by Marcy Jacks
They stayed silent like that for a time. Silver soaked in the warmth of his mate, comforting himself with it. Erin apparently noticed something was wrong.
“Silver?”
“Shh.”
Erin couldn’t seem to obey that simple command.
“Are you okay?”
He didn’t feel okay. He was shaken. He didn’t like the feeling of being shaken. He was the commander of his clan, and he was supposed to be made of stronger stuff than this.
And yet…
“I was so fucking scared.”
Erin looked up at him, then curled his arms around Silver’s waist, holding him back. “You’re all right.”
Silver rolled his eyes. “Not for me, idiot. For you.”
“For me?”
Silver looked down, just as his mate dared to glance up at him with those big doe eyes. The long lashes that kept getting him right in the chest.
Silver had to look away before he could fall entirely under their spell.
“Our mating is new, but it’s still a mating. I watched them chase you away. I barely felt the pain in my foot just knowing they wanted to take you from me. What they were willing to do to you to get to you.”
Silver clenched his hands into fists. “I lost one mate already. I…can’t handle it if I were to lose another. The pain is…it was so fucking unbearable that I…”
Erin blinked up at him, then rested his head against Silver’s chest. “You don’t have to say any more.”
Silver looked down at him, at the calm expression on Erin’s face as Erin held him.
“I’ve never had a mate, but I know what it’s like to lose people you love. The mating might be making me love you, but I still love you, and I want to protect you as much as you want to protect me.” Erin held him a little tighter. “That’s the only reason why I ran when you told me to. To get them away from you, but next time…I don’t think I can make you any promises. I don’t know if I can run away from you if that ever happens again. It hurt too much to do it.”
Silver needed some time to take in those words. His mate loved him? Well, that was to be expected, but to hear it confessed so soon…
He felt as though he should say it back, and shouldn’t it be easy? If his fear of losing Erin, his need to protect him, and to get revenge on those who would hurt him wasn’t already a sign of his love, he didn’t know what was.
And yet, he struggled.
“Erin…I can’t give Ajax up. I can’t do that to him.”
“You don’t have to.”
Silver shook his head. “Do not martyr yourself over a dead man.”
“I’m not. I mean it.” Erin took Silver by his chin, forcing him to look Erin in the eyes.
There was nothing but peace there.
“It’s okay that you loved him first, or even if you love him more than me. I get it. Just, make me a promise that you can love me? I’m all right with being second in your heart otherwise.”
Silver’s throat closed. His chest constricted, and his heart seized up. It was by far the worst pain he’d experienced in a long time. Worse than even the throb on his ankle.
In that moment, he knew for a fact what the emotion he struggled with was.
Silver brought Erin’s knuckles to his lips.
“That will be an easy promise to keep.”
The understanding in Erin’s eyes made his declaration more than worth it when his mate kissed him.
THE END
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