I swallow with some difficulty. “Remember what?”
Lyall takes my hand and brushes a kiss over my skin. “You are mine. From the beginning you were my first love, and you will be my last until the day I take my final breath.”
We knew each other. Loved each other. Lost each other.
I can’t remember any of it, but God, I wish I could remember being loved by this man. I’d take it all, the good parts, the painful parts. I found the kind of love I’ve searched for all my life, and it was stolen from me, fromus.
Tears sting my eyes, and I wriggle out of his arms before he can see them. On the cool tile, I take in a breath, then another. The lump in my throat slowly fades, and I wipe my eyes.
“Give them back.” I don’t recognize my own voice, hoarse like I’ve been screaming in agony for hours.
Lyall doesn’t speak. Fergus does, though, like somehow he knew I was talking to him.
“I can’t.”
A fresh wave of tears floods my eyes. “Please, Fergus. I won’t be mad. I’ll forgive everything else, just—”
“Your memories are gone, my boy.” Fergus’s voice shakes.
I choke on a sob, wrapping my arms around myself so I don’t fall apart.
“I’m so sorry. If I’d known we would grow so close, that this would hurt you so deeply—”
My anguish grows claws, morphing into a beast full of wrath. “How could you do this to me?” My roar fills the room.
Fergus flinches, his face wet with tears. “It was for the best, Soren.”
“You don’t get to decide that!”
I barely recognize him. This man who cared for me, who loved me, who lied to me, whostolesomething so precious from me. Just looking at him fills me with so much anger and hurt and still, beneath it all, I want to wrap him in my arms and tell him I love him, that I forgive him. It’s too much.
There’s a knock at the door. I unlock it and duck my head just as the doctor walks in, hoping he won’t notice what a mess we are. “Visiting hours are over. I’ll need you to stay the night so we can monitor you, Fergus, but depending on how you’re feeling, I think you’ll be able to go home tomorrow.”
Wiping my nose on my sleeve, I squeeze past him. “Lyall, can you come with me?”
“Oh. Certainly!” His enthusiasm makes my lips twitch in an attempted smile.
“Soren—”
I can’t even look at Fergus. I let the door slam shut on the man who raised me and follow Lyall into a new, uncertain reality.
Werewolves. Time travel. Witches. Lyall.
Those are the four things that cycle through my mind, keeping me so entrenched in thought that I don’t even notice when our taxi driver stops outside my apartment.
“Soren? We’re here.”
I jump even though Lyall’s voice is low and soft.
“Right. Thanks,” I say to the driver, swiping my card to pay for the ride.
Once we’re upstairs, I open the door. Lyall hesitates outside, shoulders hunched and chin to his chest. I flash back to the big white wolf with green eyes. Seeing him shift had shocked me, but never for a second had I worried he’d bite or attack me.
Some part of me had known I could trust him. Maybe the part of me that Fergus said was taken from me. I need to know everything about this history he claims we have together.
“Coming in?” I ask.
He perks up like a freshly watered flower. “Aye. Thank you.” He follows me inside.
