“No. You probably wouldn’t believe me if I did explain it, and you sure as heck wouldn’t want meanymore.”
“Anastasia,”he practically purred her name. Gustavo loved her name. He loved how elegant and old worldly it sounded.“Nothing would make me not want you. Nothing. That’s the first thing you will have to learn, miGitana.”
“What’s the secondthing?”
What he wanted to say was that she could never run far enough that he wouldn’t find her, eventually. But that might scare her. Instead, he said something a little less intense.“The second thing you will have to learn is that you’re stuckwithme.”
“I suppose there are worse things to be stuckwith.AHH!”
The pained cry he heard in his mind almost brought him to his knees. He reached for her but was shoved out of her mind, and their link was abruptly cut off. He could still feel her; he knew she was alive. But thatwasall.
Gustavo let out a string of curse words, none of them inEnglish.
“Is it weird that even though he’s cursing up a storm, I’m turned on just because it’s in Spanish?” Heatherasked.
“Crina, I think you need to find a pixie that will use its magic to shut our girl up,”Stellasaid.
Gustavo knelt down on one knee. He bowed his head and pressed one hand to his forehead, the other braced on the ground, holdinghimup.
“Gustavo,” Adam saidcalmly.
The Alpha heard the fae’s approach and forced his own wolf to back down. Adam was not the enemy. It would do no good to start attacking Vasile’s packmembers.
“Were you able to reach her?” Adamasked.
Gustavonodded.
“Is she okay?” Karaasked.
“I do not know,” he answered truthfully. His throat was tight, as if letting the words out would make them truer. “She won’t tell me where she is or what she’sdoing.”
“She’s not with Peri?” Elleasked.
He shrugged. “She won’t tell me anything. I just feel her fear, her pain, hershame.”
“Shame?” Heather’s voice held a note of concern. “What could gypsy Anna have to be ashamedabout?”
What indeed?He clenched his jaw together, willing himself to remain in hishumanskin.
“Are we going to be trapped in here forever?” he asked Adam as he stood and faced the group. A few of their eyes widened, and he imagined his own eyes must have been glowing. His wolf was too worked up for them nottobe.
“Peri will get us out of here,” Adam assured him. “If for no other reason than for her to prove that she’s more powerful than whomever cast the spell to keep us trapped—probably Volcan. But she will getusout.”
Gustavo found a tree to lean against and pressed his back to it. He let the bark cut into him, the pain helping him deal with the strong emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him. As such an ancient wolf, he’d experienced so many things. But what he’d never experienced was desperation. And in that moment, he was utterly desperate to get to histruemate.
Heather couldn’t seethe Spanish Alpha, but she could feel the worry rolling off him in waves. He’d been pacing so long, she’d imagined he’d worked a huge chasm into the ground under his feet. Nothing anyone said would make him sit down. Maybe that was the Alpha in him, maybe he needed to keep moving because sitting still made him feel like he was doingnothing.
She’d been sitting for a while herself. But what could she do? There was an overwhelming need inside of her that was causing her chest to hurt, and from what she understood, it was the bond between her and some man who was supposedly her true mate. Sometimes she felt if she stood up, she would simply be sent crashing back to the ground by the feelings that were pressing down on her. Some of the emotions were her own, but then there were some things she was feeling she knew did not come from her own mind. Was she feelinghim? Was he truly that scared and worriedforher?
It was a novel idea to have someone so worried about her. Heather had taken care of herself for so long, she honestly didn’t know what it was like to have someone else so invested in her wellbeing. What would he think when he found out she couldn’t see? Would he pity her?Only if he wants to get kicked in the familyjewels.
“What are you thinking so hard about over here?” Stella asked. Heather felt her friend sit downbesideher.
“I’m just wondering how much stress an Alpha wolf can handle before he flips his lid,” Heather said softly, though she was pretty sure Gustavo would still be able to hear her. “And wondering if this freaky ache in my chest is ever going togoaway.”
“The freaky acheisgetting old,” Stella agreed. “As for our Spanish wolf, he’s holding it together. He seems to be all tightly bound control. You know what I mean? One of those people who likes to have everything in its place, the type that only has to stare at dust to have it disintegrate off of hisfurniture.”
“Ahh.” Heather nodded. “One of those. So sexy accentandthe kind of control a woman wants to see if she can break down. Anna gets to be the little vixen that makes his controlcrumble.”
