by Eve Langlais
He was a man—er, werewolf—of his word. Truly one of a kind.
Ellie opened the door to let him in. “He—”
Before the greeting could leave her lips, Colin pressed her against the wall and put his mouth to hers. The passionate kiss was the sort of greeting between lovers who hadn’t seen in each other in months … years … decades. It conveyed enough passion and heat to set a forest ablaze and it left Ellie weak and shaken. She didn’t know it was possible to miss someone so much in such a short amount of time, but Colin’s kiss made her realize the past twenty-four hours had been torture and she’d spent every single hour waiting for him to come back.
“I didn’t think—”
Again, Colin didn’t give her the opportunity to finish her thought as he kissed her again. Ellie’s arms wound around his neck and she came up on her tiptoes as his mouth slanted across hers. Did words matter when their connection was so strong? Did anything matter other than this moment and the way his lips moved slowly over hers? Any insecurities she might’ve felt melted away. She didn’t have to possess werewolf senses to know every word Colin had spoken to her had been the truth. She didn’t have to have keen eyesight or a superior sense of smell to know he wanted her.
When Colin finally pulled away, Ellie wondered how her legs were still solid enough to hold her upright. Every inch of her felt like Jell-O. She smiled, a little embarrassed at her own giddiness. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so happy—in fact, she didn’t think she’d ever been this happy.
“Hi.”
Colin brushed her hair from her face. “Gods, I missed you.”
No one had ever uttered those words to her. She’d lived such an isolated life. She’d never gotten close enough to anyone to give them the chance to miss her. Her time with Colin had been short, but the fire that had ignited between them burned hot and bright. “I missed you too.”
Colin’s answering smile warmed her in a way the summer sun never could. “Good. Because I think I’ve found a solution to your problem.”
“What?” Ellie’s voice failed her. She cleared her throat, disbelieving what Colin had just told her and yet desperate for it to be true. “Are you sure?”
Colin’s brow furrowed. “No.” She appreciated his honesty, but her heart plummeted into her stomach anyway. “Not exactly. For the sake of argument, I’m about eighty percent sure. Either way, it’s worth a shot. And if it doesn’t work, then we’ll just keep looking until we find a solution. I hope you’re up for an adventure.”
Ellie had quit trying to break the curse a long time ago. As a werewolf, Colin could bring something to the table she’d never considered. “I’m up for anything.” It’s not like any attempt to break the curse would kill her. Ellie was immortal. “When do you want to start?”
“Well…” Colin bent his head and kissed her throat, her jaw, and took her earlobe between his teeth and sucked. “As much as I’d like to stay right here and taste every … single … inch … of your body…” His tongue flicked out at the corner of her mouth. “I’d like to get started right away.”
“Anxious to make me less of a freak of nature?”
Colin kissed below her ear and Ellie shivered. But she wasn’t sure whether it was from his kiss or the tremor of fear that rippled through her. Ellie had never wanted anything other than to be human again. Normal. But since she’d met Colin, she realized that normal wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Would it be so bad to be bound to the land for eternity as long as he was here with her?
“You’re not a freak of nature,” Colin replied. “But I am anxious to take you home.”
Ellie pulled back to look at him. “I thought I was home.”
He smiled. “My home. And eventually, our home.”
Ellie froze. How did this somehow become about dragging her out of Lowman? She wanted the curse broken more than anything, but not so she could be carted off to some other location and be just as bound and isolated as she already was.
“No.” The word slipped from between Ellie’s lips.
Colin frowned. Gold light shone behind his eyes, but Ellie wasn’t about to demur. “No?”
“No.” She needed him to understand how she felt. “I’ve never traveled more than the thirty square miles surrounding this cabin. I’ve never been anywhere. I’ve never seen anything but these hills, and this river, and the same stretch of damned highway for hundreds of years. You want to break this curse so you can take me home?” Ellie tried to control her temper, but she couldn’t do anything to control the volume of her voice. “Colin. I want this curse broken so I can be free!”
