** Paige’s POV **
More liewards
I tug my cardigan tighter around myself even though the morning air isn’t cold. My nerves are the actual cause of the chill I’m feeling<b>, </b>as I watch Remy’s shoulders tense and rx like he’s fighting himself.
I
He’s stopped us in a small clearing where the sunlight shines through, highlighting the beauty
of the ce. A fallen tree rests in the centre, its bark thick with green moss. The top is worn smooth as though it’s been sat on frequently. Remy doesn’t sit. He doesn’t even move. He just stands rigid in the stillness<b>, </b>fists clenched at his sides, as if the weight pressing down on
him might break him.
I swallow, my voice low. “Remy… you’re scaring me a little.”
That makes him turn. His green eyes are so raw they nearly steal the breath from my lungs. “I
don’t want to scare you. That’s thest thing I want.”
“Then talk to me,” I whisper. “Please.”
For a moment, he only stares, jaw tight, chest rising and falling like he’s forcing air into his
lungs.
“I’ve been trying to stay away,” he admits. “From you, from all of it. Because I don’t think I
deserve any of it.”
“Deserve?… Remy, what are you talking about?”
Hisugh is sharp and bitter, but it breaks halfway through. “Do you have any idea what it’s like watching Parker open up when I’ve spent years shutting myself down? Watching Callen make youugh while all I do is make you unhappy?”
Tears sting my <b>eyes</b>. “You don’t make me unhappy…”
“I do,” he cuts me off, voice cracking. “And for a short time I wanted to. I wanted you to hate me, because that would make it easier to walk away. But now I can’t, because the bond, this connection we have… it’s burning me alive.”
My breath hitches. The air between us feels electric, humming with everything unsaid.
“I feel it too,” I whisper.
Chapter 53 pter 53
Mare Rewards
His hands tremble at his sides. “Then you know why I stay away. Because wanting you terrifies me. If anything happened to you or Jaxon because of me… I couldn’t survive that, Paige. I’ve already lost too much.”
I step closer, my heart breaking and soaring at the same time. “So you think the answer is to punish yourself? To punish me? Because that’s what u’re doing. I’ve been standing here waiting for you, Remy. Wishing you’d just… let me in.”
own
He shakes his head, looking down as if he can’t bear my gaze. “You don’t understand. After everything I’ve lost, I swore I’d never let myself be that vulnerable again. Then I broke my promise and let Callen in, and you know how that turned out… I’m not sure I can get through
another heartbreak.”
I reach for him without thinking, my fingers brushing his arm. He flinches, not away, but as if
my touch burns.
“Remy,” I say, my voice shaking now. “You’re not the only one who’s lost people you loved. I know what it feels like to break under that pain. And no, I don’t know how it turned out between you and Callen, because your story isn’t over yet; you’ve just hit a small bump. If you can’t see how much that man loves you, then you are blind. He told me he wanted to keep his rtionship with you, even before learning you and I were fated too.”
His
eyes lift to mine, and for the first time, the walls I’d always seen behind them crumble. There’s only hope and a longing so fierce it nearly knocks me off my feet.
“You’re my mate,” he whispers, sounding broken. “The bond has been driving me mad, begging me to ept it, to ept you, But I’ve been fighting it because I didn’t think I deserved the kind of happiness you’d give me, not after…”
“No,” I cut him off as hot tears roll down my cheeks. I don’t even bother wiping them away.
Don’t you
dare tell me what I deserve, Remy. That’s not your choice. It’s mine. And I choose.
you.”
“f**k it,” he breathes.
In two strides he closes the distance, his hands cupping my face. It feels like home.
“<b>Paige</b>,” he murmurs. My name sounds like a prayer on his lips.
Then he kisses me.
The bond ignites, stealing my breath, surging through me like wildfire, like lightning, like every storm I’ve ever weathered all at once. My knees buckle, but Remy’s arms wrap around me,
holding me up and pulling me closer until there’s no space left between us.
More Rewarda
He kisses me like a man starved, like he’s been drowning for years, and I’m the first breath of air. It’s rough, desperate and trembling, but beneath it all, there’s a tender adoration and hope.
I cling to him, my fingers digging into his shirt, kissing him back with every ounce of the longing I’ve bottled up since the day I first saw those haunted green eyes.
