Page 70 of The Alpha's Silent Mate

“Why not?”

“It sounded like your heart was breaking.”

Tears fill my eyes. “That’s because it was.”

His eyes search my face. “The song was the same as the whistle I heard.”

I nod. “Yes.”

When I blink, a tear slides down my cheek. Shay kisses it away. “Never again.”

“What?”

“You will never hurt like that again. I swear it.” His voice trembles with the same determination I feel in my heart and see in his eyes.

Lifting my hand, I curve it around his jaw. “I don’t deserve you.”

“See, now that’s where we’re going to have to disagree.Idon’t deserveyou. Can you tell me what happened?”

It’s not a story I want to tell, not one bit of it, but I nod. “I heard the same whistle.”

Lying pinned beneath him makes me feel like no one can hurt me because Shay is there, shielding me with his body. I feel safe.

“You’d heard it before?” he asks.

I nod. “It meant Aron was here, and if he was, then he would kill you and take me.”

“Because of what you can give him?”

“Yes.”

Now we get to the part of the story that will lead to things I swore I would never talk about again. But Shay has to know them. My silence meant that a man died. It meant his pack nearly died, because I thought running away made more sense than warning Shay about the danger I brought to Wolfkeep.

That has to stop.

I meet his eyes. “Aron was the first man to tell me I was beautiful, and for it to mean something.”

Shay doesn’t interrupt, and he doesn’t judge. He just listens.

“I was nineteen, and I wanted someone to look at me and want me—not because I was the alpha’s daughter, but because I was me.”

Shay nods. “I understand.”

“Aron said he was passing near our pack when he heard me singing.” I stop, just like that. It’s like the words stick in my throat and refuse to go any further.

“It’s okay, pup. Take your time. There’s no rush.”

After a long moment, the blockage in my throat clears. “It was a lie. But I didn’t find that out until later. The song was mine. I’d made it up because I liked to sing, but I didn’t feel brave enough to share it with anyone. I thought everyone would laugh, so I would go into the forest on my own, and I would just sing.”

“You have a beautiful voice, pup. No one would laugh.”

His words draw a smile from me when I didn’t think I could. “You always think more of me than I am.”

“I only tell you what I see,” he murmurs. “It’s the truth.”

Although I search his gaze for any hint of doubt, I know I won’t find it.

I don’t know how, but I’ve been lucky enough to find a man who looks at me and sees everything he could want.

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