Page 48 of Knot Their Princess

I was right, about the question and the fact she could scent the change in me, like my brothers do. All the more proof that she is meant for us. She is just as special as my brothers are.

I gesture over to the couch and we both move to sit there together. “I told you that my family was very important.”

She nods in confirmation.

“Well, when I was a small lad, I was kidnapped.”

Her eyes go wide concerned and fear dancing in their blue depths. “Oh my gods Garen. That’s so terrible.”

I laugh, but it’s not humored. “It’s been almost 25 years. Sometimes, I still have nightmares that send me right back there, a captive for nearly ten months of my life. Almost a year,” I say, like she can’t do math. But the trick has always been to keep talking nonsense until I disconnect. Until I can’t feel what threatens to bubble up inside of me. “There was torture, and some other, unpleasant things...” I let my voice trail off on that, not wanting to psychologically scar my mate. One day, I’ll tell her absolutely everything, but what she wants to know most right now is about this. “There was a time when I was isolated in solitary confinement of sorts for almost six months. At least that’s what I’ve been told afterward. I couldn’t tell the difference in time of day. I couldn’t tell how many minutes or hours or days or months had gone by, whether I was in solitary or not. But the longer that I was in isolation and alone, at such a young age…” My gaze drifts across the room, focuses on a torn spot of wallpaper. “One day I wasn’t alone anymore.”

Sin is quiet, and when I look back at her, she shoots me a questioning look, obviously unable to understand what I’m saying.

I grin and let the other me come out, openly and without restraint.

“I saved him.”

She blinks at the change in my demeanor the change in my voice and my smile grows wicked.

“This little boy was barely out of nappies when they took him. Being alone as a small child is not easy on the psyche. So, I came along to keep him company. To protect him. I made sure all those evil things that they were doing to him weren’t being done to him anymore. I took all the punishment. I took all the abuse and the assaults. When his family finally came to save him, he took me with him. And we escaped together.”

There are tears and sin’s eyes now, and I wonder if I’ve made a mistake. Maybe he’s said too much. Maybe I should’ve waited until we knew each other better, or maybe I never should’ve said anything at all. But when a tear drops from her lower eyelid, she doesn’t turn from me in disgust. Instead, she slowly reaches out with both her arms extended and pulls me in to her chest, hugging my head under her chin, stroking my hair with her fingers so gently and with so much love that I choke.

My other half is never one to stick around when things get emotional, but me? I revel in this love and this care. That she wants to protect me, makes my soul sing.

My fated mate. My everything.

There is no one in this world who I would rather be with than her and my brothers, and, of course, my other half. And I swear, I will destroy anyone and everyone who tries to get in the way of our happiness.

“I would do anything for you,” I whisper against her skin.

She hugs me tighter. “How about letting me help you? Will you do that for me?”

I pull away a bit to look up at her beautiful face. “You want to fix me?” I make it a joke, but she’s the only person who’s ever made such a suggestion. And the thought of it makes my vision swim.

My brothers have always been there for me, have always supported me and, at the very least, pretended that they understood what I was going through. Most of the time they just treat both halves of me as one. As if there’s no difference between us, even though it’s plain as day that we are the yin and yang of my being.

Sin gives me a sympathetic look. And then she reaches out and wipes her thumbs beneath both my eyes, and I realize that I’ve been crying.

I laugh harder.

I can’t remember the last time I cried. It was probably when I was back in that fucking torture den. Hardly over five years old. And you think that maybe being that young I wouldn’t remember all the atrocities. But even when my other side took over, even when he was protecting me, I was always always there. Just like we’re always always together now.

I may not have physically felt anything that happened, but I certainly experienced it. Something akin to an out-of-body experience. Something I haven’t experienced again since being saved and freed from that gods-awful place.

“Helping, healing, and fixing can be completely different things. For the record, I don’t think that you’re broken, Garen. I think you have a great wound inside your soul that needs care. Both of you.”

The fact that she even addresses my other half makes him rouse.

She actually cares about me?

Of course she does you wanker.

There’s no actual fire in my words.

I want to talk to her again. I relinquish control easily and effortlessly, trusting him implicitly.

“I never thought that we would find someone like you. I never thought we’d be worthy of a love like yours. Fated, sure, but pure. You are a kind person. Far too kind for this place. I know a shithole when I see one.”