When we finally break apart, gasping, foreheads pressed together, I can still feel the bond pulsing between us, fierce and unyielding.
Remy’s voice is ragged. “I don’t deserve you.”
Shake m
<i>myb </i>
I head. “Stop saying that. We deserve each other.”
He closes his eyes, letting out a sound that’s halfugh, half sob. Then he kisses me again, slower this time, as though savouring the moment he’s spent so long denying himself, and
for the first time, I know Remy will not run anymore.
His lips are still on mine when I feel it. It’s almost a physical snap in my chest. Not pain
exactly, more like a release, like the pressure of weeks, maybe years, has finally been given somewhere to go. The bond surges between us, not a trickle this time but a flood, and
stagger under the sheer force of it.
Remy steadies me right away, his arms tighten, his face buries in my hair as though he can’t let go. I can’t either.
“You feel it too,” he whispers against my temple.
I nod, unable to form words. My throat is thick, my whole body trembling with the kind of joy
that terrifies you because it feels too good, too much.
We
e stand in the clearing longer than I realise; the world moving on around us, the chatter of
birds, the distant bark of wolves training in the woods. But in our little pocket of the woods,
it’s just us.
Eventually though, I know we can’t stay. Jaxon will be looking for me.
I pull back slightly, brushing my fingertips down Remy’s jaw. His eyes close at the touch, as
though even that small affection is something he’s been starving for.
“Let’s go back,” I whisper.
His gaze snaps open, sharp with panic. “Paige, I haven’t told you everything yet.”
O
“What else is there?”
More awards
His eyes dart around, and I sense a mixture of hesitation and unease in him. “Let sit,” he
gestures to the log.
I let him lead me to the makeshift seat, his fingersced with mine.
“You’re worrying me <b>again</b>,” I admit.
He gives me an apologetic look. “I know, I feel it. What I want to tell you is probably going to make you angry, but please hear me out before you react.”
“Okay,” I nod, and prepare for whatever ising next.
“I came to talk to you about this the day Callen was hurt, but when I saw you… the mate bond. floored me instead.” He smiles shyly.
d to tell
it up again.”
Ryder, but he wouldn’t listen. In fact, he threatened me and told me not to bring
My mind races to guess what it could be.
“Paige,” he continues, stroking a thumb over my knuckles. “I think you lead the hunters here.”
His words hit me like a freight train to the chest, and I suck in a breath. How could he think
that?
“I’m not using you of purposely bringing them to our door, but I need to know if they threatened you to bring them here? If they did, then I promise we will help you.”
“No, no one threatened me. Before I came here, I knew nothing of hunters or wolf shifters. I’d never put you all in danger like that. I can’t believe…”
“You would,” he cuts me off. “For Jaxon you would, and that’s okay, we wouldn’t me you. You are a wonderful mother.”
I open my mouth to protest, but stop myself, because he’s right. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for Jax.
“So if you didn’t knowingly bring them here, then we need to look into how you may have unknowingly brought them. Maybe someone knew what Ryder was, what Jax will be. They could have watched and waited for Rye to return, or for you to lead them to him. I’m not saying this is definitely what happened, but I think it’s worth looking into,” he exins.
“What makes you think that?”
More Rewards F
“Because we have lived here in peace for years. We have kept hidden, been careful. I don’t believe a hunter just randomly stumbled <b>across </b><b>us </b>one day.”
“I did,” I shrug. “But I understand what you are saying. I hate the idea I could have brought this danger right to your doorstep, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look into it,” I agree. reluctantly.
He’s right; it’s too much of a coincidence to be ignored.
“Then I need you to tell me everything. I need to know about anyone who’s shown an interest in Jaxon. Anyone who has worked to get close to you or him, even if it’s just the mailman,” <b>he </b>
insists.
I think about all the possibilities, every person who’s been in our lives, but there’s only two
who have been a constant. One is Poppy, my sister, who would never. The other is Greg, my
soon–to–be ex–husband. It couldn’t possibly be him, could it?
I think back to hisst message, and my heart drops… he wanted contact with Jaxon.
“We need to go back; this is a conversation we should have as a group,” I say with a tremor in
my voice.
God, I hope I’m wrong.
Get Bonus (Ad) >
Vote
587