He drops his hands from his face and reaches for my waist. I step back and shake my head.
“No. No.”
He freezes with his hands out, fingers splayed, reaching for something he can’t have.
“We will see each other on campus. And when you’ve removed the spell, and you have a home for us, I’ll come home.”
Tears spill down his face. His magic pulses around him in erratic bursts, mirroring his distress.
“Mara, please?—“
“I know you aren’t going to let me pack. I’ll send my brothers to collect my things.” I step around him, giving him a wide berth.
I head for the door and his hand shoots out, closing around my arm.
“Mara—“
“Let go of my arm, Aaron.” My voice drops to a growl.
He doesn’t. He crawls to me on his knees, his hand still wrapped around my wrist, and he looks up at me with eyes so broken I almost give in.
“I’ll fix it now,” he says, his voice breaking on each word. “I’ll go to Levi. I’ll have him start breaking ground.”
My tail lifts behind me, comes forward, and wraps around his fingers, and pulls his hand off my arm. The tassel flicks against his wrist—a goodbye.
“Then I’ll be ready to come home when it’s ready.”
I walk to the door.
He rises behind me. I feel his magic climb in the air of the suite, restless and live, the blue-gold of it pushing against my shoulder, asking me to turn around.
“I can’t do this, Mara,” he says, and his voice is climbing, desperation making it crack. “I can’t let you leave me. I can’t live without you. The mate bond?—“
“It’s going to hurt me more, Aaron.”
My tail lifts again and the tassel brushes across his cheek. Aaron catches the tassel with one hand and pulls it to his lips and kisses it, his mouth lingering there.
“I love you, my beautiful lion,” he murmurs, his voice wet with tears. “I promise you, I’ll get you home. As soon as possible. If I have to figure out how to magically build the cabin myself.”
He kisses the tassel again, his lips trembling against the fur. I pull it away.
His eyes lift to mine, and they have gone hard, something dangerous flickering behind them.
“I love you too, Mara.” His voice drops low, a warning in it. “How long do you think I’ll let this go on before I break.”
A shiver runs up the back of my neck, raising every hair on my body. I catch his scent in the next breath and my lion snaps to attention. It’s not the grief-scent he had a moment ago. There’s something sharp in it now, low and dangerous.
“I hurt you, I’m not denying it,” he says. “But you want to hurt me back. Understandable.”
He rises to his feet. His magic twitches at his fingertips, blue-gold sparks dancing, and he closes his hands into fists, fighting his magic back.
“Let me open a portal for you.”
“I’d rather walk.”
He sucks in a hard breath.
I walk to the door, open it, and step out into the hall. The air outside our suite feels different—colder, emptier.
