.Chapter 13-3
Claim
I didn’t know what to say to that. The kind of pain he was carrying, the guilt, it was beyond anything I’d ever experienced. But if anything happened to my family because of my actions, I knew I’d never
forgive myself either.
The self-blame, the isolation, the belief that he deserved to suffer for what had happened, I
understood it all too well. I’d seen it in warriors who’d lost their pack mates, in parents who’d lost
children. Survivor’s guilt was a terrible thing, made worse by the fact that he’d been forced to live
with the knowledge that his touch was deadly.
But the need to comfort him, to touch him and be with him, surpassed any modesty or
self-preservation I might have had. The mate bond was singing in my veins, demanding that I
soothe his pain, that I show him he wasn’t the monster he believed himself to be.
I leaned closer and cupped his other cheek with my free hand, forcing him to look at me instead of
getting lost in his memories. His skin was very much alive under my palms, and I could feel his
pulse racing beneath my fingertips.
“Listen to me,” I said firmly. “That witch killed your mother, not you. She used you as a weapon, yes,
but you were the victim too. You were barely twenty years old, and she manipulated you into a
situation where you had no choice but to hurt someone you loved.”
His eyes searched mine, and I could see the war between wanting to believe me and the feelings
that had defined his existence for so long.
“You’ve been punishing yourself all this time for her crime,” I continued. “Don’t you think that’s
enough? Don’t you think your mother would want you to forgive yourself and live your life?”
“How can I live when she can’t?” he whispered.
“Because she died protecting the kingdom she loved, even if she didn’t know it at the time.
Because isolating yourself and wallowing in guilt doesn’t honor her memory, it just lets the witch
win. It lets her destroy two lives instead of one.”
I could see my words hitting home, see the flicker of hope in his eyes that he was trying to
suppress.
“But you’re alive, Kane,” I whispered, my thumbs brushing away the tears I hadn’t realized were falling down his cheeks. “You’re here. You’re with me. And I have good news.”
“What?” he grunted, staring straight into my eyes.
Those blue-green depths were so intense, so full of pain and longing and hope, that I felt
00 20
1/2
|||
O
Chapter 13-3
Claims
hypnotized by them. The mate bond was making me want to lean in and kiss him, to take away his pain in the most basic way possible.
It took me a second to gather myself enough to break the news to him.
“Surprise!” I smiled, trying to lighten the mood even though my heart was breaking for him. “You’re
no longer cursed.”
3
Comments
LUCK DRAW >
Vote
105
20
20
|||
