by Lizzy Prince
I bolt up from the couch, I’m sure looking like a startled animal, but I don’t care. “I need some air.” I stumble away from the couch, escaping around the back instead of walking in front of Silas.
“Bridget?” Silas starts to come after me, but I stop him.
“Please. I just need a moment alone.” I exit the house, shutting the door with a little more force than is polite, but I can’t seem to control my limbs. They feel disconnected from my body. Everything feels heavy and foreign, like I’ve been floating around on a cloud for the past few days and now I’ve been sucked back down into my body. It’s an anvil, pulling me down into the murky darkness. I lean against the side of the house and look up at the sky. There are no trees this close to the house, so there’s an unadulterated view of the night sky.
There are no clouds tonight, just an open expanse of the black sky littered with more stars than I’ve ever been able to see before. Without the glare of city lights, the sky feels so much brighter and vast. I’m just this insignificant speck beneath it, a simple human wandering around thinking I’m living some exciting life with a wolf who’s also a man. A man that I love.
A tear streaks down my cheek, and I dash it away, angry at my inability to keep them at bay when more follow after. I’m angry at myself for so many reasons. For getting my hopes up again, only to have them crushed in my face like a flimsy piece of paper. For thinking I was someone who could live a big life, with a damned werewolf no less. But I’m also pissed at myself for thinking I’m somehow not worthy of that big life. Why not me? Why shouldn’t I deserve some grand, epic love? A fated mate who is made for me, just as I’m made for him. Why don’t I deserve that?
But Thea’s words snuffed out any hopes I had of that happily ever after. His mate would break his curse. Which means, I’m not his mate. I’m just some lovesick fool. Once Silas finds his mate, I’ll be pushed aside and have to see him around town with her, and I’ll die a little bit inside until I’m barely a shell of a functioning human being.
It’s so cold outside that everything in my body is numb. Or maybe it’s just from this news. I can’t be certain. The door swings open next to me, and I startle as Silas steps outside and comes to stand in front of me.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Silas
Bridget looks absolutely wrecked in front of me. My face contorts with pain and frustration as I wipe away the trails her tears have left behind.
“I’m sorry. I’ll get it together. I just need another minute.” She hiccups as her chest does an uneven double inhale, the kind that happens when someone has been crying so hard they haven’t taken a good breath in a while. Every inch of my heart is aching seeing her like this. I know exactly why she ran out, and I’m both crushed and heartened by her reaction.
I lower my head until I’m almost level with her, angling her head so I can look her in the eye. But she keeps her eyes closed as tears leak out from behind closed lids.
“I’m trying. One more minute, okay? And I’ll stop. I can’t seem to control it right now.” The wobble in her voice is killing me, and I hate that she’s hurting this badly.
“Bridget. Come inside. You left too soon. Thea wasn’t done. There’s more to it than what you heard.”
Warm amber eyes find mine, illuminated by the soft glow of the porch light. It’s not much, but I can see the tiny flicker of hope swimming in the misery.
“Come on. Let’s get back inside.” I wait for her to nod as her eyes flit over my face as if she’s looking for some kind of trick. It’s like she doesn’t want to allow herself to hope again, but I smile at her, and her eyes dash to the hint of a dimple that I know she loves. I brush a kiss on the top of her head and grab her hand, pulling her back into the house.
Thea hasn’t moved from her chair. She looks slightly ill, and I wonder if using her abilities does this to her. We came barging in here asking for her help, and I never even considered how it might impact her. Well, now I feel like even more of a selfish prick. Thea’s eyes slowly blink open as we move back toward the couch. Bridget’s sniffing and still wiping at her face as she gives Thea an apologetic smile.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t react very well.”
Thea’s eyes soften when she looks at Bridget, and she even smiles a little. The edge of one side of her mouth tipping up. She holds out the box of tissues Bridget had given to her a few minutes before, and Bridget smiles sheepishly as she grabs a few.
“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t word that well.” Her gaze travels back to me, and her eyes grow unfocused, and she sways in her seat. I make a move to help steady her, but she holds up a hand. “Please, don’t touch me.”
