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“If there’d been a mating bond, I could have saved her.”
“Or you could have died trying to save her. You’re not a healer, Alex. The most you could have done was keep her alive until a healer arrived, but they’d have had to get there damn fast to save someone with such extensive injuries. From what I heard, it took the healer half an hour to reach you; you couldn’t have kept her heart beating that long.”
Maybe, maybe not—he couldn’t be sure either way. “Never felt that helpless in my life. She was right there, fading away, looking up at me with a plea in her eyes. There was nothing I could do. The pull of the bond was gone too fast for me to accept it.”
“But she died knowing she’d met her mate—I’ll bet that brought her some peace as she passed.”
Alex blinked. He hadn’t thought of it that way before. “You think?”
“Yeah, I do.” Bree gave his upper arm a squeeze. “You didn’t fail her, Alex.”
“But that’s how it feels. Your mom wasn’t to blame for the suicide of her pride mate, but that wasn’t how she felt. Unlike me, I found it easier to shoulder my guilt because I’m no stranger to hurting people. I’ve killed, tortured, failed. Your mom was light and heart and goodness. She probably hadn’t thought she could ever let someone down that way.
“Feeling you failed to save a person’s life eats at you. Makes you question your worth. Shakes your faith in yourself. Leaves you feeling undeserving and guilty for living. But you don’t lament that you feel that, because you believe you should feel it; you believe it’s what you deserve. So when Charity said in her note that she thought you were better off without her and that she didn’t feel she was worthy of love, she most likely believed it.”
“Maybe,” Bree whispered, tracing his abs with her fingers.
He cupped her chin and stared right into those electric-blue eyes. “You’d never break the way she did. Know why I’m so sure of that? Because life has tossed trial after trial at you, but you didn’t let any of it break you. You never weakened. You faced it all head-on, and you let it make you stronger. Someone like that isn’t going to fold under the weight of a primary omega role. Your spine of steel would never allow it.”
“You really believe that, don’t you?”
He frowned. “Fuck, yeah, I believe it. Do you think I’d urge you to walk down a path that might later cause you harm?”
“No.”
Mollified, he gruffly said, “Good.” He rolled onto his back and tucked her into his side. “Sleep.”
“I slept for hours. The last thing I’m feeling right now is tired.”
He hummed. “I guess I could just fuck you to sleep.”
A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth. “You’re more than welcome to try.”
He did try. And he damn well succeeded.
It was a muffled curse that woke her the next morning. With the fog of sleep surrounding her, she didn’t think much of it. Nor did she pay much attention to Alex slipping out of bed. She just lay there, happy to let the fog fade rather than try to wade through it.
Her cat was having none of that. She nudged at Bree again and again, urging her to wake; urging her to deal with … something. There was no danger present. No. The matter was serious enough to rattle her cat, though.
Groaning, Bree forced her eyes open. She’d drawn the curtains the previous night, so no rays of sunlight stabbed her—
Awareness slammed into her, shocking her to her core, and stole the breath from her lungs. Her heart began to pound hard in her chest. She couldn’t quite seem to get enough air. Jesus H Christ, she was wearing Alex’s scent on her skin. Wearing his scent. That could only mean one thing—the imprinting process had started.
Bree knifed up and shoved a hand through her disheveled hair. How could it have happened so soon? She’d thought that if things continued to go well between her and Alex, imprinting might begin sometime in the future. But not until after they’d settled into the relationship and were sure it was going somewhere. They hadn’t been together very long. Where was the steady, natural progression?
She could hear Alex moving around somewhere in the apartment, and she had to wonder what he was doing. Probably freaking the fuck out. It was one thing to be in a serious, committed relationship. It was a whole other thing for a metaphysical bond to spark to life and begin to bind you to someone.
People had serious relationships all the time—they didn’t always “take the next step” like move in together or, in the case of humans, get engaged to be married. So, yeah, she’d understand if Alex was freaking out. He’d gone from being in a relationship to being partially mated in a matter of hours—anyone would find that a hell of a shock. He might not be ready for this yet. Might never have intended to mate with her.
