“Because you’re not fighting it right now,” I say instead.
She tightens her fingers in my hair. “That’s not it.”
“I know.”
She studies my face like she’s looking for proof I’m lying. “You’re telling me my whole life is a lie,” she says quietly.
“I’m telling you it might not be what you think.”
“And if you’re wrong?”
“I’m a lot of things, Blair, but I’m not wrong. Not about this.”
The rain intensifies. Her body presses closer again, and I wrap my arms around her and pull her tight against my chest.
She feels safe here with me. Not owned. Not controlled. Not trapped.Safe.
Her breath catches, and she pulls back like she’s been burned. “This isn’t real,” she says.
“It’s real, Blair.”
Her eyes narrow. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like I’m yours.”
You are.The truth sits heavy on my tongue, but I try to hold it back. I hold it back until I can’t. “You are mine, Blair. You are mine, and I am yours.”
“You can’t know that,” she whispers.
“I do. And so do you.”
She stares at me like she’s standing at the edge of something enormous. If she accepts it, everything changes. Her entire life, everything she was raised to believe, gets flipped on its head.
The rain soaks through her shirt, and she steps back slowly.
“You don’t get to decide my destiny,” she says.
“I’m not,” I reply. “I just want you to see where she’s trying to point you clearly.”
She doesn’t respond, but with tears streaming down her face, she turns and runs back toward the cabin. There’s no anger or hatred or even fear pulsing through her veins. Just something dangerously close to recognition.
She doesn’t have the term for it—fated mates.
But her body does.
And her heart does too.
Blair
I don’t look back at him as I run through the front door of the cabin.
If I look at him, I’ll remember the way his mouth feels against mine. The way the world goes quiet whenever he pulls me close. The way my body softens whenever he’s near.
I take the stairs too quickly. My wet shoes slip once on the wood, and I grab the railing to steady myself.
By the time I reach the bedroom, I’m shaking. But I don’t know if it’s from cold or panic or stress…or the kiss.
