7

Lachlan POV

“She knows,” Killian whimpers, “She remembers everything. She hates us.”

“She can’t. She can’t hate us entirely. We’re her mate,” I tell him, but that doesn’t stop the fear from rising up inside me.

She can’t hate me. I can’t lose her again. If she rejects me again, I would rather die than try living without her. I know what life without her is like. I know what living with the pulsating pain of regret constantly residing in my chest is like.

I can’t live without her. I won’t.

Her hesitation at our vows makes knots form in my stomach, and acid rises in my throat. The bitterness of reality matches its taste. When her father placed all the rules on me, rules I made a blood promise not to break, I never thought he would bring her back with her memories intact as well.

This should have been easy. We could have lived blissfully in love for years until the mate bond fully revealed itself, then I could have marked and mated her with no stipulations.

Now….I’m going to have to