There were no words. If there were, Marcus didn't know them. He wasn't leaving her, not really. He would still be there, every day, wanting her just as much as he had today. Yesterday. The day before. The day before that. If he didn't want her more...
There were no words for the depth of his sorrow. More than the love of his life, Marcus was losing his friend and his only real ally on the island. His hold on her tightened as he buried his face in her neck as best he could, his own eyes filling despite his best efforts to keep stoic. The tears burned in his throat and he was grateful that he didn't have the words, because he wouldn't have been able to speak them anyway. He wouldn't have trusted himself to open his mouth at all.
Marcus closed his eyes and breathed her in, the scent of her heated skin, of her hair, the sounds of her breaths, ragged in his ear, covered in silent tears. He wanted to wrap himself up in her, to take her everywhere he went like a cloak.
All at once, the words came and he couldn't have held them back if he'd tried.
"I love you," he whispered, the words and the tears strangling him. He couldn't breathe. "I love you, Katie Bell. Don't forget," he added selfishly, and regretted the words as soon as they were spoken. She deserved better. She deserved to forget. She deserved to be happy, even if he had to chain himself to a tree to keep from killing the next son of a bitch who laid a hand on her. His girl. The one he, for some unfathomable reason, couldn't find the balls to claim properly. The way she deserved.
Still, his hold on her didn't loosen. He didn't push her away. Rather, he held her tighter, his fingers tangling in her hair and grabbing onto her waist across the small of her back. "Don't leave me," he mouthed against her skin, but didn't say the words. They were cruel. They were too cruel, even for him. "Mine," he mouthed, "I need you."