He wanted to call or perhaps send a quick text, just to make sure she was all right before going to the antique shop, but each time, he put his phone away. As much as he needed her, as much as his wolf needed her too, Dominic stayed distant to be safe. It nearly killed him.
That didn’t stop him from calling on Cole to see if he could keep an eye out for her. That was three hours before he felt some of the tension ease in the bond. Wherever she had gone that morning, she was back now and drew very near to him. Through the window of his shop, he saw Cole’s squad car drive through the roundabout to head east. Erica was in his passenger seat.
For the first time since he realized she must have left town, Dominic could breathe again. At least she was safe, but the fact that she was riding shotgun in the front of Cole’s car made him burn with more questions.
If there was any way for him to break this bond, he would have. He had heard of other shifters who had been able to sever the mating ties, but it sometimes took years of separation and conscious effort on both sides to eradicate this spiritual linkage. Dominic could try, but without Erica’s help, it would be impossible to reverse the damage he had done. It still baffledhim how the mating bond could have formed so effortlessly to begin with.
It was far too soon for anything so serious. She didn’t even know about shifters, didn’t understand his role as Prime Alpha in Tolstone, or even the huge significance of the town for the shifter community. If she still wanted him, if she would accept this life, then maybe they wouldn’t have to cut off their ties at all.
As soon as he could, he planned to call her and ask her to dinner. He hadn’t expected her to beat him to it. While helping a customer look through his catalog for a particular piece of fine china to complete their grandmother’s twelve-piece place setting, he saw Cole’s squad car pull along the curb. Erica slid out of the passenger side, waved to the officer, and made her way to the front door. They locked stares for a moment, and time stood perfectly still, her hand on the handle and his wolf ready to pounce as soon as she walked through. He had to tear himself away and mentally throttle his wolf into submission.
It was hard to focus as he flipped through his inventory list, searching for the china brand as Erica roamed around the antique shop and waited for him to finish. Her scent drove him mad, and once she was out of sight, it was all he could use to track her progress through the showroom.
“It doesn’t look like I have that set,” he told the woman with a pang of regret. She had come all the way from Charleston in the next county over. “I can see if I can order it.”
She shook her head furiously and waved her hands as if she were done with the whole thing. “No. No. I need it now. I’ll just find another antique store. Maybe they’ll have it.”
Seeing that she was inconsolable, Dominic let her leave and then rushed around the counter to find Erica. She was near the exhibit of ticking mantel clocks.
Relief washed over him as they reunited for the first time since he left her house the night before. It was like he couldbreathe freely again after a pillow was held against his face. She turned in his direction but wouldn’t lift her eyes. The closer he came, the more he sensed something was terribly wrong. Did he smell stale tears on her sleeves?
Reflexively, his arms raised ever so slightly as if to pull her in, but Erica quickly scooted a few steps back to avoid any embrace. That one small move hurt him worse than anything he could have imagined. He had broken several bones in one sitting, had a rampant shifter slash his chest open, nearly had his hand crushed by farming equipment he was trying to fix, but none of it could compare to what she just did.
At first, Dominic thought he was the only one who felt the injury, but her eyes misted over with unshed tears. He was right. She must have felt the strain of the mating bond too, and suffered for it. He had thought about going back to her house the night before, after dealing with Mr. Johansson, but all of her lights were off, and he assumed she had gone to bed. He should have tried anyway. Maybe that could have spared her some of the same agony he shared.
Out of respect for whatever she was going through, he gave her a little more space and waited.
“I just wanted to come by and say I’m sorry for last night.”
Dominic lost his breath. “You’re sorry?”
With her gaze still cast to the floor, she nodded. “Yes, I’m sorry. I’ve been going through a lot lately with my mom’s passing and the house and getting my business going, and I don’t know what I was thinking. Honestly, I probably wasn’t thinking, and I shouldn’t have let you kiss me like that.”
It all sounded rehearsed, mechanical. How much effort did she have to put into her speech to make her voice stay so level while she was talking complete nonsense? He knew everything she said was a lie. She couldn’t mean it. Their mating bond confirmed it.
Dominic risked a small step closer, and she didn’t move. “If anyone should be sorry, it’s me. But I’m not sorry.”
Erica bit her lips together and glanced toward the front of the shop. The sunlight brightened her face just enough to allow him to see the truth. She had been crying. Maybe not recently, but sometime today. God, how he wanted to crush her in his arms right then and take away whatever pain made her grieve. Was it him? Was it the bond? Or was it something else?
“Why won’t you look at me?” His voice came out just barely above a whisper.
Erica took an unsteady breath and finally looked up. The wealth of emotion behind her eyes tugged at his heartstrings. He wanted to let out the shrill whine that began to build in his wolf and lodge in his throat, but he clamped his vocal cords against it. He needed to approach this subject gently.
“You can’t regret what we did last night,” he began. “I know you can’t.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” she replied with a touch of venom.
A fire flickered to life within her, and he both loved and hated the sight of it.
“I know you enough that you’re going to try and take responsibility for something that was beyond both of our control.” He chanced another step toward her, easy and slow. “That kiss was—”
“It was a mistake,” she spat viciously. “It shouldn’t have happened. You’re… You know what? I’ll be honest. You’re hot. You really are, and I’m really… really attracted to you, but I can’t be in a relationship right now, and everything about last night was wrong. I shouldn’t have let you come over. I’m just in a really tough place and I can’t—”
“Why are you lying to me? Lying to yourself?” Dominic beseeched, now his turn to interrupt. “I know you feel somethingbetween us because I feel it too.” He rushed forward, heedless of the consequences, and took her hand to press it to his chest. “You can’t tell me this is all one-sided. I knew the moment you walked into this store that you were special.”
Erica rolled her eyes and slipped her hand out of his grasp. “Those lines are so old, Dominic. If you think saying all the right things is going to make me change my mind, you’re wrong.”
As if he had been physically slapped in the face, Dominic staggered. “Lines? Is that what you think this is? Like I’m just playing you?”
