“If you think I’m letting us enter this forest without kissing me,you are sorely mistaken, my lady.” I loop my arm around her waist and pull her to me with no resistance. “Cate…”
“Callum…”
I clear my throat. Neither of us knows what’s going to happen next, and if, god forbid, this is the last time we see each other, I can’t leave anything unspoken. “Have you ever heard of Gifted people becoming Bonded to their partners?”
She sucks in a breath, tilting her head back to look me in the eye. “Haveyouever heard of Gifted people becoming Bonded to their partners?”
“Dom told me about it.” It was what spurred me to sneak into Cate’s room that night, the thought that there might be some greater explanation for what I feel, why it was so easy for me to overlook the way she lied to me.
“And do you think…is that what you feel…?”
I press my lips gently to hers. “Just the thought of separating from you, Cate, I can’t imagine a greater pain. We were apart for four days and I thought I might combust from the sheer need to feel your skin on mine.”
A sigh trickles from her lips. “I was almost hoping you wouldn’t feel it, that it was all in my head.”
I pull back from her, just the slightest bit. “Why would you say that?”
Her eyes meet mine, and there is guilt layered over the wanting. “You didn’t choose this, Callum, and after everything that’s happened because of me, I can imagine how being tethered to me like this would be difficult for you.”
I cup her cheek in my hand. “Even if we weren’t Bonded, I would choose you, Cate. Every hour of every day. You have to know that it’s true.”
“But—”
I cut off her protest with a kiss. Maybe if my words can’t convince her, my actions can. I pour every bit of me into the kiss, leaving her gasping when we finally part. “If anyone should be looking to offer a way out, it is me, my lady.”
“Do not apologize one more time for doing the thing we know you have to do.”
“I wasn’t going to say that, I was going to say…”
She shakes her head. “No. We’re not doing that either. We’re not saying farewell like there’s a chance one of us won’t come back.”
I swallow the thick emotion that’s sprung to my throat. “I wish there was another way.”
“I know you do.” She rises on her toes, placing a soft kiss against my waiting lips. “Right now, we need to get in there and save my sister and this province’s hope for the future.”
“I love you, Cate.”
“I love you too, Callum.”
We creep into the thick branches and leaves, side by side. I should probably be worried for her safety, but I know she can take care of herself. I know she will do whatever it takes to find her sister. And I know she will do whatever it takes to come back to me, just as I will do for her.
We meet Dom and Alex on the outskirts of the grove of trees, the two of them already scouting the best path to take deeper into the woods. Closer to Harold MacVeigh. Closer to vengeance.
I must be the one to lead Avon into the future. I know it as surely as I know Cate is the other half of my soul. And I will fight for that future, just as I would fight for her.
Alex and Dom take off in opposite directions and return minutes later, though those minutes feel like days.
“There is a clear path to the right. Only a couple of men on watch.” Alex’s voice is low and threaded with urgency.
“Guards surround the place, but it looks like they’re heavier on the left.” Dom’s eyes—the only part of her I can really discern aside from her teeth—have that light in them, the light that says she’s itching for a fight.
“We’ll go right. Remember, Alex is with me; Dom, you’re with Cate.” I turn to head in the direction Alex has scouted.
“I think I should go in with you,” Dom protests in a whisper from my left side.
“Absolutely not. If things should go wrong”—I lower my voice—“I need you there to protect her.”
“They’re not going to go wrong, brother. The future has been Seen.”
