Page 130 of The Alpha’s Unclaimed Mate

I cross the kitchen and catch her before she drops. She’s shaking, all of her terror breaking loose at once.

“You’re awake.” Her hands fist against my bare chest. “You’re finally awake.”

“How long?” My voice is rough with disuse.

“Three days.” She pulls back to look at me, furious and wet-eyed. “You nearly died. You nearly died, Marcus.”

She buries her face against me, and I feel her tears on my skin. I hold the back of her head and let her.

“How did I get home?”

“Adrian and the others brought you.” The words tumble fast. “Everyone’s been coming, the healers twice a day. I’ve been helping Adrian with the handover. There’s so much paperwork, nobody knew who was supposed to sign—”

“Jessa.” I tip her chin up. “Stop. Are you all right?”

The bruises on her jaw have faded to yellow. She catches my hand against her cheek. “Apparently getting marked does wonders for healing.” A shaky smile. “Maybe you should’ve done it sooner.”

The joke goes nowhere. Her eyes are swimming.

“I’m sorry,” I say and press my mouth to her forehead.

“Don’t.” She grips my wrist hard. “Don’t you dare do that to me. You made it so I can’t live without you, and then you nearly left.” Her voice wobbles. “You don’t get to make me need you and then go.”

“I know.” I gather her in, and the bond hums with every beat of my heart, a second pulse I’ll never be without now. “I’m here. I’ve got you.”

She wipes her face and pulls out of my arms. “Sit. I’ll feed you.”

“Just sit with me instead.”

“No.” She’s already ladling broth. “I have to do something with my hands. I can’t be still. I’ve been still for three days watching you not wake up.” She sets the bowl in front of me. “Beef. The healer said meat. Eat.”

I take a sip I don’t need to settle her. “There. Satisfied?”

“No.” She sinks into the chair across from me, and the fight goes out of her. “I keep seeing your face when you went down. Do you have any idea what that did to me? Watching the person I lean on for everything go so still?”

I set the bowl aside and draw her around the table onto the sofa with me. “My body was full of poison. Going under was the only way it could keep me breathing.”

She scrubs at her eyes. “And you’re okay now? Really? You’re not going to get torn open like that again?”

“No.” I catch her tears with my thumb. “I’m better than okay.” I press her palm to my chest. “I’ve got my mate. I can feel her right here, and she’s mine.” Joy runs through me, wild and clean. “Mia and Bella?”

“Fine. Both of them are fine, but they wouldn’t leave your side.” She almost laughs. “They ate up there, slept in your bed, kept watch over you. They nearly lost you too.” Her voice thins. “The healer said it was close. The bond almost wasn’t enough because I’m human.”

I push a strand of hair off her cheek. “I don’t care that you’re human. I care that you’re mine.” I tuck her under my arm, and for the first time in ten years, the animal in me settles, curled around the pull of her.

She goes still, and I feel the question coming before she asks it. So I ask mine first.

“Do you love me?”

I brace for her to bristle. She doesn’t. Instead she takes my face in both hands. “Yes. I do. I wouldn’t have tied myself to you for the rest of my life if I didn’t.” The words settle into me somewhere deep, somewhere the poison never reached.

I kiss her cheek, her neck. “Then we’re getting married.”

“Before you go running down that road,” she says, “don’t you have larger things to handle first?”

I look at her.

“Your uncle’s betrayal wasn’t nothing, Marcus.” Her voice softens. “They found your brother and your father buried on the estate. They’ve been reburied properly. That’s a lot to take in.”