Anna heard his name.She blinked her eyes open and realized it was her own voice that she was hearing. She was asleep, and yet she was callingforhim.
“Gustavo.” She didn’t know how many times she’d said it, but she certainly knew why. She was gutted. While awake, she’d been able to hold herself together. Jewel had needed her to. But now they were both asleep in their own broken minds, and she was fallingapart.
Chapter6
“I have never experienced something so maddening. My mate needs me, yet I am unable to help her. She has called to me, but I am powerless to answer her. I would rather walk through the fires of hell than be helpless to care for my mate.” ~Gustavo
Gustavo’s wolf perked up,drawing the man’s attention inward. He blocked out the sounds of the others around him and listened for whatever it was that had captured his beast’sinterest.
“Gustavo.”
The voice was almost too soft to be heard, and he would have missed it had his wolf not been on alert. He reached for her mind through their bond and found that it was wide open. She was asleep and thinkingofhim.
“Anna,”he answered silently.“Do you hear me? Criña, are youalright?”
“I’m dreaming,”she answered.“Why aren’t you herewithme?”
“I am not asleep,”Gustavo told her.“My wolf heardyourcall.”
“It’s been a bad day.”Her voice was thin andstrained.
“What happened?”He felt a little guilty asking because she’d been blocking him from her mind. The conscious Anna obviously didn’t want him to know where she was or what she was doing. He knew that while she was sleeping, with her protective walls down, she would be more likely to let something slip through the bond. It was sneaky on his part, but he was so desperate to know if she was okay. His wolf hungered for any morsel she would sharewiththem.
“Death,”she said, causing his heartbeat tospeedup.
“Whose death, Anna?”He saw flashes in her mind, two different women, both staring up at him with lifeless eyes. He felt her pain, her confusion, and then he felt something that he was all too familiar with. Gustavo felt darkness, like a living creature, weaving its way into her mind and around her thoughts. What was this darkness, and how was it living inside of her, a gypsyhealer?
“Please don’t ask me anymore questions, Gustavo,”she pleaded.“It’s just too much. I will tell you, eventually, but not yet. I just wanted to see you, to hear your voice. It seems crazy to have this need for you when I’ve never evenmetyou.”
He wanted to ask her more. He wanted to demand that she tell him everything, but he didn’t want her to stop seeking him out, and if he pushed her, she might. His wolf, and the man as well, relished the fact that she wanted to see him, that she needed him. He’d waited his long life for her, and to know she needed him brought a comfort to him that he’d never feltbefore.
“That’s the way it is with true mates, Criña. Our souls long for each other. They long to be complete and whole. I have the same need of you, probably a greater need actually. I’ve always known I would have a true mate, and I’ve waited for you for so long. You never had an inkling you had a soul mate. I imagine you areoverwhelmed.”
She let out a humorless laugh.“Overwhelmed would be a hugeunderstatement.”
“I would bear your burden for you, if you’d let me,”he whispered into her mind.“I would bear your every worry, fear, pain, sorrow, guilt, all of it, Anna. You do not have to endurealone.”
“Just hearing your voice helps me bear it. Just knowing that, for now, you’re waiting for me, and want me, those things will carry me through what I’mfacingnow.”
“Mí Amõr, I will always be waiting for you.”His wolf growled as he felt her slipping away, the walls she so expertly erected between their bond sliding back into place. Once again, all he was left with was the awareness of her but no thoughts orwords.
“Gustavo?”
He turned around, surprised to find himself standing several feet away from a grouppeople.
“Gustavo?” Sorin askedagain.
His eyes met the younger wolves, and Sorin dropped his immediately. “I apologize. I was not ignoring you,” he said coolly. “Anna had needofme.”
“You talked to her?” Heather asked from where she was standing across the clearing from him. Like the others, she’d stood up and seemed to be stretching and loosening up her stiff limbs. They’d been stationary forsometime.
Gustavonodded.
“Is she alright?” Stellaasked.
“I honestly do not know.” He hated to admit it. He felt like a failure as a mate. She was obviously in some sort of trouble, and he couldn’t help her. If only they could get out of the pixie realm, he might be able to find her through their bond. Though they hadn’t completed the Blood Rites, their connection was strongalready.
“She’ll be okay,” Crina spoke up. “You would know if she was really indanger.”
