Just as she's nearly ready, quaking in her need for him and eager to buck, his words released her and chilled her. Hurt glimmers faintly in her eyes as she shifts slightly away to better face him, her gaze searching his. He held still, his face a careful mask, instantly feeling the gaping loss of her body pressed to his. If he faltered at all, she'd see through the bluff.
What was this to her? Didn't she want a nice romp around, and then her freedom again?
Had he wounded her pride by putting it plainly in words before them?
"You're wrong," she said softly after a time. "You're not no one to me. No matter who I am to you." His heart swelled at her words, selfishly reveling in her under-handed approval of him, basking in the idea that maybe he mattered at least a little to someone again. A tickling sense of danger teased at him, though.
She stepped back into him, without heat this time, lightly stamping him with sweet kisses. He hummed with pleasure, readily accepting her gentle affection. But without their roaring passion, its meaning was graver, an all-too serious gift that tugged at his deeply-buried honor.
"I suppose I can see why you'd think so," she continued, her perfectly sculpted face brushing across his muscle, then trailing more feathery kisses along his side and shoulder. He watched her closely, hunger still in his eyes like the soft glow of embers. "But I assure you, honey, whether I know your name or not, you are very much someone to me."
His chest tightened as he finally realized exactly what was grasping at his mind. Body stiff, he extracted himself out of her embrace warily.
Did she want a mate in him? No, she couldn't possibly. They were still strangers yet, weren't they? She didn't know him, didn't even know his name -though not for lack of trying, he thought grudgingly. There was more to the word "mate" to him. It was not just a bodily pairing, as they'd already done. It was a marriage of souls, a match of loyalty and compassion for none but that one other. Could he really do that again? He wasn't sure, couldn't think through this stabbing shard of fear impaling his mind. If he mated again, he'd be hurt again. So much pain.
"You taunt me," he blamed coldly, sliding safely into the cruel mask of the monster. She knew what his heart ached for and molded her words and manner to fit him, manipulating him to her own joys. Or perhaps she was just young. Yes, too naive to understand the lack of meaning behind their actions. He should have known, should have been the adult in this, mindful of the path they were taking.
He sighed and his shoulders slumped, head bowing. He'd done this. His thoughts finally cleared up just how disgraceful he'd been. All along he should have been aware of how this would look to her, so very young and inexperienced in the world. Their lustful pairing could have been taken as some sort of love-making to a girl. He was the senior, he should have made more clear that it meant nothing. Only a man's body taking a woman's as it naturally urged to.
It all fell back to that damned beast in his mind, uncontrollable and unwittingly encouraged by her sexual prompting. She probably never meant to do it, compel him without any fondness or commitment.
"We are not together," he said gently, his pained eyes lifting to meet her gaze. If she was so meaningless, why was this hurting so much, his own mind taunted cruelly as he carved and wheedled a hole in his own heart. "We are not mates," he added a little more firmly. "I will never mate again." Bitter determination glinted in his hard eyes. He'd never be hurt again. He should just return to his forests of isolation and never come out again.