“Hey.” She lifts her head slightly. Looking at me is a start.
“Are you okay?” My palm pushes into the barrier, while my body leans on it. I’m so sick of barriers keeping us apart, and this one needs the final one.
“No. But for all the reasons you’re asking, yes.”
“I’m asking for every reason.” She’s not okay, and why would she be? She’s had her life turned completely around in the past day. “Thanks for sending Jasper.”
“Is the pack okay?” Her lips roll together, pulling her bottom into her teeth. “I mean, after seeing Conan...”
“I don’t know. I didn’t remain. Jasper brought me here to see you.”
“Oh.” Her brows dip low, and a dark purple gaze drops to the ground again. If I could reach her, I’d lift her head and wipe away the flash of sadness that accompanies the ever-present grief.
“Because I wanted to.”
Her attempt to smile is a mollification and nothing more. One shoulder lifts and falls, drawing my attention to her hoodie.Black and covered in a mortal band’s name. It isn’t one she wore at camp. It doesn’t smell like me. It isn’t mine.
I hate it.
My mate has nothing of mine to warn others away, besides my mark, but that too is hidden by the sweater I’m minutes away from tearing off her and burning.
If only the barrier would allow me through.
“When are you coming home?”
She flinches. Breathes deeply. “Iamhome.”
She’s not. She’s not in my—our—nest. She’s not in the camp, with shifters who’ll now look to her to lead. This town isn’t her home anymore; simply that of her family. Her connections are with me now.
Except…they’re not. And the human side is aware of what’s been a fact from day one: the princess, thekamahki, the future High Priestess of Highridge was never meant to live her life in the woods.
Biting gave me her, which was obviously a mistake because it’s worse than before, when I could walk away without claiming her. Now, I own the flavour of her skin, the feeling of her body, and can’t let her go. She’s it for me. My mate. My beginning and ending. My everything.
Her shifter side isn’t that prevalent, because she’s able to walk away. And she is.
From the start, I did everything to ensure the bond wasn’t completed, to save us both from this moment. How fucking easy would it be for us to separate now, if my teeth never made that error.
“You have a new home,” I argue, already regretting my words. The more I fight, the more I’ll lose to her will. Lose her when she believes I’m being controlling.
“You bit me because of your promise, no other reason. The bond is driven by convenience, not emotion.”
I stagger towards her, the barrier rippling like a wave around me, which is sickeningly ironic. “Did you not hear me earlier? I saved you because you didn’t deserve to go through any of that. You’re my mate, which means protecting you ’til my dying breath. I bit you not because of fate, but because Iwantedyou. I claimed you because I’ve been falling for you since the moment I found you.”
Every drop of water in the nearby streams halts its course. The wind dies. Her body stills. The only thing that moves between us is the blood rushing through my body.
“You don’t mean that.” She curls her shoulders in tighter. “It’s the bo?—”
“If you use the fuckin’ bond as an excuse one more fuckin’ time—” My threat cuts when her sharp inhale becomes audible, breaking the tenseness that even nature’s respecting. “Why,” I continue, forcing air through clenched teeth, forcing myself to calm down before chasing her away faster. “Why are you so insistent on telling me what I feel? I want you in my cabin. My nest. My cave. I want you leading the pack by my side. I wantyou.”
“I can’t. You know why.”
“Explain it to me like I’m a pup.” My hands move to reach for her, blocked by this stupid fucking shield.
She swallows. Inhales. Licks her lips and looks down at her feet. A moment passes before she moves again. The lift of a chin and the darkening of her eyes, replacing my Carina with the person from those cells.
“Conan’s dead, and he didn’t deserve it. Darkness isscreamingin my head, demanding I claim more power. So far, being here, being home and around my kind, quiets it. You have no idea what it was urging me to do earlier. When Xander charged in, my first instinct was to protect you—from what, I have no idea—but I hurt him because I’m uncontrollable.” Shesteps back, shaking her head at my hand still up. “I’m not safe to be around. It’s best if I remain with the coven.”
Trying to protect me must mean something.
