep reaching out.” For a moment my stress melted away, the memory of her confession filling me with light. “Besides, you love me. We know that about each other now, and I want you to grab onto that whenever you feel yourself start to slip.”
“I want to be able to promise you the world.”
