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“I left you,” I said, my tone meek.
Silence. Then, “You did.”
“And?”
“And I don’t blame you. I probably would have left me, too.”
I was shocked. “You would have?”
“It’s your life, Morgan,” he said mildly. “You’re the one who has to live it. I made a choice for you. Two choices, actually.”
“Two?”
“I chose life over death. I chose that for you. I didn’t ask if it was what you wanted. I couldn’t ask. I didn’t have that luxury.”
He was right. “Would you have asked me if you’d been able to? Either question?”
The answer came quickly. “One of them. Not both.”
I was startled. “What do you mean?”
“If you’d said you didn’t want to live, I don’t know if I could have accepted that.”
“Oh.”
“You’d also just had to deal with that complete and utterly treacherous bastard. You’d been betrayed by someone you... loved. I don’t think I could have trusted you to believe that, well, that you’d be happy again some day.”
“I didn’t love him,” I said. It was important that he knew that. I half-turned to him, my hand sliding up to his wrist. “I thought I was going to. I mean, I might have... if that had never happened.”
He was quiet for a moment. “I understand.”
“No, that’s not true either,” I said, feeling frustrated with my own ability to say the words properly. “You were there. You were alwaysthere, Draven. Lurking. Watching.” I pinched his wrist. “Literally following us into the woods.”
“I had a bad feeling about Vesper,” he said. “His appearance was too convenient right from the start.”
“Even though Laverna vouched for him? But yes, you were right.” I sighed. “Of course you were.”
“I couldn’t stand the thought of you going off with him. Of him touching you.” He moved his hands up and down the plane of my stomach possessively, and I smothered a little gasp. “It was fucking torture, Morgan. But it was your body. Your life. You had the right to do what you pleased, and I had to tell myself that.”
From the strained sound of his voice, it sounded like he’d had to tell himself over and over again.
“Right,” I said. I hesitated. “And the other question?”
“The other?”
I elbowed him in the stomach, and he feigned a groan. “You know what I’m talking about.”
“Would I have asked you to be my wife? Asked you to be my mate?”
“Yes. That question.” I felt as if I were holding my breath.
“I didn’t know that I was going to do that...until the way opened up and there was no other choice. The two things were really one and the same.”
I swallowed. “And that’s the problem, Draven.”
“What do you mean?”
“My life and this...mating. One hinged on the other. You could only save me by creating this bond with me. Right? That’s how it worked?”
