Page 57 of Phantom’s Mate

“That’s amazing,” he said. “I didn’t know you could do that.” He’d heard of people tracking their true mates through the spirit world, but he’d never thought a human could do it.

Especially because they hadn’t even been bonded at the time.

She looked down at her hands, wrapping her fingers around his. “I had to face a lot of things first,” she admitted in a low voice. “The pain of being abandoned, and how I pushed everyone away afterwards, never completely letting them in. Even if they loved me.”

“Like Chaaaz?” He knew he shouldn’t have said it—especially in that tone of voice—but the guy still got to him. The fact that Britt had loved him still got to him.

She smacked him lightly. “Chaz is a dipshit. I picked him because he was incapable of loving me. That’s one of the things I realized.” Her voice grew thoughtful. “I meant my grandparents, mostly. And other guys, who maybe could have loved me if I let them.”

Her courage humbled him. He’d never admitted any of that out loud. He took a deep breath. “I always did that too. With everyone—Brandon, the crew…” He gave a rueful laugh. “And women? I never let any of them into the same zip code as my heart, let alone inside.”

He turned his head and kissed her hair. “Until you. You’re right in here.” He put his hand over the same place on his chest that she’d touched.

“I know,” she said, looking up at him, those incredible green eyes glowing with emotion. “You’re inside my heart, too. Almost since the moment we met.”

They gazed into each other’s eyes. Nick dropped his forehead against hers. This was the last thing he wanted to say, but he had to say it.

“So now all we have to do is find your sister and get her a message. And you’ll be free.”

Brittany said slowly, “I think that will be easier than we thought.”

She told him about her memory, about the guy robbing her purse and throwing it away. Nick was stunned. “That’s amazing! We should get DB back here, have him look for it. Or, some of the crew will come out.”

He suddenly realized that she wasn’t looking at all excited about this. “Hey,” he said, running the backs of his fingers down her cheek. “What’s wrong? You don’t look happy.”

“I want to find the locket and the letter, and send them to my sister. I want her to know there are people she belongs to.”

“But?” His breath felt like it was caught in his throat.

She ran her fingertips up his forearm, making him shiver. “But then I’ll probably have to move on. And I’ll be leaving you behind.”

Nick closed his eyes against the pain. “Let’s not think about that right now,” he said gruffly. “Let’s just concentrate on finding the purse.”

She went very quiet. He waited. He had nothing to say. Everything was at odds inside him—the instinct to make his mate happy at war with his fierce desire to keep her here. Right beside him.

“Nick.”

“Yeah?”

“What do you want? Like, if this could turn out any way you wanted—me staying here, or you crossing over with me, or me crossing over with you—what would you want?”

He wanted to stay just like this forever, with her in his arms. But this was no afterlife for her, so he lied.

“I just want you to be happy. I want you to have everything you want, and everything you were afraid to ever want.”

“But don’t you get it?” she said. “That’s what I want for you, too.”

“What if we can’t both have that?”

She ran her fingers under the collar of his shirt, pulling it down to expose the scar of his claiming mark. “Isn’t this supposed to make it so we can?”

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. He wished he believed that his love for her had the power to change everything. But that only happened to other people.

He pulled her closer, grazing her lips with his. Even in the midst of her dark and stormy night, she’d always made him think of green grass and sunshine and flowers. Yellow and purple flowers, because those were her favorite colors.

He let himself soak her in, all the way inside him, her scent and her taste and the feel of her against him.

All his walls crumbled, until there was only her, filling him up. Nick rose to his feet, carrying her with him, and took her into the cabin, laying her on the bed, creating a fire in the fireplace with a single thought.