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It’s a kiss full of passion. Of love. It’s a kiss between two mates who love each other.
“I love you, too,” he whispers, pressing his forehead against mine as our breaths intermingle together.
“What I meant to say was,” I whisper, trying not to break the spell between us. “I meant that I wish I could take back our bond only until I’m ready to be yours truly. I’m not in a position right now where you get everything you need from me. You told me earlier to be selfish and put myself first, but I am doing that where you’re all concerned. I’m stuck in a dark haze where I can’t be what you deserve.”
“Nora, your depression doesn’t make you less of a woman,” Malachi murmurs, trailing his fingers up and down my spine. The closeness of him helps me open up and be more vulnerable, and I’m so fucking glad he’s understood my true concern. “Your mental health issues don’t make you any less of a person. It doesn’t take away your worthiness.”
He tucks my hair behind my ears, giving me the softest smile I’ve ever seen on this man.“You are struggling, but that doesn’t change how amazing you are. It doesn’t change the fact that you’re a good person who cares about people. It doesn’t change the fire within you that drew my tiger in the first place. Your depression, your struggles, they don’t take away anything from you. You suffer with depression. You’re still so fucking amazing.”
He wipes the tears away that have streaked down my cheeks as he spoke, and then steals another kiss from me.
My mind is in a daze by the time we separate, and he plops me back into my own seat before doing up my belt when it’s obvious I still can’t move.“We’re gonna go rock climbing,” he says, turning the minibus back on.
“Rock climbing?” I ask, surprised at the change of subject. I move my jaw around, stretching it out, after the massive workout it just had, and beam at him. Everything in me is now settled, and it feels so fucking good. “I didn’t even realise they did that around here.”
“Yeah, they do,” he says. “It’s an indoor kind of place. Orson would kick my ass if I tried to take you outdoors for this, especially without Griffin here to catch you, but I think it’ll be fun. And then when we get back, we’ll have some food, and then we’ll head back home. As much as I love spending time at the cabin, I much prefer my bed at our house.”
I smile at him, and everything seems to settle between us. Mal just needed reassurance that he’s got a place in my life, and it’s easy to give that because he does.
My life wouldn’t be complete without him.
* * *
“No,” I groan as Mal comes around to my side of the car, and I try to hold onto the inside of the door so he can’t open it. I refuse to get out. My legs are just non-existent.
Walking from here to the cabin? Not happening.
Do you know how fucking tiring rock climbing is?
No? Well, neither did I until today. My legs are burning, the ache between them is intense, and I can not move.
“Just leave me here to die,” I moan when he wretches the door open, and he freezes. Shit… too soon. But then he just laughs and shakes his head.
“Nope, little warrior. I can’t do that. It’s freezing out here, and if Orson hears I left you to catch hypothermia, it’ll not be worth my life,” he says, reaching over to unbuckle my seatbelt. “You are definitely getting set up on an exercise programme once we’re home, though. Your endurance levels are embarrassing for a human, never mind a shifter.”
“Ugh.”
I groan, but, secretly, I’m a little bit pleased. Rock climbing was fun, apart from the fact that I was dying five minutes into it because I have absolutely no body strength whatsoever. I’m standing there struggling to breathe and wheezing like my lungs aren’t working properly, and then Mal’s just there, staring, judging me silently with his forty-seven abs and rock hard thighs.
Bastard
A sexy bastard sure, but a bastard nonetheless.
But we had a laugh, and it was fun. I’d totally do it again. Doesn’t change the fact that I’m severely unfit.
“What’s wrong?” Mal asks as he lifts me out of the car. He steadies me when my legs wobble, and grins.
“My legs ache!” I moan, and he laughs. He’s been a lot lighter whilst we’ve been out. Less guilt, I think. I realise I’ve done a lot of damage to my guys, but we’re working on sorting that, and we’ll undo it—no, we’ll heal from it. We will be okay. We’ve had a rough time with everything happening with me and my mental health. But we’ll get through it.
We walk through the cabin very slowly because my legs are aching, and Mal laughs every few steps at the way I’m walking.
But when we open the door to the living room, I’m surprised to see everybody standing there with nervous expressions on their faces. They’re awkward as well, a tense kind of air, as if they’re going to bring something up that I’m not going to like.
Mal walks ahead of me, joining the semi-circle of my mates, slotting in at the end next to Griffin.
If they were smiling and holding a rose, I’d think I’m on the polyamorous version of the Bachelor.
But they’re not.