Being Colin’s “mate” didn’t mean to Ellie what it obviously meant to him. It was like being in an arranged marriage without being let in on the plan. One day she was minding her own business and the next—Hey! Here’s the guy you’re going to be spending the rest of your life with! Congrats! She wanted it to have the same instant, resounding impact that it had on him, but she wasn’t like him. She wasn’t a werewolf. She couldn’t see, smell, or sense the same things he could. She might have been immortal, but she was still mundane. That didn’t mean she didn’t recognize there was something between her and Colin. A future with him—maybe even love—wasn’t at all far-fetched. But how would she know for certain if she didn’t get out in the world and truly live first?
He stared at her, his jaw squared, a deep groove cutting through his forehead just above the bridge of his nose. His eyes sparked bright gold and she swore she heard a growl rumble deep in his chest. He was upset, and rightly so. But she owed him honesty.
“I’m so sorry, Colin. But I can’t go home with you.”
CHAPTER 11
Colin felt as though his heart had been scooped out of his chest with a rusty shovel. His chest cavity was empty. A hollowed-out cavern of hurt and rejection. His wolf let out a forlorn howl in the recesses of his mind that further gutted him. Ellie didn’t want him. She wanted out.
Knock it off and stop being an asshole. The logical part of Colin’s brain knew Ellie wasn’t rejecting him or their bond. The part of his brain that understood how awful the years of loneliness and isolation must have been recognized why she wanted to leave this tiny corner of Idaho and get out into the real world. The part of his brain that knew Ellie not only needed her freedom but also deserved it didn’t feel an ounce of hurt at her emphatic words. The part of his brain that trusted in the mate bond knew she’d come back to him because fate wouldn’t have it otherwise.
He knew all that and more. And yet he couldn’t help but yield to the crushing emotions that screamed past the voice of reason.
“Fine. Whatever.” Colin put up a wall of apathy to protect his fucking fragile feelings and the wolf who whined and worried in the back of his mind.
“Colin, I—”
“Hey, it is what it is.” The flimsy words didn’t carry any weight, but it was better than letting her see how much her rejection got under his skin. Whether Ellie wanted to be with him or not, it didn’t change the fact that she was his mate. His to protect, to honor, and to support. He would never condemn her to an existence that might as well have been a life sentence. Colin had given his word that he’d help her out of this, and he never broke a promise. His spine lost a little of its starch as he looked into Ellie’s sad blue eyes. This wasn’t her fault. Hell, this wasn’t her world. Had she not been cursed, Colin never would have met her and he would have gone his entire life never knowing his true mate. He was thankful that the spiteful witch had given Ellie enough time on this earth for Colin to have found her. But the workings of the supernatural world were as foreign to Ellie as the mate bond Colin insisted on pushing on her. His wolf could grouse all he wanted. It wouldn’t change the fact that Colin was going to respect her wishes and give her a little gods-damned space.
No matter how much it might hurt him.
He brushed the hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “Ellie, it’s okay.” He kissed her forehead and let his
lips linger there for a bittersweet moment. “I get it. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s been like for you. Living up here. Alone. Not being able to leave or to see the world beyond what you get from the internet or TV. I know we don’t know each other. And I also know that a bomb like our mate bond is a lot to digest. We’ll free you from this curse and then…” Colin refused to think about what “and then” would entail. “Just know that you have me and you have a family. When you’re ready, if you’re ready, you can always come to Stanley.”
Ellie’s expression softened. Gods, her beauty took his breath away. “Thank you for understanding.”
Colin understood perfectly. His gut bottomed out as he took Ellie’s hand in his. Was he really considering the possibility that he might have to sacrifice his own life in order for her to finally experience hers?
