Page 92 of Taken Off Camera
Sebastian winces, the reaction subtle but unmistakable. “We’ve been discussing the situation since I found out about your stalker. Gabriel and Ezra drove up to the manor today for this meeting. Adding you and Saint was an unexpected variable, and we should have put this off until I could prepare you.”
“Prepare me?” The thread snaps between my fingers. “For what exactly? Finding out my Alpha’sfamily discusses killing people the same way I plan what movie to watch on Friday night?”
His hand passes over his face, rubbing at the tension between his eyebrows. “It’s not that simple.”
“It seemed pretty simple from where I was sitting.” The words come out sharper than I intend.
Sebastian raises his hands slowly, as if soothing a spooked animal. “Micah, I don’t expect you to be comfortable with this overnight. Or ever, really. But what my family does…” He pauses, searching for words. “We protect our own. By any means necessary.”
“And now I’m one of ‘your own’?” My hand rises to the Mark on my neck, the skin still sensitive beneath my fingertips.
“Yes.” The single word is a declaration and a promise rolled into one. “That’s what the Mark means to them.”
My chest stings. “And to you?”
“I want you to be, but I never meant to force it. I should have…” He hangs his head. “I’ve fucked this up, Micah, and I’m so sorry for that. If I’d been a better Alpha, if I’d been able to stop myself from Marking you… I left to put distance between us, to give you a chance to let the Mark fade. I was going to handle Travis while you recovered. We can still change tactics. You don’t have to be involved.”
He reaches out to cup my elbow, and I find myself unable to resist when he tugs me forward. “But leaving stopped being an option when you walked through our front door. I’m sorry it happened this way, and I will do everything in my power to make it up to you.”
That should freak me out, but instead, it eases the tension from my shoulders. Whatever my doubts about whether I can fit in here, Sebastian is firm about keeping me as his mate. And he’s not demanding I embrace their world right away. The understanding in his expression offers a lifeline in waters too deep for comfort.
At my silence, Sebastian releases me and turns toward the door. “You need time to process. I’ll have someone show you to?—”
“What happens if I become a liability?” The question bursts from me.
Sebastian freezes mid-step, his back to me. “What?”
“Or Saint?” I push past the fear trying to choke me. “What happens if we know too much? If we threaten your family’s security? Do we disappear like the enemies you neutralize?”
Sebastian turns back, his expression shifting from surprise to wounded. “Is that what you think of me? Do you believe I’d hurt you? Or allow my family to?”
“I’m not sure what to think anymore.” My hands tremble, and I shove them into my pockets. “Two hours ago, I thought I knew you. Now, I’m not sure.”
Sebastian crosses the room in three long strides and drops to his knees before me, his broad hands coming to rest on my thighs.
“Listen to me, Micah.” His palms warm me through the denim of my jeans. “No one in this house will ever harm you or Saint. Not while I draw breath.”
“But your family?—”
“My family understands boundaries.” He squeezes my legs, grounding me to the moment. “We may operate outside conventional morality, but we have a code. And that code includes protecting those who belong to us.”
The word ‘belong’ still catches in my chest, a hook I can’t dislodge. “And if your family changes their minds someday? If I become an inconvenience?”
Sebastian’s face hardens, determination carving lines around his mouth. “Then they would have to go through me first.” His hands slide up to cradle mine,pulling them from my pockets to hold between us. “I’ve spent my life in service to my family name, protecting and advancing it. Living by its rules.”
His thumb traces circles on my palm. “But I’m not bound to it above all else.”
Doubt must still show in my expression because Sebastian continues. “I realize our relationship began as transactional, but our evening conversations took away my loneliness. You made me believe I was cared for and seen. You gave me confidence in myself I hadn’t known in years.”
Heat rises to my face at the memory of our early conversations, the careful way we circled each other online, the gradual building of trust where I let the clock run out, where I felt comfortable enough to ask him to talk to me until I fell asleep. He wasn’t the only one who benefited from our relationship, nor the only one who felt less alone.
“If I ever have to choose between my family’s power and you,” Sebastian says, each word deliberate, “I’ll choose you.”
My breath catches at his raw sincerity, and I search his face for any hint of deception, but find only unflinching certainty.
“I believe you.” My fingers find Sebastian’s hairbefore I realize I’ve moved, the short strands both coarse and soft, just like the man before me.
His eyes close at my touch, tension melting from his body as I trace the contours of his scalp.