Her words aren’t sharp, just casual, but I wonder if she gets visions every time she touches someone. Hell, if she did, that might explain why she lives in the middle of nowhere. Away from as many people as possible.
She looks apologetically at Bridget. “I can’t tell if you’re his mate. Whatever curse has been cast against him has hidden the mate bond.”
Bridget deflates next to me, but she nods at Thea, letting her know she understands. Thea turns back to me. “Your mate can break the curse, but…” Her brow is knitted in frustration. “You’ll need to mark her. It’s a little like the chicken or the egg. If you mark her and she’s not your mate, you’re tied together forever. But you’ll never break the curse and know if she’s your mate if you don’t mark her.”
“Thank you,” I murmur, my mind feeling like a void. Empty of all thoughts and questions. I don’t know what to think or feel about any of this. Thea sits back as she stares at me, and I get the sense she knows exactly how my mind is spinning.
“I’m sorry I can’t be more help.”
My mouth feels dry, and nothing around me registers as I stand. “Thank you for letting us into your home. I’m sorry if we caused any trouble.” I have at least enough wits to remember my manners. Thea tips her chin in acknowledgement but stays seated. When Bridget begins to move past her, Thea shoots out her arm to grab hold of Bridget. Bridget looks just as dumbfounded as I feel about this whole situation as she stares down at the hand on her arm.
“I don’t know what will happen, but I know you’ll be fine. Trust in that.”
“Oh. Okay. Thank you.” The confusion is still evident as Bridget smiles tentatively at Thea before making her way to my side. I rest a hand on her lower back, silently guiding her outside and to the car. She’s walking where I shuttle her, but I don’t know that much is registering. She looks a little shell shocked. I know the feeling.
When we’re settled back in my 4Runner, I crank the heat but don’t put the car in drive. I just stare at the little stone house in front of us, wondering how I ended up in this situation.
“Are we driving back home tonight?” Bridget’s quiet voice breaks through the fog of my thoughts.
“I… my head’s not on straight. Do you mind if we find a spot to stop for the night?”
“No. That’s fine.” There’s no fire in Bridget’s voice, and it’s killing me. She sounds defeated, and it’s enough to snap me back into action. We’ll find a hotel, and then we are going to talk about all of this.
Bridget uses her phone to find the closest hotel that doesn’t look disgusting. We’re there within forty-five minutes, and I’ve got a room key in hand after a quick check-in at the front desk. Both of us are walking like we’ve run a marathon but haven’t crossed the finish line yet. Weary, worn-out, defeated.
The room is thankfully clean, and it only occurs to me when I see the king-sized bed in the middle of the room that I didn’t think to ask if Bridget minded sleeping in the same bed. Both of us are staring at it like it’s the elephant in the room. Bridget finally takes a step back as she takes her coat off and throws it on top of a desk. I turn toward her, but she stops me with a hand out.
“I’m going to wash my face and brush my teeth, because I feel like I just woke up after a Rip VanWinkle-length nap.” I want to stop her, to talk about everything we ne
ed to get out in the open, but Bridget shakes her head and gives me a sad smile. “I’ll be out in a few minutes. It can wait a few minutes, right?”
“Yeah. Yes,” I murmur, flopping back on the bed as the bathroom door clicks shut. I can hear the water running as everything I’ve learned recently sprints through my head. I’ve been cursed. I’ve slept with Bridget. I’ve had a year of knowing her, sharing jokes and smiles and touches that I no longer possess the memory of. My mate can break this curse, but I have no way of knowing if Bridget is her. The first time we touched is lost in the memories that the curse took away from me. My wolf growls deep in my chest, and I share the frustration, but I feel him pushing against me, like he’s telling me to wake the fuck up.
The bathroom door creaks open, and Bridget walks out looking a little refreshed. The edges of her hair are damp, like she’s splashed water over her face and then dragged her hands through her hair. She works the long strands up into another messy bun on the top of her head, and I have to resist the urge to stop her. To shake out all that beautiful hair and run my fingers through it.
