Page 77 of Five to Love Him
“We’re sorry. We messed up.”
The one who’d buried his face in the pillow had spoken, but it was so quiet, I barely heard. I rubbed his back, slowly freaking out myself. This was definitely unusual, and something was very wrong.
“Can you tell me a little more?”
None of them were meeting my eyes, but the one I was still holding buried his face in my neck.
“We are so very sorry. We’re sorry. We didn’t think this would happen. We thought… We didn’t think at all.”
“That’s okay, hive. I can help you. Just let me.”
“No,” they said, this time with more than one, and they stirred, once more coming closer and holding on to me, still without looking me in the eye. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you. No matter what, he will never touch you. We’re going to make sure of that.”
“Who, hive?” Whoever they were talking about, that person needed something really fucking bad to happen to them if this was how the hive reacted to them.
“We’ll tell you. We know we have to. We’ll tell you, but you must remember that we are sorry. We knew we were being deceptive, but we still did it. We are so sorry.”
“Hive, it’s okay. Oh, my love, look at me, it’s okay.”
But they didn’t, wouldn’t. They nestled close though, weren’t pushing me away or anything like that. I had no idea how to put their mind at ease or keep them from going back to crying.
“We… It was some time ago. It doesn’t matter how long. Before we met you. It wasn’t here, not in the jurisdiction of the Hawthorne night court. There was a human, and we’d met him a few times before this. He told us he could give us a wonderful opportunity for work.
“He was not a good person, Leo. We didn’t see that outright. He took us to meet that human, and…the details don’t matter. He had lots of money, had lots of money come in from illicit trading and other things.” The hive laughed a humorless laugh. “He called it an investment portfolio. We said we didn’t want anything to do with it because it was all illegal.”
They went back to being silent and still shivering all around me, holding on to me. A tear fell from their cheek to my neck, sending cold shivers down my spine as I held them.
“He didn’t just want our skillset. We didn’t really understand. He drugged us, some of us. That was very bad. He had helpers there. Then he put two of us in a room and said the other three would be responsible for the money, but the two, the two… He had a key for the room, and we could never get to it, and whenever he was in the mood, he would come into the room and lock the door and use the restraints if we refused him. Leo, we are so very sorry. We didn’t want any of it, we swear.”
The meaning of their words landed like a gut punch. I wasn’t sure I understood although I understood. I was trembling myself now.
“You were locked in a room. And that person assaulted you?”
They nodded, but only with the one who was clinging to me as if he’d fall apart if I let go of him.
“He used to say we liked it because we got hard, but we didn’t. We swear we didn’t. We didn’t want to lie to you, but we were so scared. We know this taints us, and we know you have the right to loathe us and tell us you don’t want us.”
My heart dropped about a mile, and I was putting together that they had been, one, afraid I’d reject them over this, and two, been around me all this time with this thing weighing them down.
I had no fucking idea how they’d managed to keep it together, but I remembered when they’d started spending the night here and going to school with me, when they’d always looked over their shoulder and been watchful. I remembered all the times they’d talked about protecting me, and, idiot that I was, I’d thought they meant from Headprincipal Farrow or countless other supernaturals, maybe even from my own frail human nature.
But no. They had been scared shitless of this. And of me, of my reaction.
“Hive. I love you. I want you. I didn’t think being mated—being your gleaming one—would make me feel that way. I love you. I want you, and I’ll never leave you alone.”
That led to them going into rough crying mode again while also throwing their arms around me as much as they could. It was overwhelming, but who the fuck cared? I wasn’t the one who had been hurt. I wasn’t the one hurting. I was just this perfect hive’s stupid mate who’d ignored any and all signs that they weren’t doing as well as I thought they were.
On top of everything, it wasn’t like it mattered, like I mattered. They did, and only they. I was just going to have to do what I could and hope it was the right thing.
“The phantom pain you mentioned.” I stroked the head of the one who’d been crying on my shoulder. “You’re talking about the two who were locked in that room.”
They nodded, said nothing.
“This one?” I stopped stroking their hair and put my hand on their head so they knew which one I was talking about.
Another nod.
“Will you let me kiss you? Kiss this one?”
