We crept back into the room, where Brad was sitting next to her.
“You’re okay with Brad more than us?”
Dex had explained that Claire had been the same. Unintimidated by the Omega’s size.
Unfortunately, it still hurt me to know I was her least preferred.
Why didn’t she see that I was here to love her, to protect her?
I was the one who had driven that bear away.
“Well… he’s not as big as you guys. My ex was really tall, and muscly, like you.”
I shuddered against the jealousy that crawled up my skin.
“And this ex-boyfriend… He hurt you?”
Her gaze dropped instantly and I knew we’d come to the root of the problem.
I walked closer and dropped to my knees before her.
I was now looking up at her from the most submissive position I could manage. I saw her shoulders relax as the power of the situation was released and given to her.
“Nevaeh, I’d never hurt you. Quite the opposite. I’d die to protect you. You need to know that, because anything less would shame us both.”
Her gaze met mine and love wove through me, binding me to her.
She gasped and put a hand to her chest.
“What is that?”
I smiled. “The magic of the bonding. It will get stronger with time and you will learn to trust it. But please, we only have another minute or so.”
“One minute exactly,” Claire called loudly from the kitchen.
I rolled my eyes and Nevaeh’s lips kicked up into a smile.
“Tell me what he did to you, so that we can go about repairing the damage.”
“I’m not broken,” Nevaeh declared, straightening her spine, her voice taking on a tone of indignation.
I laughed. “I know you’re not. You’re perfect. But I need to prove to you that I’m not like this last… man. So, I need to know what he did.”
Claire walked in with a hot drink and placed the mug next to Nevaeh on the bed.
She didn’t try to make us leave, she only waited for Nevaeh’s answer.
“He, um… Well, he hit me, for one thing.”
Our gasps could be heard around the room, then Aaron’s low, dangerous growl.
I put a hand out and touched Nevaeh’s knee gently. “Please continue.”
“Um… it’s hard to explain. It seemed he didn’t even like me, but forced himself to be with me. But it wasn’t always that way. He was nice at the start, but that soon changed. Telling me how stupid I was. How, when he hit me, I caused him to do it. He told me I was a curse to him, a poison to everyone around me. I broke up with him, but he would follow me. Send me threatening messages. I’ve tried to get away from him, even moved three times, left the city and came back here. But he… he’s obsessed with me, or something.”
She trailed off and I got the hint that she wasn’t telling me everything.
“Is there anything else?”