"I'll cave if you get fresh with me. This is for my own good."
"Thank you, Darian." The tight note in her voice told him how heartfelt the simple words were. She stood. "I promise not to make you wait too long. I just need a little time to think."
"I'm not going anywhere."
Jenn nodded and strode towards the stairwell. Darian watched her then finished his cheeseburger slowly, listening to her thoughts. She was at war with herself, a war he understood too well. She'd never forgiven herself for leaving her family, and she'd never given herself permission to move on and be happy.
He rose, distressed by the familiar despair. Darian hesitated before making his decision and taking the stairs two at a time. The door to his room was closed. He pushed it open. Jenn lay across his bed in the dark, sobbing quietly. Affected, he pushed off his boots and sat beside her. He touched her shoulder. When she neither rejected nor attacked him, he lay down beside her and wrapped an arm around her, holding her tightly against him.
Darian closed his eyes and watched the discordant memories flickering through her mind, not wanting her to suffer alone. His heart ached to see his mate in such pain, but he knew from experience there was nothing more he could do. She had to accept her past before she, too, could move on.
He held her until she cried herself free of tears, and her body relaxed in his arms. When her breathing grew steady, she shifted.
"You don't have to stay," she said.
"When you care about someone, you don't run from them," he said pointedly.
"Ouch."
"Darian two, Jenn five hundred."
"I'll fuck this up, Darian. Somehow, I will," she whispered, the raw note in her voice making his arms tighten around her.
"No, you won't. Neither of us will. We're a good pair. I kill Others and you rescue me," he replied.
"I'm serious. Aren't you worried?"
"I'm terrified by what comes, but I don't fear what's between us," he said and kissed her temple. He let his hands travel down her arm and side, enjoying the sensation of her body.
Silence fell. The contact of their skin was causing a raging fire within him. Darian tried hard not to think about holding her body against his in his own bed. She didn't move away from him, the first sign she'd given that maybe she had come to terms with their relationship moving to the next level. He left her mind alone, not wanting to intrude now that she was calmer.