Shadow Mated(31)
Easing her away, Gash sat forward and twisted to show Bailey his back.
At the sight, she pressed her fingers to her lips to stifle a horrified gasp. In his skin, was a roughly shaped S that stretched across his shoulder blades, slanted to his ribs, and curved around to end at his waist. Various slashes that had healed with thick scar tissue formed the letter she could only assume stood for shadow.
Bailey let her fingers brush over the old wounds, and Gash flinched, breaking her heart even more.
“They did this to you? Your family?”
He gave a single sharp nod, and then twisted back to lie down, urging her against his chest again.
“And your face?”
“Remember what I said about mating marks?”
Bailey froze, her stomach lurching.
“Felix gave me a fake mark one night when I refused to kill for him and he couldn’t take anything else from my back without my cat retaliating. Said…” Gash hesitated until she wrapped her arm around his waist and gave him a squeeze. “Said I acted like a bitch so he was going to make me look like one. It was the ultimate humiliation. It guaranteed none of my brothers would ever respect me. It made my life hell. They ruined my body, but it was the price of refusing an order.”
Bailey felt sick. The things his clan had done to him were heinous. Unforgivable. Her tiger might be uncharacteristically submissive, but she couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t go for blood if she ever came face to face with these monsters.
“You must have refused them a lot.”
“I did. But not enough.”
Bailey shook her head. “You did what was needed to survive.”
He grew quiet again, his palm brushing along her arm in a soothing pass.
“Felix wants to hurt you to get back at me for leaving.”
“We knew that was a probability.”
Gash nodded. “Yes, but I’ve known for longer.”
Bailey lifted her head to watch him. “What do you mean?”
“Remember I said I came here for you? To keep you safe?”
She nodded.
“I knew about you from my nightmare. It’s reoccurring. Every night for a year now, I’ve had one of two dreams about you. Well, it wasn’t you at first. You were just a female I couldn’t quite make out, but I knew you were mine. In the dreams, either you live or you die. Both by Felix’s hands. It started when I was still in Memphis. I’d been looking for a way out of the Alley Cats, thinking I could just get lost and they wouldn’t be able to find me. When I dreamed of you, I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. Because even though in one version of the dream you live… well, Felix isn’t the type to let live, so I wasn’t willing to risk it. Had to find you and keep you away from him.”
“And that’s the dream you had tonight? The one where I die?”
His face pinched up in agony. “I fought so hard to get to you. I took down so many Alley Cats, but it was never enough. No matter how hard I try, I can never fucking get to you.”
“But you’ve got me now.”
His tension seemed to ease a fraction at the reminder. “Yeah. I do.”
“And you’ll take good care of me, I know. And we’ll find a way to get your brother off our backs.”
She leaned up to give his cheek a kiss, and a soft growl rumbled his throat. This time not from pain or anger.
“Will you say it again?” he asked softly, and her heart grew twelve sizes.
“I love you, Gash.”
The remnants of grief drained away through their bond, replaced by something sweet and satisfying. His love.
“Will you say it to me every day?”
Bailey grinned. “Several times a day in fact.”
“Can I say it to you?” His question took her by surprise, and he looked so vulnerable in that moment, her smile faded. “If not,” he rushed out, “I can just think it to myself.”
“Of course you can say it,” she gasped, holding back a sob.
He reached up to brush a thumb over her cheek, whispering low, “I love you, Bailey.” He hesitated, clearly struggling, and shook his head. “That… I didn’t do it right. That was a test. Trying it out to see if you like hearing it. If… if you do, I’ll say it again for real.”
“I do. I like it very much.”
Gash let out a shaky sigh. “I love you, Bailey.” The words danced along her skin like a breeze whispering secrets. Gash loved her.
“Will you say it to me every day?”
A fierce look came over him. “Every. Day. And every time we’re in the same room. And when we’re not, I’ll call you. Or text you. And if you get tired of hearing it, you’ll have to tell me so I can write it down somewhere for you to see later when you’re not tired of it anymore.”