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“And of course you assumed that I would hurt you, the way the human male did.” She could hear the sincere regret and remorse in his deep voice. “Gods, Abbey, I am so sorry. No wonder you feared to come spend time alone with me during our Claiming Period.”
“I thought you wanted…what Henry wanted.” Her hand tightened into a fist inside his. “You don’t, do you? Please—please don’t do that to me! I…I couldn’t stand it if it happened again.”
“Never!”
To her surprise, she felt him move. The big golden blur beside her was suddenly at her feet instead and she realized he was kneeling in front of her. He took her other hand so that he was holding both of her hands in his. He was close enough that she could see the vague gleam of his golden eyes looking at her.
“Abbey,” he rumbled. “I swear by the Goddess, the Mother of All Life, that I will never take what you’re unwilling to give. Please believe me—you have my word as a Monstrum warrior that you’re safe with me and may the Goddess strike me dead if I lie.”
Abbey found herself surprisingly touched—she could almost feel how sincere he was. It was like a current running between them somehow.
“All right,” she said hesitantly. “But…now that you know I’m blind and…and what happened to me, don’t you want to let me go? I mean, I’ve got a lot of baggage—wouldn’t it be easier for you to just send me back down to Earth and forget about me?”
There was a motion in front of her that made her realize he was shaking his head.
“Forget you? How could I ever do that? Abbey, please try to understand—you’re my fated mate. I’m not going to give up on you because of something that happened in your past, or because you see differently than I do.”
“But…but Solon,” she said, using his name for the first time. “I just don’t think…I don’t know if I can ever let myself be with a guy again—I mean sexually. I know some girls can get over things like…like what I went through, but I honestly just don’t think I’m one of them.”
“I would never demand that you give yourself to me unless you felt ready and willing. Please give me a chance.” She heard the pleading in his voice. “I swear to you I won’t touch you if you don’t want me to—just let me get to know you—and give yourself a chance to know me.”
Abbey frowned.
“What about the different weeks of the Claiming Period?” she demanded. “The Holding Week…the Bathing Week…the, uh, Tasting Week…?”
“We don’t have to do any of that if you don’t want to,” he promised. “And if you change your mind, we can flip it on its head—you can touch me but I won’t touch you. Not unless you ask me to.”
Abbey gave him a skeptical look.
“Really? You’re willing to promise me all that just to keep me around for a month?”
“I’m willing to promise almost anything.” His deep voice was hoarse. “You don’t know how rare it is, to find your fated mate. I can’t let you slip through my fingers if there’s anything I can do to stop it.”
Abbey frowned, thinking it over. Then she leaned forward.
“Let me have my hands back and then I want you to hold still,” she told him.
“All right.” Instead of asking questions, he allowed her hands to slip from his and then went completely still before her.
Carefully, Abbey reached for him and put her hands on his face. She knew it was another blind-girl cliché—she didn’t really need to do this. But she wanted to feel his features—his expression—she wanted to see if he was really sincere. She couldn’t help remembering the smirking smile she’d felt on Henry’s face when they were alone together—not that he liked letting her touch his face.
“C’mon, babe—that’s enough,” he’d say, moving away when she tried to touch him. It hadn’t seemed it at the time, but now Abbey wondered if he’d been trying to hide his true emotions and intentions. And she wondered if Solon was trying to hide something as well.
But the big Kindred didn’t try to brush her hands away. He knelt in front of her patiently as she ran her fingers delicately over his face, tracing his high cheekbones and strong brows…the broad, flat bridge of his nose and the deep sockets of his eyes. He had short, dense fur that felt silky and smooth against her fingertips and surprisingly long lashes for a man, she thought. His face felt honest—if that made any sense—though it also felt stern.
She didn’t think that Solon was the type to joke around a lot—though of course she could be wrong. Possibly his face just felt serious right now because of the extremely serious conversation they’d been having.
His hair was like a lion’s mane, wild and silky and full and the twisting horns that grew from his temples felt like living wood. They were pointed at the ends but not sharp enough to cut her finger. She wouldn’t have to worry about them much, since he was so much taller than her—there was no possibility of her running into them, she thought.
Through the whole examination he stayed still and didn’t complain a bit. In fact, Abbey got the distinct impression that he liked having her hands on him, though he didn’t directly say so. It was just a feeling she got from him.
“All right,” she said at last, withdrawing her fingers. “I believe you. I don’t know why, but I do.”
“Thank you.” He blew out a breath. “Then you’ll stay with me for the Claiming Period?”
“Do I have a choice?” Abbey raised her eyebrows at him.
“Legally, no. But if you say you want to go, I’ll let you. I don’t want to—I want a chance to get to know you. But I understand that it must be incredibly difficult for you to trust a male again after…after what happened to you,” he said in a low voice.
