#Chapter 312: Moving Forward

Olivia I sat there, stunned, as Nathan finished recounting his harrowing past. Tears were brimming in my eyes, not just for the little boy he used to be, but also for the man he'd become—a man so trapped in his past that he felt the need to hide himself even from me, his mate. "Why didn't you ever tell me, Nathan?" The words escaped my lips, more as a breath than a question. He met my gaze, his own eyes watery. “Honestly?” he said, running a hand through his tawny blond hair. “I was embarrassed and angry about the whole thing.” “Angry I get,” I said, furrowing my brow. “But embarrassed? Why? It wasn’t your fault.” Nathan sighed and fell silent for a few moments. Judging from the way that his blue-green eyes darted back and forth, I could tell that he was struggling to come up with the right words. “My dad always made me feel like… less of a man for even considering that his actions could have hurt me. I was raised to think a man bottles up his emotions, go