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I loved it when he got bossy with me, but rolled my eyes at him anyway just to egg him on.
“I want to see you eating, because it’s been days since I got to feed you myself to make sure you’re getting enough,” he said bluntly. “When you were in the Stronghold, I worried about you.”
Aww.
Okay, that answer passed all the tests.
“Alright.” I took a bite of the fruit, and he watched me. His eyes drank me in, like he couldn’t get enough of the way I looked. When I’d swallowed the bite, I finally asked the question I’d had jumping around in my mind for days…
“Why did you follow me away from the party that night?”
Twelve
The gleamin Remmo’s eyes told me he’d been waiting for that question. But the reluctance in them told me that he wasn’t sure how I was going to take the answer.
“The full truth,” I reminded him. “I want to know everything. Especially if anything you told me while we were on our little adventure was a lie.”
He nodded. “Alright. If you want the full truth, we need to go back a few months. To the day you and the other unmated seelie women moved into the new Stronghold.”
“Okay.” I took another bite of the fruit, knowing he’d stop talking if he didn’t think I was upholding my end of the deal.
“I was waiting in the trees, hidden, when you and the others arrived. As always, I was scouting for my people. I saw you shift, and turn right to Teris. I smelled your scent in the air immediately. And as soon as I smelled it, I felt it pulling at me, commanding me to move closer, to meet you, to surrender myself to you, to make you mine. But the moment I started to reveal myself, I saw the way you smiled at Teris. And I caught a hint of his scent tangled with yours.”
I stopped eating, and just stared at him.
Remmo stood up, off the cushion he’d sat down on, and began to pace slowly. “I returned to my perch, and I watched until I understood the situation entirely. Until I’d realized that out of all the men in Vevol,Ihad been blessed to be fated to one of the females we all yearned for. And that the woman I wanted—the one whose scent sang to me, whose smile made my chest ache—was in love with another man.My matewas already taken.”
My throat was so damn dry when he looked up at me, focusing on the fruit on my lap. “Eat, Iloli.”
I took one bite, and when that didn’t satisfy him, took two more.
Finally, he continued. “I didn’t know how to respond, at first. Didn’t know what to do. Should I challenge Teris? Kill him for the right to claimmyfemale? And risk breaking your heart in the process? I couldn’t do it. So, I didn’t return to my people; I couldn’t leave your side. When my brothers found me, they realized the situation and urged me to go down and speak to you. To tell you that you belonged to me, and that you needed to leave Teris. But I couldn’t bring myself to do that, either. I wanted it to be your choice, if you chose me. And I refused to be the man you settled on simply because the sabertooth didn’t want you.”
My stomach was a damn ball.
But I forced more fruit into my mouth.
“The night of the party, I’d already figured out the entirety of your plan. I knew you’d never seen me watching you from the trees, so you wouldn’t bother looking for me when you left. I followed you until I heard Teris a long way behind us—and then I knew I had to warn you, or you wouldn’t get away from him. So I introduced myself.”
“With your full name?” I asked quietly.
“Yes. It’s always been yours to have,” he said simply. “I didn’t plan on kissing you. I just couldn’t stand to see your plan fail because of that damn bond with Teris.”
“But why didn’t you tell me, then? I was already leaving him, so what was the point in keeping it a secret?”
“Because you were looking for a reason not to be in love with Teris, and I didn’t want to be that reason.” He ran a hand through his hair—looking disheveled for the first time in ages. “I didn’t want to be your excuse, or your ticket away from the sabertooth. I wanted to be your friend. Your lover. Yourmate. If I told you what I was to you then, you would’ve seen the opportunity. You would’ve used me as an excuse. And I would’ve let you, because I was yours. As I have always been yours.”
I opened my mouth to argue.
To tell him that he was wrong, that I wouldn’t have kissed him and told Teris that I’d met my fated mate so he and I were done.
But… I couldn’t honestly say that was true.
So I closed my mouth for a few minutes.
And I waited.
“I wanted to tell you so damn many times, Iloli. You must believe that. I ached to feel your hands on my skin, to feel you sleep in my arms. But every time I opened my mouth to do so, I heard your words. I remembered your pain. And I put it off a little longer, so I could first prove to you that I wanted to be more thanjustyour fated mate. Fate means almost nothing; friendship, companionship, and love are what matters.”