Ellie kept her hand in his and led him into the living room. She pulled him down beside her on the couch—the same couch they’d wound up naked on a couple days ago—and tucked her body against his. Her head came to rest on his chest and the simple contact made Colin ache with longing. He had to have faith in their bond and trust that everything would work out like it was supposed to. If he let his doubt overtake him, it would cripple him.
“So … tell me about this grand adventure,” Ellie began. “Wait, first tell me how you figured all of this out. I mean—two days? I’ve been trying to think of a way to break this curse for two centuries!”
“Supernatural creature, supernatural connections,” Colin said. He threaded his fingers through her hair, letting the silky strands slip through his grasp over and over again. “I have access to knowledge and resources that you don’t.”
Ellie let out a sigh. “Why couldn’t I have met you a couple hundred years ago?”
Gods, Colin wondered the same thing. So much time wasted, and now … he had no idea how much time they’d have once the curse was broken. These next few days with Ellie might be all he ever got with her. He vowed to make the most of whatever time they had together, though.
“My brother’s mate, Mia, should really get the credit. She’s a wood nymph and her family has lived in the Sawtooths for centuries. Apparently, you’re sort of a legend among the grassroots supernaturals in the area. The mysterious woman, bound to the land by a vindictive witch.”
“Seriously?” Ellie brought her head up to look at him. Her brow pinched with honest curiosity. “I can’t believe anyone would’ve ever heard anything about me.” Her mouth puckered. “Would’ve been nice if one of those wood nymphs had come to visit once or twice.”
Colin couldn’t agree more. If the supernatural community had tried to integrate her a long time ago, maybe the idea of a mate bond with him wouldn’t have been so disconcerting to her now. But Ellie wasn’t a supernatural creature, not really, and his world was an esoteric one. So far, her indoctrination had been anything but smooth. And it wasn’t about to get any less bumpy anytime soon.
“Sorry. I got a little off topic there. Back to Mia?”
“Right.” Colin continued to play with Ellie’s hair. His wolf was content to have their mate by their side and Colin was right there with the animal. Peace settled over him like a warm blanket. As though this was where he’d always been meant to be. With her. “I don’t know a lot about witchcraft, but Mia does. Apparently, curses take a lot more effort than simply saying a few words and infusing them with magic. In order to bind you to the land, Sarah would have to have had a physical object to create the boundaries. Something personal. Mia thinks there are four items at the four corners placed along ley lines. She said if we find the items and destroy them, it should free you.”
“Ley lines?”
Colin smiled. Gods, how he wanted endless days to teach her all about his world. Days he might never get. “They’re like tiny highways that crisscross the earth and hold magical energy. The latitudes and longitudes of the supernatural world. Witches use ley lines to draw power, map spells, and even travel. In order to keep you within the confines of the boundaries she set, it’s almost guaranteed she had to use ley lines. We just have to find them—along with the physical markers she enchanted.”
Ellie’s gentle laughter reached out like a caress. “It almost seems too easy.”
Colin held her closer. That’s because it was.
* * *
Something didn’t add up. Ellie didn’t know much about the supernatural world, but it seemed ridiculous that releasing her from the curse that bound her would be so easy. Likewise, she might not have had Colin’s keen senses, but she knew he wasn’t telling her the whole story. And whatever he was omitting had him on edge.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Colin replied. “It won’t be as easy as you think. We’ve got to go old-school on this. No motorized vehicles, no electronics. Magic is tricky. We can’t have anything with us that might disrupt it. And then we have to actually find the items Sarah enchanted and destroy them.”
“How do we do it?” Despite the anxiety that ate away at her stomach lining, Ellie couldn’t help but be a little excited. After so many years, day in and day out, of simply existing, she was about to have an honest-to-God adventure. True, it was within the parameters of her own prison, but still … And she was about to experience it all with a man—did werewolves still consider themselves men?—she couldn’t seem to get enough of. “Destroy the items? Do we need some sort of special weapon? A sword or some sort of magical dagger?”