I sit up while Bridget stares at me, but she doesn’t come to the bed. Instead, she moves over to the desk with a chair tucked beneath it, pulling it out and sitting on it sideways, one leg tucked under her.
“I think we should talk about what Thea told us.” I don’t know how to broach the subject delicately.
“Okay. Do you want to go first?” Bridget already looks defeated.
“You could still be my mate, Bridget,” I say, giving up any pretenses of easing us into this conversation.
“How, Silas? If I was your mate, wouldn’t you have tried to mark me when we had sex?”
“Not necessarily.” I notice she sits up a little straighter. “You didn’t know anything about me being a wolf. I wouldn’t have tried to mark you before you knew what it meant, even if I knew you were my mate.”
A small bloom of color returns to Bridget’s cheeks, and I hear her heartbeat pick up speed. My wolf chirps happily in my chest.
“But, what if I’m not your mate and you mark me?”
“It’s a possibility, but that just means you would be my mate of choice.”
“Instead of your fated mate?” Bridget whispers, sounding forlorn.
I swallow, trying to tamp down the pain of seeing her so sad and hurt. “Yes.”
“What would happen if you met your fated mate?”
“There would be a pull, but I am not a cheater, Bridget. I would never betray you.”
“But you might want to. And being with me would deny you the person you were meant to be with.” She sighs and swivels back and forth on the spinning chair, her toe pushing her.
“I… I don’t know, Bridget. All I do know is that I want you in my life. I want to be with you. I spent a year being fucking miserable, and I couldn’t figure out what the nagging feeling inside my chest was. The empty ache that never seems to go away unless I’m in your presence. I know you feel like mine, in every way that matters. Is it fated? I don’t know, but I choose to be with you. I want you in my life. I want to make memories to replace the ones that were stolen from me, and I want them forever.”
“If you mark me and I’m not your mate though, you’ll forget me again.” I shift off the bed and kneel before her. It feels like I’m constantly prostrating myself at her feet, and she has no fucking clue what it means to for an Alpha to kneel before anyone. For her, I will gladly get on my knees time and time again. I wrap her strong fingers in mine. Such small, delicate hands that hide such strength. Just like the rest of her.
Damn this fucking curse. Damn the unknown wolf and whatever reason he had to do this to me. “I believe in us, Bridget. Please believe in me. If I forget again, help me remember. We’ll find a way to break this curse. I promise.”
Amber eyes gaze down at me, her lips parted in an unspoken word as her free hand cups my jaw. A tear trickles down her cheek, and she closes her eyes.
“I love you, Silas,” she whispers just before lips touch mine.
I groan at the feel. Her lush mouth is like a drug, and her kiss makes me feel drunk. The smell of her, vanilla and freshly baked cookies, wraps around me, and I want to drown in it. To bury myself deep inside her and never leave. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted in my life, soft and hard, sweet and sharp. She’s not afraid to stand up to me and put me in my place. She pulls her mouth free of her gentle assault and presses soft kisses against my cheek, my temple, forehead, and chin before moving up my jaw. Each kiss is an acknowledgement of her love, a perfectly placed token of her affection. My eyes are closed as I try to restrain myself, to let her explore me with her mouth, but she’s too far away. I’m still on my knees, and her body is on the chair, instead of pressed up against me.
When she reaches the edge of my jaw, I feel the tentative touch of her tongue, and my pulse leaps. She traces it with her tongue, pressing one more kiss at the juncture of my neck and shoulder before her teeth sink into me with a fierce bite. The nip of pain has my eyes opening in a flash and pulls a growl from my throat. Bridget raises her head, and the look on her face is so pleased, so mischievous and fucking dirty that my cock jumps. When she bites down a second time, it snaps all my restraint, and I stand up, picking her up off the chair as I do.
Her legs wrap around my waist as I take one small step and turn, falling onto the bed in a tangle of limbs. She’s so much smaller than me that I have to make sure I don’t land on her and crush the hell out of her. As soon as we’re on the bed, she’s clawing at my back and neck, pulling me down on top of her as our mouths clash and then meld in a kiss that I feel all the way down in my soul. I feel it all the way down to the soles of my feet, and a fire burns beneath my skin.
