I care too much about you….
I almost cried right there and then. "Of course I'm crazy…." I whispered to him, blinking rapidly as I touched my nose to his. "I am absolutely, one-hundred-percent crazy for you. I'm not leaving—especially now that I know more." My voice broke a little as I continued. "I'm not leaving unless you want me to—for reasons other than preserving myself. I—God, Colton, do you have any idea how hard you made me fall for you? Don't you dare take that away like this. I don't—"
Here, I released a shaky exhale. "I don't think I would be able to live with myself if I let you go, if you let me go, for a reason I created."
I immediately crashed our lips together, wrapping my arms around her, pulling her closer, removing any space that was left. She’d fallen for me. She liked me. She wasn’t going to leave—she was going to stay by my side. Even if there was a chance I could hurt her. Even if I might lose myself and never return.
“You created?” I scoffed against her mouth, my voice shaking. I just wanted to shut up and kiss her senseless, but I wanted to make one thing clear before taking that step. “Elle, I’m not like this because of you. You are not the reason for any of this.” Here, I pressed my lips against her harder, cupping her cheeks, eyes shut tightly. “None of this is your fault.”
I melted in his hands, crumbled beneath his mouth. "Shut up," I breathed against him, pushing my fingers through his hair, "And kiss me. I'm—"
My voice broke.
"I'm all yours for the taking." And god, did it feel good to say that. To have him hold me, kiss me, whisper my name like it was something sacred. I was trembling all over, a flushed mess, burning in every single place our skin met—–but I couldn't have cared less. I pushed my swollen, aching lips against his, pressed myself flat against him. I gave myself up entirely to him without a second thought.
"I'm. Yours."
I kissed her fiercely, pouring all of my emotions into the kiss, holding her as if she’d disappear if I let go. I kissed her like she was my lifeline—my anchor, glueing the pieces of my broken self together.
And then she whispered that she was mine, and blood roared in my ears. Yes, she was mine. Nobody else’s. She belonged to me. Her body, her lips, her everything. I pushed against her, groaning in her mouth.
“Elle,” I whispered. “Elle, Elle, Elle. Mine. All mine.”
I pulled away from her mouth, staring into her eyes with a deep intensity.
“When I am king,” I breathed heavily, fire burning in my eyes. “I will show you off to the world. I will tell the world how my queen—how their queen tackled hardships and brought women to light. My Elle, first female Bondmate in centuries. Elle, savior of women. Wonderful, hardworking Elle who deserves standing on top of the world.”
For the second time since I'd met him, I felt like I was about to faint.
He flooded my senses—His harsh, heavy breathing, his hands digging into my waist, his heavy, intoxicating scent. Cole. He crowded every single one of my thoughts, leaving no room for anything else.
"Elle." I felt him speak against my mouth, his words drawing shudders from my body. "Elle, Elle, Elle. All mine."
Yes, yes. All yours, I promised him, but my mouth was too numb, too overwhelmed by his rough kisses to form anything other than a tiny whimper. And when he pulled away, when he pinned me down with those burning eyes of his, I knew right then and there that he was going to be the death of me.
"I—" My voice lodged in my throat. I tried to speak again, but each attempt only dissolved into trembling, gasping breaths.
Cole.
“Tell me I belong to you,” I whispered harshly. “Tell me I’m yours and no one else’s. Put your claim on me.”
I wanted to hear from her mouth, to hear her tell me who I belonged to. Not to that witch. Not to the king. Not to the country. Her.
Finally, finally, my swollen lips moved to form semi-coherent words. "You're mine," I breathed, lacing my fingers through his in order to move his hand from my waist to my chest, directly above my hammering heart. "Mine and no one else's. I claim you, Colton—You're mine, and I'm yours."
I sealed the promise with a firm kiss. "Don't—Don't turn from me now."
“I won’t,” I promised. “I will never turn from you. I’m yours now—from this moment to the day we die.”
I pulled her into a kiss again, this time gentler. I kissed her softly, squeezing her hands tightly. Though the kiss was gentle, it didn’t lack the passion. It lacked nothing.
“Thank you for claiming me,” I whispered. “For wanting me, for caring. Thank you, Elle…”
"No," I objected, pulling away to press our foreheads together. "Thank you. I still–I still can't believe this is happening." A hushed, but exhilarated laugh parted my lips. "Is–Is this a dream? Am I going to wake up tomorrow—am I going to wake up alone?"
I'd never been much of a religious person, but at that moment, I was fully prepared to pray every second of the day just so he would remain with me. "I—–God, Cole, I think I'm falling in love with you."
