by Marcy Jacks
“I sent you away because…I didn’t want you to know, and then it scared me so damned much to realize…I didn’t want to admit to it.”
Jason’s breathing picked up, and so did the rate of his heartbeat. This sounded like a confession, and that was exactly what Jason was hoping for, what the fantasy scenario would be in a situation like this.
“Didn’t want me to know what?”
Kraigan’s expression remained sad. He looked like a dog who had been kicked by his master. “That I care for you. That I love you.”
Kraigan was silent after he spoke those words, as though waiting for the world to collapse around him now that the words were out in the open. When that did not happen, and when Jason didn’t respond, he continued. “I don’t even know when it happened. I couldn’t tell you for sure, but I knew when I began to like being with you, being near you. I always had to be near you. Then we had sex, over and over, and that last time, I just…I knew that if I didn’t get away something would happen. Something did happen. You were attacked again, and this time I wasn’t there to save you, and when I found your body, I thought you were dead.”
Kraigan’s voice wavered when he spoke those last words. From the way he said it, it almost sounded as though he still thought he’d found Jason dead and was worried this might be some sort of dream or hopeful hallucination.
“I’m alive,” Jason said, and he couldn’t help but smile. It would have been nice if Kraigan had been there in time to save him again, like he always was, but this Jason would accept. If waking up in this parallel universe where Kraigan wanted him and claimed to love him was what happened after Jason was attacked, then he would gladly accept it.
“Do you mean it?” he asked, and he sounded unsure and pathetic even to his own ears. “It’s okay if you don’t.”
“I do mean it, I do,” Kraigan said, and he pulled Jason forward for another hug. “I never want you to scare me like that again. I…I can’t handle that happening again.”
At first Jason thought Kraigan was talking about his incredible ability to find himself in perilous situations, but then Kraigan continued.
“I...I had to watch...my family, all of them. They were ripped to pieces in front of me, and I thought I’d found you...”
Jason’s heart ached for the man. Finding Jason like that—when he’d tried to send him away for his own safety—had clearly gotten to him.
Jason sniffed, and he couldn’t hold it back. “I love you, too,” he said. “I don’t know when it started either,” he said with a laugh that pained his throat but was definitely worth it. “But I realized it right before…well, I just knew it.”
Kraigan’s face fell. “Before I asked you to leave. I’m sorry.”
He hadn’t asked so much as thrown Jason from his room, but Jason wasn’t going to bring that up. Water under the bridge. He was done. He wouldn’t hold on to any grudges so long as Kraigan continued to be in love with him. Jason would be happy and content for the rest of his life.
Kraigan held him close, petting his hair and his back as though he needed that small touch just to convince himself this was real, that Jason was alive.
“What happens now?” Jason asked. He hated to break the quiet moment, but it needed to be done.
Kraigan sucked in a small breath. “I will take you for my mate, with your approval. I will announce it to the nest, and I will threaten to take the head of anyone who thinks to take their anger out on you for it.”
A mate. Kraigan wanted him for a mate. Jason’s insides warmed up and melted into a pile of unidentifiable mash.
Jason nodded, frantically, eagerly.
“Is that a yes?” Kraigan’s voice was so soft, so careful, as though he feared it might be a no.
“Yes,” Jason said, and though his neck and throat hurt, he was feeling well enough to look up at his mate and press a kiss to Kraigan’s mouth.
It didn’t last long before his stomach growled, and he pulled away to eye the plate of food Kraigan had brought here. “I’m hungry,” he said, and Kraigan laughed. He actually laughed as he reached for the food.
If Jason and Kraigan were going to be mates, then Kraigan had best get used to taking care of him right now.
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marcy Jacks lives and works in Ontario, Canada where she is fervently pursuing the writer’s life while writing about lots of gorgeous guys. She loves hearing from readers and you can reach her at [email protected].
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