Page 164 of Bound By Song

I squeeze my eyes shut.

I know he’s right. I’ve known for days.

“I just…” My voice breaks. “I’ve neverlovedsomeone like this. Not like this.”

“Thenshowher.”

I nod, slowly.

“Tonight?” Xar asks.

“Tonight.”

He gives my shoulder one last squeeze before letting go. “She’ll wait for you, you know.”

“I won’t make her wait much longer.”

I hear her crying before I open the door.

Not quiet, not the kind you can pretend away. This is raw, aching, full-body sobbing – and I don’t even need to scent the air to know it’s Evie. Her grief hits me in the chest like a battering ram, sudden and suffocating, and my hands ball into fists at my sides.

I should go to her.

But I don’t.

Not yet.

Instead, I lean against the corridor wall, stare up at the ceiling, and breathe through the storm gathering in my chest.

Blaise is beside me before I can speak.

“You heard?” he asks.

I nod once.

He scrubs a hand through his hair, jaw tight. “She thinks you don’t want her.”

A sharp ache pulses behind my ribs. “I do.”

“Then why haven’t you touched her?” Blaise demands, voice low and simmering with pent-up rage. Rage I absolutely deserve to be on the receiving end of. “Three days, Dane. Every time she reaches for more, you back away.”

“I didn’t want to take advantage,” I admit, throat rough. “She’s vulnerable. She’s in heat.”

Blaise’s eyes narrow. “She’s also lucid. In control. It’s day four and I think she’s almost done. Don’t forget, we talked about boundaries before this started and you know damn well she meant them.”

“I know,” I grit out.

“So what’s really holding you back?”

I don’t answer right away. The words feel too big, too tangled. I think of her eyes – shining, desperate, hopeful. I think of the way she looks when she comes apart, the trust in her touch, the way she clings to me in her sleep like I’m the only safe place left in the world.

“I’m scared,” I say finally. “Not of her. Of...not being enough. Of letting her down. Of wanting too much.”

“Then let her decide,” Blaise says, frustrated. “Stop trying to protect her from feelings she’s already carrying.”

He claps my shoulder once, hard, then walks off.

But he doesn’t understand.

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