My heart soared at her words. This perfect being was falling in love with me?
“I think I’m falling in love with you, too,” I whispered, closing my eyes, breathing her in. Everything felt peaceful. “Stay with me tonight. Don’t leave. That way you won’t wake up alone.”
"Yes," I breathed, nodding vigorously. "Of course—Of course I will."
He was falling in love with me, too. Colton Miller was falling in love with me. It wasn't even that he was the heir to the throne—no, that didn't matter to me anymore. But I was even more enamoured with him now that he'd exposed this secret side—If that was even possible at this point.
"Two weeks," I whispered suddenly. "You were gone for a little over two weeks." He had the right to know how long that monster—whoever she was—had been in control of him.
I stiffened in her hold, face losing color. Two weeks. I had lost control for two weeks. Not one minute, not an hour, or a day. Weeks.
“Did I… did I hurt you?” I whispered, rubbing my thumb on her cheek. “Did I hurt anyone? Did I do anything wrong? I’m sure I did… any little information, I would have told her…”
"You never—Never hit me," I chose my words carefully, sidestepping his first question. "Unless we were sparring. I–It's impossible for me to say what you might have… revealed. But—"
I leaned into his gentle caresses. "Tell me, Colton. Who is 'she'? How and when did she–did she do this to you?"
Unless we were sparring. That bastard laid a hand on my woman. He hurt her, and I would be an idiot to not know he did it on purpose. I didn’t care about anything else. Just the thought of him touching what was my mine…
“I hurt you,” I whispered, rage making my voice shake, ignoring her questions. “Where? When? How many times have I done it?”
"No, no—" I caught his wrists and held them in front of me. "He didn't hit me. Anywhere. Like I said, unless we were sparring, which I asked you—asked him—to do." I bumped my nose against his. "I'm okay. Alright?"
I took a deep, shaky breath, closing my eyes.
“He would have used that as an excuse to hurt you,” I whispered. “Because you’re mine. Because he likes having power over me. Because he knows causing you distress would bother me. And because he likes wanting to ruin people.”
He had been unnecessarily brutal in our training sessions……But I pushed the thought away. "He's gone now. You're here, so it doesn't matter. I'm okay, and you're back after two weeks—it's going to be alright. I promise."
I dug my head in her neck, breaking her in softly, kissing the skin lightly.
“I’m scared,” I finally admitted. “I’ve only ever gone under five minutes to an hour, but two weeks? I’m scared the next time I won’t come back. I keep hearing her voice in my head, pulling me towards insanity and the worst part is that I can’t help but always listen.”
I cupped his cheeks in both hands, brushing my thumbs back and forth against the soft skin. "You're one of the strongest people I know." My legs tightened around his waist, bringing me closer to him. "And I know a lot of strong people. I don't know who is in you're head, or why they're there. But I know that you'll always come back. And if you're too tired one day, I'll bring you back. I promise."
I held her tighter, sighing with relief. I truly loved this woman. She was amazing… had she always known what to say to make things hurt less?
“Promise me that if I’m too far gone, you won’t try to bring me back,” I picked my head up and looked at her intensely. “And I’m sorry for asking this, but if I’m too far gone… you have to promise you’ll kill me because I’d rather die than hurt you.”
Horror overtook my expression. "No," I breathed, shaking my head firmly, "No. I–I'm sorry, but I cannot and will not promise you that. I would never do that. No matter what you did to me—Because it wouldn't be you hurting me. I'd be punishing you for something you didn't do."
My hands began to tremble slightly. "Don't ask me to do that again."
I immediately regretted asking her that. I should have waited a while before doing so.
I cupped her cheeks in my hands, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I shouldn’t have asked for something like that. I just… I just don’t want to hurt you. Elle, I don’t want you to get hurt.”
"You'd hurt me more my making me kill you than the monster ever could using your fists," I promised, relaxing slightly as he leaned in. "Alright?"
I could no longer hear the harsh spray of rain against glass, nor the deafening clap of thunder, so I slipped from his lap with a slight smile. "Come, the storm is almost over. We should get to your room…. I want to find out what it's like to cuddle you."
I pulled myself to my feet, chuckling softly. Just as we stood up, I pulled her into another quick kiss, hand over her cheek gently.
“I’ll have you know, I cuddle fabulously,” I murmured. “So you have to prepare yourself. You’ll never want to come out of my arms again.”
"I don't think I could ever prepare myself for someone like you," I answered honestly, slightly breathless. "And for the record, I already don't want to leave your arms, so…."
