"Jared," he whispered. And he shut his eyes again, squeezing them tight.
Was that…yeah, it was, a tear escaping at the corner of his eye. When he opened them again, both were shiny from more than the glow of his alpha magic. "You're. Fuck. Jared, you're alive."
I gazed into his eyes, caught and held like I had been the very first time I'd looked at him. I'd been afraid of him then.
Fear was the last thing I could ever imagine feeling for him now.
"Because you saved my life. You came for me. You— I'm never going to forgive you for throwing your life away for me." I stroked the side of his face, and he turned his head and pressed a kiss to my palm, still gazing up at me. "Same to you," he said, his voice still weak but with a growl to it all the same. "You made me break my promise. I almost killed you. Again."
The look in his eyes and the way he kissed my fingertips on the last word kind of negated the growl, and I found myself smiling down at him, helplessly, my eyes wet too.
