Page 136 of Devoted

We made our way to the woods automatically, retracing our steps from yesterday. I rubbed at my temple. How had so little time passed when so much had happened?

“Where would you like me to start?”

Sam itched at his ear, shaking his head a little. “Um, the mates thing. Is that like in the books and movies? Like, you saw me and decided you had some kind of claim over me?”

I winced at his phrasing. “Not really. Well, Idothink you’re mine, but that doesn’t mean you have to accept it. It’s more that you’re the other half of my heart and soul. The one who comes above everything and everyone else.”

Sam stopped walking and faced me. “You’re being serious? Me?”

I nodded. “Yes, Sam. You.”

“You can’t be certain. Maybe you’ve made a mistake.”

“There was no mistake.” I brushed my hand lightly over his jaw. “I knew as soon as I saw you that that’s who you are to me.”

Sam’s shoulders slumped. “So that’s why you brought me here. It wasn’t because you actually like me, but because you think I’m yours.”

“You are mine,” I said, tightening my grip on his chin as he tried to look away. “That won’t ever change, Sam. The question is whether you want me to be yours.”

He bit his lip, his fingers worrying at his ear. “You didn’t know for sure until you saw me.”

“Yes.”

“But you were going to break up with me.” Sam’s eyes filled with tears. “You didn’t want me until you knew I was your mate. Me alone, I wasn’t good enough for you to want to be with.”

“That’s not it at all,” I said fiercely. “I hoped and fuckingprayedthat you were my mate, Sam. From the very first time we spoke, I knew you were special, and that conviction grew with every day that passed. I wanted you, Sam. More than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.”

He blinked and a tear slid free. “Then why did you call me that night? Why were you going to leave me?”

“Because I saw my mate earlier that day.” I recalled the heartache I’d felt in that moment, seeing him and not knowing it was Sam. “Outside a post office in Notting Hill. He shook hands with the man he was with before getting into a car that wasn’t yours.”

“You saw me,” Sam said slowly. “But had no idea it was me.”

“I knew what car you drove. That you didn’t like to shake hands. Most of all, I thought you were at home in bed.”

“But I wasn’t.”

I smiled. “I know that now, but as far as I was concerned, I’d just seen my fated mate. And he wasn’t you.”

A shadow flickered over Sam’s face. His other hand rose to rub at the opposite ear. “So you were going to break up with me to pursue him.”

“No. I was breaking up with you because I knew that if I didn’t walk away before meeting you, I would never be able to do it. Not even for my fated mate.”

Sam blinked rapidly. “Then why did you come that night? When you knew I was in danger?”

“Because, even then, I think I knew I was in love with you. I wasn’t ready to admit it, not even to myself, but that’s what it was. I didn’t give a fuck that you weren’t who I was supposed to be with, all I cared about was that you were in danger. That you could be hurt. I wouldn’t let that happen. I’dneverlet that happen, Sam.”

Sam was frozen, both hands on his ears. “You love me?”

I rubbed at the back of my neck. “I know it’s fast, and I don’t expect you to be in the same place as me but?—”

“But I am,” Sam said quickly, his lips curving into a beautiful smile. “I love you, Zeke. And I don’t give a fuck if it’s too fast. I haven’t had many people take a chance on me. Now that you have? I’m not letting you go.”

My rich laugh was quickly cut off as Sam hissed. He clamped both his hands over his ears, his skin paling. “Can you hear that?”

I went deadly still, using my supernatural hearing. There were more people in the house now, likely the rest of the Seraphim had headed back when the alarm hadn’t immediately been cancelled. Sam wouldn’t be able to pick that up with his human hearing though. And, even if he could, I doubted it’d be affecting him like this. “What can you hear?”

“It’s like a loud humming.” He rubbed at his ears furiously. “It started earlier, and it’s just getting worse. I don’t feel right, Zeke.”

---