Making Promises

Logan
After making love with Annie for the fifth time, I shifted her off me so that I could wrap myself around her. In no time at all, she was asleep. I smiled softly as I lifted myself up a little so that I could look down at her beautiful face. It was a lot different from the terror that she showed on her face at the bookstore when we first met. I traced her thick, wild eyebrows with my index finger before running it down the bridge of her nose to trace her lips. Goddess, she was perfect, and she was all mine.
‘Gizzy?’ I linked Giselda.
‘Yes, cousin?’ She immediately responded.
‘You know Annie better than me. Is she going to be okay walking through the sleuth?’
‘I’m not sure. She is really shy, but with that being said, I think if she’s by your side, she will be fine.’
I lowered my head to run my nose along her jaw, making her tremble in her sleep. ‘Do you really think me being with her will help?’ I asked.
‘Without a doubt. She looks at you with so much love in her eyes, I can’t even begin to describe how much it shows.’
I kissed Annie’s neck, causing her to shiver as jealousy whipped through me. ‘Is that how she looked at Gerry?’
‘No. She looked at him differently,’ she told me.
‘Tell me.’
‘She looked at him with a mix of adoration, fear, and willingness to please him.’
I sighed. ‘That doesn’t sound like it’s different from how she looks at me.’
‘It is. Trust me.’
I raised my head again to look down at my mate. ‘How?’
‘When she looks at you, I can see the love she has for you in her eyes.’
‘Is there anything else?’
‘Yes. I also see trust, desire, and hope. Wait, are you jealous of Gerry?’ She questioned.
‘No,’ I instantly denied.
‘Liar. Annie wants you, Logan. Where is she right now?’
‘Asleep.’
‘Yeah, but where?’
‘Next to me?’ I replied.
‘And did you have to force her to come with you?’
‘NO! I would never do that!’ I growled.
‘So, what you’re saying is that she chose to be here with you?’
‘Goddess, what if she didn’t? What if she only chose me because Gerry is cruel to her?’
“For fuck’s sake,” she growled out loud.
‘Don’t wake her up,’ I linked furiously.
She sent me an eyeroll through our link before sighing. ‘Then stop being an idiot. If you are so worried, you need to ask her.’
‘She’s asleep. I’m not waking her up to ask her why she chose to come with me,’ I snapped.
“FUUUUUUUUCCCKK! THIS MOTHER FUCKER!” She screamed at the top of her lungs.
Annie bolted straight up, her head colliding with mine, before she looked around wildly. Fear dimmed the light in her eyes, and I immediately gathered her on my lap, wrapping my arms tightly around her while I threatened Giselda through our link with a major punishment for screaming.
“You’re okay, sweetheart. Shhh. I’m sorry,” I told her.
She clutched at my arm as she stared at the blanket. “Is Giselda okay?” She whimpered.
“Yes, Annie. I’m sorry. I just got a picture of my boyfriend cheating. It’s okay. I’m sorry for frightening you,” she called out, making me bare my teeth at the blanket.
I put my cheek on the top of Annie’s head, still glaring at the blanket. “It’s okay, baby. I won’t let anyone, nor anything, hurt you.”
She snuggled into my side. “I know.”
“Do you?”
“Mhmmm.”
I tipped her face up so I could look into her eyes. “Is that why you want to be with me? Because I will always protect you?”
Confusion crossed her face briefly before sadness filled her eyes. “No.”
She got up and began to pull her clothes on. I clenched my jaw before getting up to take her in my arms.
“Annie—”
“If I was worried about protection, I would go home and be under Osprey’s protection. Yes, I like that you can protect me, but there’s something that I like more,” she told me as she leaned into my chest.
“What’s that?” I asked, holding my breath.
She wrapped her arms around my waist. “When Gerry and I first started our relationship, Osprey tried to get us to stop. He aura’ed Gerry to be mean to me, so he ended up attacking me. He took me to the vines so they could help me, and when I woke up, they showed me a vision. Well, two visions.’’ She shuddered in my arms. “The first one was so bad. I had a cub all alone before attempting to escape with her into the woods,” she whispered quietly, pressing her hand into her stomach and making my arms tighten around her. “There was a rogue there who chased me down and took my cub. He ate her.” She took a shaky breath.
“Then it changed to a beautiful beach scene where I was also giving birth, but this time I wasn’t alone. A boar walked around Marsha, helping her through her delivery. He was so loving to us. I felt wanted.” She raised watery eyes to mine. “I felt like I was home. And I wanted that. When you came to the house, I got the same feeling.” She reached up to grip my face. “You feel like home, Logan. My home. I just want to be with you.”
I sighed before lifting her up a little to press my lips against hers. “I’m sorry, Annie. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m sorry for being jealous.”
She pulled my face down to hers. “You don’t have to be jealous, Logan,” she told me softly. “I don’t want to be with someone who lies to me. Gerry told me that if I found my mate and wanted to be with him, he would let me go. When you showed up, it was clear that I wanted to be with you, and instead of letting me go, he fought to keep me.” She gave a nervous laugh. “Most females want men to fight over them, but not me. I just want to be loved by the one man who was made for me.”
I couldn’t help the goofy grin that curled my lips up. “That’s me! I am him,” I exclaimed excitedly.
She giggled as she pressed her lips against mine. “That is indeed you.”
I sat back down on the bed with her straddling me. “Can I tell you a secret?” I asked her.
“Sure. If you want to,” she said.
“When I was a little boy, I hated people. Actually, I still hate people. The only person I found myself able to grow close to was Giselda. When we got to be about 12, I developed a huge crush on her. I started to think that I would never find another girl whom I could be happy with. I made her promise at 15 that if we didn’t find our mates by 30, she would agree to be my chosen mate.” I paused to chuckle as her eyes widened. “I didn’t want to have sex with her. It was never about sex. I just wanted to have someone in my corner that I trusted. Ever since I met you, I have no intention of following through with that adolescent promise. I found my other half. I found my soul. I found you, Annie.”
She bit her lip, and I could tell she was trying to comprehend what exactly it was that I was telling her. While I waited patiently for her to speak, I leaned back to lie flat on the bed with my arm behind my head. She cleared her throat before placing her hand on my chest.
“Why are you telling me this?” She finally asked.
“Because I want you to know that I honestly understand why your relationship with Gerry happened. Sometimes when you find someone who means everything to you, can see every part of you, and still loves you, flaws and all, it can become confusing as to what kind of love you should have for that person. It’s easy to think you are in love with them, even when you are not. But when you finally get to experience being truly in love with your soulmate,”—I told her as I rolled us over so that I was looking down at her—“you’ll come to realize just how wrong you were about the person who came before them. I am not going to blame you for what happened. I am not going to walk away because of a mistake.” I lowered my forehead to hers. “I understand. I want everything that happened before we got on this plane to be left at Grimm. When we step off the plane in Havana, I want us to focus on each other. Nothing matters but me and you. I need you to let go of everything that you feel regarding what happened. Guilt, fear, or shame. All of it. Do you think you can do that?”
She searched my face for a moment before nodding as she wrapped her arms around my neck. “Only if you promise that I’m the only one you want, because you’re the only one I want,” she whispered.
I leaned down to kiss her softly before murmuring, “You are, Annie. That I’ll promise you every day for the rest of my life.”