Crown and Shackles: The Princes Mate (Story Updated)

Even Still, I Stay

As soon as I opened the door, Logan pulled me into his arms—not with desperation, but with quiet urgency, like he had been holding his breath waiting for this moment. His embrace was warm and trembling, his face pressing gently into my hair as he murmured my name, over and over, his voice low and heavy with emotion.

He didn’t rush his apology. He held me for a long breath, as if making sure I felt safe, before he whispered, “I’m so sorry, Ally.”

His voice cracked, and I could hear how deeply it hurt him to speak the truth. “I didn’t want to lose control. But your heat—it triggered something in him. In me. I tried to fight it, I really did. I never wanted to scare you… or make you feel powerless. I hate that I did.”

I felt him shake against me. His tears were quiet, but they soaked into my hair, a silent confession of everything he couldn’t put into words.

His arms tightened, gently—seeking comfort, not permission. But still, it made it hard to breathe. Not physically. Emotionally. The memories pressed in: the feeling of losing control, of instinct replacing choice… of being let down by the one person I should have been able to trust most.

“I should pull away,” I said softly, even though I didn’t. “You hurt me, Logan. You didn’t mean to, I know… but that doesn’t change that it happened.”

He stilled. I stepped back just enough to meet his eyes.

“I need you to understand something,” I said, voice steady though my hands trembled. “Your wolf is part of you. You don’t get to draw a line between the two when things go wrong. I need all of you to be present—especially when I’m not in control. That’s what our bond is supposed to be. Trust. Safety.”

He lowered his gaze, swallowing hard, and for a moment, I saw the full weight of that truth sink in. “You’re right,” he said, barely above a whisper. “I should have fought harder. I should have stayed with you, not given in to him. I let you down. And I’ll spend as long as it takes earning back your trust.”

He didn’t beg. He didn’t collapse. He didn’t try to fix it with closeness or guilt. He just knelt there, still and quiet, holding space for the hurt he'd caused.

That made me ache more than anything else.

Because the truth I didn’t want to face was this—my wolf hadn’t fought him, either. She’d wanted it. In the thick of instinct, she hadn’t held back. And even if she hadn’t meant to betray me… she had. Just like Logan. And now, we both carried the aftermath.

Still, I couldn’t walk away.

I knelt beside him, heart pounding, and gently wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He tensed for a second—startled—but then melted into me, his forehead pressing to mine as he breathed shakily.

“I’m still hurting,” I whispered. “I don’t know how long it’ll take for that to stop. But I believe you. I believe you want to be better.”

“I do,” he said, without hesitation. “I want to be someone you feel safe with again. No more excuses.”

There were no promises that everything would magically heal overnight. But we had this moment—this small, quiet moment where the love between us was real and still alive.

We stayed like that for a while, our breathing slowly syncing, the silence stretching soft and comforting between us.

Eventually, I gave him a tired smile. “I’m not going to leave you.”

Relief washed through him, visible in the way his shoulders sagged.

“Thank God,” he whispered, cupping my face gently. “You don’t know how much that means to me.”