Im a broken mess. I cant take care of someone else.

When we were imprisoned, I was the baby of the family. The scared one. The one they all tried to protect.

Now freedom tastes good. I love living with the other boys, my brothers in all but blood.

Im part of this found family even though I mostly hide in my pool.

I didnt mind when a human was brought home to live with us.

Sammy seems sweet. He has been used and abused too. A fellow survivor. So Im not scared of him.

But when he carelessly falls into my pool and I save him from drowning, Im not at all happy about the mate bond it creates.

I have to find a way to undo it.

Im not fit to be anyones mate. Im pathetic, and the thought of intimacy repulses me.

While Sammy is a cheerful, bright ball of sunshine despite everything that has been done to him.

He deserves so much better.

Sammy can never know he is my mate. Ill do my best to look after him while this bond is in place, but thats it.

Ill find a way to fix this, and then we will both be free.