Page 11

Abel

M y legs give out and I end up on her living room floor, holding her, breathing her in. The kiss is still burning my lips, and her body is pressed against mine, sending shocks of heat through every nerve in my body.

But it’s not the kiss that has me losing my mind. It’s her. Everything about her. Her scent is all around me. Her warmth, her softness. The pull of the bond is relentless.

I never asked for this, and I never wanted it. But it’s mine now. She’s mine now. And I can’t undo it. I’m not even sure I want to.

Her words are still ringing in my head: “You’re mine, and I’m yours.”

I swallow hard, rolling her over so I can look at her.

“Abel...” Her voice is soft, questioning, and I can feel the weight of her gaze on me. She doesn’t understand. She doesn’t know who I really am.

I drag a hand through my hair. This is too much. It’s all too much.

“I’m not a good man,” I mutter under my breath, more to myself than to her.

“Meaning?” she asks, her voice almost a whisper, but there’s steel in it. She’s not backing down. She never does.

“I did terrible things,” I spit out, my hands trembling with frustration. “I hurt people.”

Her eyes narrow. “I don’t care what you did in the past. I don’t need perfect. I just need you.”

The words hit me like a punch to the gut, and for a moment, I don’t know what to say. I thought I could fight this. I thought I could push her away. I thought if I stayed cold enough, distant enough, I could keep her safe from me.

But it’s not that simple. It never was. She’s already made her way into my soul. She’s already there, a part of my life, a part of me in a way I can’t escape.

“I’m not good enough for you,” I repeat, my voice breaking. “I’m not the man you deserve. I’m just a fuckup, Juliet. A guy with too much baggage. I can’t give you what you need.”

“You don’t get to decide that for me,” she snaps, her voice growing more forceful.

“Maybe you don’t care,” I say, my voice low and harsh, “but I don’t get to have this. Not with you. Not with anyone.”

“Why not?” she asks. “Why can’t we figure this out? Why can’t we make this work?”

I want to shout at her, tell her she doesn’t know what she’s asking. I want to say there’s too much at stake here, my business, my past, her life, her father, everything I’ve built. And the fucking bond is pulling me to her like a magnet. It’s overwhelming. It’s destroying my ability to think.

But instead, I say, “Because I’m an asshole. And I can’t be the man you need.”

There. I’ve said it. I’ve admitted what I am. “I’m a shitty person and I always have been. Just because I stopped running a criminal empire doesn’t mean I’m not that person anymore.”

Juliet pulls me toward her, her eyes filled with something close to frustration, but also a deep, unwavering determination.

She doesn’t understand what I’m trying to tell her, what I’m trying to protect her from.

She sees me as a man who can be redeemed.

But I know I’m too broken, too tainted by my past and the things I’ve done.

“You’re not an asshole,” she says softly, her voice steady despite the way my words must have cut her. “You’re just scared. And that’s okay. So am I. But I’m not asking you to be perfect. I’m asking you to be with me. We both have a past, what I want to work on is our future, together.”

I swallow hard, trying to hold back the emotions rising in my throat. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“I do,” she insists. “I know what I’m asking. I’m asking you to trust me.”

“Trust you?” The words catch in my throat. “Do you understand what’s at stake here, Juliet? This ... it’s not just some phase. It’s a bond. A mate bond. That means something. It means everything. If we fulfill this mating, if I let you mark me, I can’t walk away from it. But neither can you.”

She pauses, letting the weight of my words sink in. But she doesn’t pull away from me like I expected. Instead, she takes a deep breath, eyes burning with resolve.

“I want this. I want you.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying,” I mutter again, standing and backing away from her. “This isn’t what you think it is. It’s not some fairy tale.” I put my cock back in my pants and walk to the far side of the room.

“Then tell me what it is, Abel,” she demands, her voice growing louder, more desperate. “Tell me exactly what this is. Because all I see is us.”

I close my eyes, running my hand through my hair again. I’m losing control. I can feel the bond pulling me to her, making it impossible to think clearly. But I can’t let it go on. I can’t let myself fall this hard, this fast.

“I can’t let you do this,” I say, my voice breaking, my chest tight with a mixture of desire and fear. “I can’t let you ruin your life by being with someone like me.”

“You don’t get to tell me how to live my life,” she says for what feels like the hundredth time, her eyes fierce. “And you don’t get to decide for me that I don’t want you. Because I do. I want you.”

I look at her, and for a second, I almost cave. All we are doing here is going in fucking circles. She simply won’t fucking listen.

But I pull back again, the pain in my chest too sharp to ignore. “I’m not the man you need, Juliet. You’re too young. You deserve better.”

She looks up at me, eyes filled with something both tender and defiant. “I don’t want better. I want you.”

I don’t know how to answer that. I don’t know what to say anymore. All I know is that the longer I stand here, the harder it is to walk away. And I’m starting to wonder if I even want to.