"The same thing I did that day," I replied, my chest tightening at the reminder of her trauma. "Anything I can to bring you out of it. Hugs usually help."
She raised an eyebrow, her expression wholly unreadable. "So there'll be more hugs?"
"As many as you want," I agreed, my heart pounding.
"And chocolate pots?"
"I'll buy the whole supermarket for you," I vowed, aware the eggs were burning and not giving a shit because there was a tiny smile on the edge of Luna’s mouth, and butterflies in my stomach.
"Hmm. Alright."
I startled."Alright?"
She smiled suddenly, like she'd been holding it back.
"I'll give you a chance—on a probationary period," she added as I took the mug from her hands and pulled her into a tight hug. "And next time you feel me have a nightmare, come wake me up yourself."
"Deal," I agreed, a giddy laugh trying to bubble up my throat. "I'll do whatever it takes to make you feel safe, and to make you happy. You own me—you have since the second your scent hit me."
"Don't be so dramatic," she muttered, but she was laughing and hugging me back, and there was so much relief and joy and bewilderment in my body that I shook with it.
"Spend the day with me," I blurted. "I want to get to know you better, make you food, hug you when your flashbacks get bad—"
"Okay," she cut me off, light in her beautiful eyes and her hands warm on my back. "Remember this is aprobationaryperiod."
It was a probationary miracle. I hadn't expected her to forgive me, but I was damn glad she had.
"And I can't make any promises. You were right before when I—uh—propositioned you in the toilet. Not my finest move," she added when my lips twitched. "I don't think I'm ready for sex. I don't know how long it'll take—"
"Luna," I cut in gently, slowly reaching up to tuck a braid behind her ear. "I can wait as long as you need. And if you never feel okay with sex, that's fine too."
She scoffed, shaking her head. "I won't be enough without—"
"Yes you will," I argued. "Youare. That's not going to change."
"But you're a man—and abiker. Isn't sex a pretty important thing to you?"
"I'm an alpha; my mate is the most important thing to me."
"You're impossible," she groaned, but she didn't release me. If anything she squeezed me tighter. "And I think you're wrong; this will be a problem."
"It won't," I argued.
"Thisgetting to know youis going well," she remarked dryly. "I've learned you're stubborn as hell."
I chuckled. "It's for the best that you learn that early."
She cast the pan of eggs a glance. "Seriously, though. If this, ifanything, becomes a problem, tell me. I'm not so blind or naïve that I think a mate bond magically fixes all our issues. I know I'm—I'm probably in denial about a lot of things, and maybe one day those things will bite me in the ass."
I stroked her back over her coat, sensing there was more she wanted to say and fucking elated with what she already had said. The eggs were definitely burning; the smoke alarm would go off soon. I made no attempt to move.
"But I guess—I want to try this, if you do. Being mates."
"I want to," I assured her, probably too fast if her soft laugh was anything to go by. "And whatever issues we have, we'll cross those bridges when we get to them. I'm not going anywhere, no matter how hard things are."
"What if I can't handle you touching me some days?"
"Then I won't touch you," I replied easily. "Or I'll use one of those plastic reacher-grabbers."