Avery’s POV
He hadn’t answered my question.
His silence lingered in my mind as the taste of him faded from my lips.
If he felt it, why couldn’t he just say it? Our bond told me his feelings. Desire, yes. Concern, yes.
Wouldn’t I feel it if he loved me?
He would kiss me in front of his men, but he wouldn’t tell me what I meant to him. If I stayed here, was that how our relationship would continue, with so much unsaid?
Or was there a possible future where we finally were transparent with each other? He had tried to offer that to me before. What if he dropped his shields and behind them there was not the depth of emotion I hoped for?
I wasn’t sure I could stand knowing that he cared somewhat for me, but not the way I cared for him. To be half-loved, a stand-in for a mate he would