Colin laughed. Ellie didn’t think she’d ever get tired of that sound. “Nothing quite so elaborate. According to Mia, in theory we should be able to simply smash the item with a rock, which will release the magical energy and nullify the spell.”
“In theory?” There was always a catch, wasn’t there?
“Don’t forget, Ellie. You’re bringing a werewolf along. I’m not exactly useless if we get into a pinch.”
Thank God for that. “Does that mean I get to see some Superman-style feats of strength and speed?”
“Could be.” Colin put his lips to her forehead. “But let’s hope not.”
Ellie could get behind that sentiment. The fewer roadblocks, the better. “How do we find the ley lines? And when do you want to head out?”
Colin laid a finger to his nose. “Leave finding the ley lines to me. And I think we should leave as soon as possible; don’t you?”
“Like, now?”
He let out a slow breath. “Sure.”
Ellie couldn’t help but feel a twinge of disappointment that Colin was so ready to get going. She knew her earlier words had hurt him. But why couldn’t he understand that wanting her freedom had nothing to do with not wanting him? Ellie wanted Colin more than she’d ever wanted anyone or anything. She’d simply needed to convey to him that if she managed to be free of this horrible curse she wanted the opportunity to spread her wings and truly experience her freedom. And why did he think that meant leaving him in Stanley? Why couldn’t they have dozens—hundreds—of adventures together?
“Do you have a backpack? Sleeping bag? We’re going to be gone for at least a couple of days. I brought my own gear, a tent, and some food. Thirty square miles isn’t much to cover, but I think we need to be prepared for setbacks.”
A lump formed in Ellie’s throat. “Setbacks?” Sounded like another word for “trouble.”
“It’ll be okay, Ellie.” Colin gave her a reassuring squeeze. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”
He barely knew her, and yet Colin was doing everything in his power to help her. To protect her. “Who’s going to make sure nothing happens to you?”
“Werewolf.” He always used the word like it was the explanation for everything. “I’ll be fine.”
Ellie certainly hoped so. Because if anything happened to Colin in the course of helping her, she’d never forgive herself.
“I’ve got a pack and a sleeping bag.” If there was one thing Ellie was thankful for in the modern world, it was Amazon. “But that’s about it.”
&nbs
p; “No worries. I’ve got the rest covered.” Colin let out another slow sigh, as though reluctant to follow through with their plans. “Better go get ready. I want to get ahead of the sunset.”
Thirty minutes later, Ellie was ready to roll. It wasn’t tough to get ready when she had nothing more than a sleeping bag and a change of clothes to throw into her pack.
Colin was outside, unloading his gear from the back of his pickup. Ellie took a quiet moment to simply watch and admire him in all of his magnificent strength and glory. It was almost inconceivable that someone like him could actually exist. He was the perfect representation of masculine perfection. Tall. Strong. Gorgeous. And according to Colin, Ellie was his.
His.
She still didn’t understand the significance of their supposed bond. All she knew was that it meant something to him. Was important. Sacred. And she needed to remind herself of that moving forward. He deserved her respect.
He turned toward the window as though he sensed her watching him. Ellie considered dropping to the floor, but instead she froze in place. Crap. Caught in the act of peeping. He flashed a cocky smile that damn near set her on fire. Colin knew the effect he had on her. Thanks to his superior senses, Ellie couldn’t keep her own damned body’s reaction to him a secret. She should have been embarrassed by her brazen wantonness, but she couldn’t manage to muster even an ounce of shame.
She wanted Colin, plain and simple.
He strode through the door, the epitome of smug confidence. Ellie’s breath caught. His slow, purposeful stride was 100 percent predator and it sent a thrill through her bloodstream. “If you don’t stop looking at me like that,” his voice dropped to a husky murmur, “we definitely aren’t going to get out of here before sundown.”
“Is that such a bad thing?” As much as Ellie wanted to break the curse that bound her, she could sacrifice a few minutes to reacquaint herself with the magnificence of Colin’s naked body.