“I need to feel your skin,” she pants when she breaks our kiss, her fingers scrabbling desperately at my shirt. I pull back enough so that she can tear it off, and I return the favor on her, her back arching as I slide her shirt up the skin of her stomach, and she threads her arms and head out gracefully. Her hair has fallen loose from her bun, and it fans out on the bed behind her like a pool of auburn silk.
I sit back on my knees and take her in. She’s my every fantasy rolled into one. A wicked glint in her eye as she lays submissive below me. The soft, smooth skin of her stomach begs for my touch, my mouth, to trace every curve and valley. She’s wearing a silky black bra with white polka dots on it, and I can only smile. Because not only is it sexy as fuck, offering up her breasts as a tantalizing feast to be savored, but it feels like Bridget. A little sweet, a whole lot sexy.
She might be short, but her body is all curves, a sexy little hourglass figure that is calling for my hands. I want to run them over every inch of her, learning all the spots that make her gasp and sigh. I want to discover them and know them forever.
My eyes slide shut for a brief moment, and I find myself begging the universe for Bridget to be my mate. It feels like she’s mine. I feel like I belong to her, but I want it to be as true as I believe it is in my heart. A pulse of energy thrums around us, and Bridget makes a soft sound of pleasure. The pulse throbs again, like some magical hand pushing forward, prompting me to what I’ve been dying to do since I first met Bridget. Well, first remember meeting Bridget.
Another powerful pulse of energy surrounds us, and we both lose it. Bridget reaches up for my neck and pulls me down as I nearly crush her with the weight of my body, needing as much of my skin as possible to touch her. I lift her and unclasp her bra, pulling the thing from between us before moving my fingers to the button of her jeans. Her hands are equally frantic as they unzip my pants and shove them down over my ass as far as she can reach.
I shift back long enough to peel her pants off, tossing her shoes off in the process, and divesting of my own shoes and pants. Bridget follows me up as if she can’t stand to be separated from me, even that little bit. Her arms are around my neck, then her hands are buried in my hair, and she’s pulling on the strands until my lips are back on hers, and
I’m devouring her mouth. Her body is pliant and perfect as I crush her to me, desperate now to be inside her.
I guide her back down to the bed as my mouth explores the skin of her neck, and my hands trace over the curves of her body. My hand molds to one of her perfect breasts, and I brush my thumb over the straining peak. I’m settled between her thighs, and there’s no barrier between us. The heat from her body is a seduction on its own, and I rock against her in gentle thrusts, teasing at what’s to come. Really, I’m just torturing myself more than anything. My cock is so fucking hard it takes all of my strength of will to keep from slamming into her and fucking us both into an oblivion of pleasure. Soon, but not yet. Not this time.
Bridget’s hands glide down my back, grabbing my ass and digging her nails in like little claws until I’m damn near snarling with the need to be inside her. She pulls me in closer to her core, moaning when my dick slides over her clit. I pull my mouth away from hers and lavish her skin with hot, damp kisses, sucking and nipping at her skin until her entire body is flushed with need.
When I reach the smooth flesh of her breast, I flick her nipple with my tongue. When she writhes beneath me, I can’t help but smile. I know she wants more, needs more, but I’m not giving it to her yet. The pebbled bud is wet from my tongue, and her exhalation is uneven as my hot breath touches the damp skin.
Agile fingers dig into my hair and lead my mouth down, and I pull the abused nipple into my mouth, sucking and flicking it with my tongue. My fingers move over the silken skin of her stomach and travel down between her thighs. I groan against her breast when I part her and feel how wet she is. I could slide into her right now, bury myself to the fucking hilt, and she’d be more than ready for me. But I’m not ready yet. Maybe there’s a small part of my mind that’s worried I’ll forget about her as soon as I come. I don’t want that. I don’t want to forget her or the way she makes me feel. The idea makes me and my wolf want to rage and rip apart the fucking room and tear whoever did this to us into unrecognizable strips of flesh.