Page 19 of The Brooding Alpha's Mate
“You’re not attracted to me. I get it.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, omega.”
He shrugged. “You haven’t kissed me.”
Clearly, I’d been too careful with him physically and in the process had hurt him. “Omega mine, you are the most beautiful male I’ve ever laid eyes on. I am more than attracted to you. You are like a magnet and I’ve been at war with myself. Giving you time and space to heal before we mated.”
He shook his head.
“Colson, you would know if I was lying. What does your wolf say?”
“You’re not lying.”
“Want more proof?” I took his hand in mind and guided it over my straining cock. “Don’t ever think that I don’t want you. I’m trying to care for you and love you the best I know how, omega.”
He gasped. “You take great care of me, Alex.”
“Let’s shift. I want to see how lovely my wolf mate is.”
We shifted at the same time and I was right. His wolf was dark gray with piercing green eyes. He was thin, probably because Colson was, but we would work on that little by little.
My wolf took off in a sprint. I gave chase, but my bear was much bigger and slower. Colson turned around, realizing I wasn’t keeping up and slowed to accommodate me.
I was glad for it. I wouldn’t be able to protect him if he ran ahead. We should’ve discussed it before we shifted, but I had other things on my mind.
We ran and ran until I felt Colson’s tiredness seep through our new-but-already-thick bond.
I nudged his flank with my nose, hoping he would take the hint. It was time to return to the cabin.
Time for him to eat.
We slowed, trotting more than running back to our safe haven. I shifted first and gathered our clothes, ready to hand him his. But when Colson shifted back to two legs, I fell to my knees. His back was to me and I saw the total picture of what the lions had done to him. Silvery flesh ran down his back in rivers of pain. Even his buttocks were covered in the scars.
“What?” he asked me, coming over to kneel in front of me.
“Baby, what did they do to you?” I couldn’t contain my emotions any longer. Rage and sadness flowed through me effortlessly. Seeing my sweet mate treated like that. The degree of his abuse. The torture.
“You’ve seen it, right? When you rescued me.”
“Not your back. Not all of it.”
My omega wrapped his arms around my shoulders. “Don’t cry, Alex. I’m okay. I’m fine. Please don’t cry. You’re breaking my heart.”
“You’re breaking mine. How could they do that to you? How could anyone do this to another person? Does it hurt? What can I do?”
He shook his head and turned to bury his face in my neck. “Not anymore. Not anymore, alpha. I swear.”
He lied. I wouldn’t call him on it. Not yet. My breaths became ragged. The raw, baser desire to shift back into my bear and hunt those lions down was right under the surface.
But he was here with me, and my first priority was his care—his safety.
No one would take him from me or abuse him ever again.
“Did they?” I asked, choking over the last part of the question. “I’ll kill them.”
“No. The healer asked me that too. There was no abuse of the sexual kind. Just the verbal and physical.”
“What can I do?” I asked, sobbing even harder. My hands splayed against his back and even with the rough surface of my skin, I could feel the dips and valleys of his scars. I would’ve done anything to make them go away. Take them from him. Inflict them on myself to free him of the anguish.
