Page 25 of Golden Valley
“Seriously.” Risky smiled. “The guy wouldn’t stop talking the whole way, but he was locked on the Make Amends for Almost Killing the Golden Valley Alpha channel so…” Ricky raised one shoulder.
“He does have a tendency to hyper fixate,” Morgan agreed, returning Ricky’s grin.
After a few moments of silence, Ricky’s smile faded. “He told me what happened in the challenge. I'm glad you’re okay.” His gaze was lowered when he spoke, but he pulled it up, the action seeming like it took effort. “I’m sorry for leaving like that and for turning you away when you came for me.”
“I’d hurt you, so you had to protect yourself. I understand.”
“You didn’t. That’s not why.” Shaking his head, Ricky gulped and then licked his lips. “I was scared, and I didn’t know what to do.”
“You were scared of me?”
“Notofyou.” Ricky drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Why is this so hard to explain?” he said under his breath.
“Whatever it is, you can trust me to help you. I’m your mate. Tell me what’s wrong and I’ll fix it.”
A soft laugh accompanied a sniffle and then Ricky looked at him again, his eyes wet. “It’s not that simple.”
Fingers combing through the side of Ricky’s hair, Morgan met his gaze. “Try me.”
“I wasted your time running around searching for me. I almost got you in a fight with multiple Alphas at Blue Mountain. When I talked to my parents, they said you came to Purple Sky and things got physical with Brian Berger. I know I’m the reason you’re in this bed, because no way could Alpha Iredell take you down unless you let him. Your whole pack hates me except the Beta’s mate.” Tears dripped down Ricky’s face. “And even with all that, you have no idea how badly I messed up.”
“Those weren’t my first fights and they won’t be my last. I’m fine. What you see in my pack isn’t hate, it’s fear, and it has nothing to do with you. They’ll come around. And most importantly”—softly, he swiped his thumbs across Ricky’s cheeks and dried his tears—“you can trust me to handle whatever it is that’s scaring you.” He tipped Ricky’s face up and met his gaze. “I’m your mate. Tell me what’s wrong and I’ll fix it.” Because it absolutely was that simple.
