He doesn’t say anything for a minute, just staring at me before he finally spits out, “I’m not good at this.”
What does that mean?
“Not good at what?” I say carefully.
“Communicating or expressing my emotions and, apparently, I’ve been doing an even worse job than usual.”
I pause not really knowing what to say but landing on, “okay?”
He groans, throwing his hand up to cover his face and hide away from me.
“This is what I mean, I don’t know how to have this conversation with you.”
“And what conversation is that?” I ask gently, actually feeling bad for him.
“I’m just going to spit it out. Aly, I want to be your mate. I want to do this right and I’m hoping you’ll give me a chance to do that.”
Holy. Shit. That was honestly the last thing I was expecting. I’m shocked into silence while he stares at me, waiting for an answer.
“Can you say something?” He asks.
“Honestly, I’m just shocked and trying to process. I thought you hated me…” I trail off hoping he’ll explain.
“I’ve never hated you, baby girl, I’ve been so drawn to you from the beginning. But I decided a while ago that I wasn’t going to have a mate, I had given up on that idea,” he says painfully.
“Why?” I whisper, hoping he’ll share this with me.
He hesitates and I think he’s not going to answer, but he surprises me by saying, “I got my heart broken, by the girl I thought was going to be my mate one day.”
My heart breaks for him and I hate to say, I feel jealous he had that connection with someone else.
He looks up from his lap sharply, “there’s nothing to be jealous of Aly, what I felt for her is nothing in comparison to what I feel for you, even before we’ve really given this a chance.”
My heart warms at that and I feel infinitely better.
“So, can I ask what happened?” I ask hesitantly.
He nods, “yes but I want to be clear, it’s a completely different situation than you, I can see that now,” I nod and he continues, “we were dating and even though it’s common for women to have multiple mates, she had always told me she only wanted me. She was a demon, and we weren’t spending time with other demons so I believed her.”
I interrupt, “what does the demon thing have to do with it?”
He looks unsure but, again, surprises me by answering anyways, “it’s actually not common for mates to be from multiple species. It’s not impossible because we choose our mates, when we don’t find our fated but it’s so uncommon I didn’t expect it.”
“Expect what?” I ask.
“She… wanted the rest of the guys too. I didn’t realize she was mostly using me as the opening for all of them. They were never big fans, so nothing happened, but when I realized, I was really hurt. She told me she only wanted me but that was a lie.”
Oh no, so I’m exactly what he didn’t want, someone he would have to share.
“Oh Jeremy I’m so sorry, you would absolutely be enough for anyone… I’m sorry I can’t give that to you,” I say sadly. Now I understand why he hated me, I was fated for all of his friends.
He leans forward grabbing my chin and drawing my gaze back to him.
“It’s different with you Aly, I didn’t see it at first but you weren’t playing me or lying to me. You’ve always made your interest in all of us clear and Iwantto share you with my best friends. It will be hard sometimes, but it’ll be worth it.”
He says it so earnestly that I can’t help but believe him. I give him a small smile and reach out to squeeze the hand that’s not on my face. It slowly migrated from my chin to cupping my cheek.
“Okay,” I whisper.
