Honeyed Pasture Abandoned but not forgotten

He saw it: for a fleeting moment, the ghost of a smile flit upon her lips. That smile that, even now, in the afterglow, lit up the waning embers of dusk. Embry's heart seemed to skip a beat at that moment.

What she said was true. In fact, it made perfect sense to Embry; it had, after all, been the exact words he had debated against himself with. He had left her to fend for herself, alone. And, as idiotic as it sounds, it had been intentional. All this stormed through Embry's mind as she spoke, adding to the sting of each syllable. 

His tail swayed slowly behind him, peaceful and rhtyhmic. Where did that smile go? How he wanted it back. That and so much more. "I just... I didn't know," he murmured; eyes clouded in thought. He was replaying that night in his head, just as he had a thousand times before. "We were in a safe place... It just seemed like you deserved more. And without me, that was possible. Anything was possible for you."

He couldn't explain it. Every word felt like a lead weight upon his chest. "Winter was coming. I was no amazing hunter — there was a reason I wanted that damned carcass so bad, Feyre. My first pack within the Fen had just collapsed... I was a loner again and I didn't understand the responsibility of companionship... But I've found Stormrift and... Everything I do teaches me just how wrong my actions were that night." 

One of the things he loved about Feyre was her resilience. He didn't expect her to easily recover or even accept his presence. But an apology seemed like the coward's way out; too easy and too final. He didn't need her to tell him it was ok, he needed her. Feyre. The girl he fell in love with more than the ocean itself.