Cursed: Bound: A MM Modern Retelling of Beauty & The Beast (Book 2) by X. Aratare

Author:X. Aratare [Aratare, X.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Raythe Reign Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2016-11-17T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen - Mate

Bane had watched as Nick’s expression went bleak as he told his story. The young man’s face had transformed from its pretty tan color to pale and drawn as he’d talked. Faint tremors had started running through Nick when he’d reached the part about the horsewhipping. Bane should have stopped then, but once the spigot of his past was opened he found that he couldn’t shut it off. He had to tell the rest. He had to confess it all. Well, most of it. But when the last dregs of what he could say spilled out, Bane immediately regretted telling Nick any of it.

He’s sensitive and gentle. He will never understand men like my father or Alastair. I should not have exposed him to this ugliness. My guilt over lying to him has caused me to make another mistake. I’ve told him so much.

Nick’s gaze suddenly focused on him again with a laser-like intensity. When he finally spoke, the young man’s voice was low and rough with anger, “Tell me again that Alastair and your father are dead, Bane. You did say that before, didn’t you? That they’re dead?”

“Yes, they have been gone for a long time,” Bane assured him and swallowed. His throat felt raw from speaking so long.

Nick nodded. “Good. Good.” He lifted his chin. “Because if they weren’t, I would kill them.”

“Nick, my sweet, beautiful boy, I would not have you within a thousand miles of those men for all the world.”

Bane embraced the young man. He dropped his head down so that his face was buried in Nick’s soft hair and the silky skin of his neck. He breathed in and Nick’s scent calmed him. He pushed away the memories that clung to him. Nick clutched Bane back as if he were afraid the big man would be taken from him.

Nick’s voice was muffled as he spoke against Bane’s chest, “I thought you were going to tell me that Alastair had cheated on you or done something else bad, but nothing like that. God, I’m sorry. So sorry. I know that’s not enough!”

Bane could hear Nick’s horror at what had happened to him. He’d lived with it for so long now that it didn’t have the same power to shock him any longer. It just made him angry and distrustful. Yet now he realized how upsetting the story would be to an outsider. He should have prepared Nick at least. Yet another mistake -- and he was desperate not to make them with the young man, but they seemed to be piling up around his feet.

Bane murmured, “I did not mean to distress you.”

“Distress me?” Nick grasped his shoulders and looked up at Bane with such tenderness. “Bane, I’m worried about you. This happened to you. Those men - your own father and your lover - they hurt you! I can’t -- can’t even imagine what you must have felt and feel.” Nick shook his head as if he had no words. “I should never have asked you about it.

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