Page 79 of Dark Auctioned Mate

The sacrifice was astounding, and it made her understand something important. She didn’t want him to make that sacrifice. Not that she did not appreciate it. But because she was finally ready to make her own choice.

“I want to stay right here—with you.”

Rael went very still. “Alanis—”

“Let me finish.” She tightened her grip around his hand. “I was angry when I first got here. I resented it. I did not want to be a part of your pack. I did not want any of it. I was just waiting for the opportunity to run away and go back to the Lumen. But somewhere along the way, something changed.” She glanced down at their intertwined fingers. “I started to see Weston Pack as people who were trying to make things better. I saw Silas trying his best to undo the damage your father made to the pack because of his ideologies. I saw Elle being accepted despite the fact that she’s part human. I saw Sara and some of the pack members looking at me and treating me kindly when they had no reason to, and I saw the real you. Not the Alpha who bought me at an auction, but the man who made sure I knew my choices. The man who protected me and loved me when love was the last thing on my mind. I love you, Rael,” she confessed. “I think I’ve loved you for a while, but I was too scared to own up to it.”

“Scared of what?”

“Scared of choosing something for myself instead of duty. Scared of wanting something that felt selfish. Scared of loving you and then losing you like I’ve lost everything else.” Alanis blinked back fresh tears. “The Lumen saved my life. But you—you made me want to actually live it.”

Rael’s hands tightened on hers. “You’re really staying?”

“I’m really staying.” She smiled. “I would like to build a life here. I would like to wake up in your house in the morning. I would like to continue working with trauma survivors, but as a part of the pack rather than the Lumen. I would like to eat dinner with your family and watch Isa grow up, and maybe someday….” She stopped, her cheeks heating up.

“Maybe someday what?” Rael prompted.

“Maybe one day we will have a family of our own. If that’s something you want, of course.”

“Alanis, I want it all with you—a family, a home, a future—all of it.”

“I have to speak to Deva. I have to make sure she knows I did not abandon the Lumen. That I will continue to help her and be available when she needs me. But my home now is here. With you.”

“Whatever you want. Whatever makes you happy. We will make it work.”

Alanis looked at him—this man who had turned her whole world upside down and somehow made it even better.

“I love you,” she said again. “I love you, Rael, and I’m choosing you. I’m choosing us. I’m choosing this life we can build together.”

Rael pulled her into his arms, ever mindful of her wounds. “Say it again.”

“I love you,” Alanis said, kissing his chest.

“Again.”

“I love you.” She pulled back to look into his eyes. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

Rael crashed his lips against hers in a sweet and gentle kiss. “Best words I’ve ever heard.”

“Better than me staying?”

“They are both tied for first place.” He smirked against her mouth. “I do not mind if you wish to continue saying them.”

“I love you,” Alanis giggled, kissing him between words. “I love you. I love you.”

Rael moaned, threading his hand into her hair. “You are making it hard for me to be a gentleman.”

“Who said I wanted a gentleman?”

“Your broken ribs, to begin with.” Rael pulled back, his eyes hazy with desire and concern. “You need to heal, Alanis. We have time. We don’t need to—”

“I need you. I want to feel alive. I want to feel loved. I want to feel anything but pain and fear.”

She watched him falter and saw the moment his restraint broke.

“We do this slowly, carefully. And if anything hurts—”

“I will let you know.”