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“You won’t,” she says. “You can’t fight a flood, Ryle, and I’m pretty sure you can’t breathe water. Please.” She ventures back out, still somewhat shielded from the rain by the rock wall. She plants her hand on my stomach. “Shrink,” she says. “You have to shrink.”
“I have never done this before,” I say. “I don’t know how.”
Is it the rain or is it tears streaming down her face? She wipes her eyes with her sleeves. “Kiss me,” she demands.
“Maysee...” I sigh. “Then you will go inside?”
“Kiss me, Ryle,” she says, her voice a wail. Definitely crying. My heart constricts in my chest. I hate that I’m doing this to her. But I don’t know how to fix it. “Kiss me like it’s the last time.”
How can I refuse? I have to bend my knees and lean over to reach her, but I press my too-big lips to hers. She captures my face between her hands and kisses me back, one hard, fierce press of her lips, before she jerks back and holds me still before her.
“I love you, Ryle. Does that translate?” I shake my head, moving her hands with me. “It means I care about you as much as one human can care about another person. It means I want you as my mate. It means that I need you, and I’d be lost without you. So I can’t leave you.” She releases my face and steps back inside the crevice, close enough to see but too far to grasp, and still very much in danger. “So shrink, damn you! I need you. I love you. And I’ll wait right here for you. If the waters take you, they can take me, too.”
My heart leaps. Swells. That she could feel these things, that she could accept me as her mate? “I... think I understand.” I put a hand to my chest. To my heart. “I love you, Maysee.” I reach for her, though she must remain in the caves. “But you must go.” She sets her stubborn little jaw and crosses her arms. My chest aches with yearning.
And the rest of me...
Exhales.
