AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?”She mouthed, silently.
Rami leaned across the space between their chairs and kissed her, catching her by surprise. Evelyn and Moira gasped while Jonah gave a single, loud whoop and pumped his fist in the air.
“You two are back together?” Moira moved in next to Vera, setting her hand on Vera’s shoulder and giving Rami a piercing look that made him want to suggest she switch her career from baker to detective. “And you didn’t tell me?”
Two pink lines underscored Vera’s eyes. “Well, itjusthappened, and I didn’t think we’d be announcing it to the world already.”
“Sorry. Couldn’t resist once I saw the dimple.” Rami raised both hands in a shrug, letting them fall back onto his lap. Vera and Moira shot him near identical glares.
“Is this a good idea?” Moira rounded on Vera, not bothering to keep her voice down. The look she shot him over her shoulder told him she wanted him to hear it all. “After what he did to you, does he really deserve another chance?”
No,he wanted to say. He didn’t deserve another chance from Vera; he was lucky enough to be given one anyway. But he kept his mouth shut, letting Vera answer how she wanted.
“Probably not,” Vera agreed, smugly. “But he’s on extra good behavior because he knows that. One wrong move and—“ she flicked her hand to the side like someone shooing a bug away. “—he’s out of here. For good this time.”
“Come on, Moira,” Jonah stepped in, tugging Moira away with his arm around her waist. “We wouldn’t be here together either if you didn’t believe in second chances.”
If the reminder mollified her, she didn’t show it. She pointed her index and middle fingers at her own eyes, then at Rami. “Fine, but I’m watching you. Always watching.”
He laughed. “That’s fine by me. I don’t intend on doing anything that would put your fur up.”
“That’s perfect, actually,” Adria cut in, glancing at Vera.
Vera’s eyes were alight. “I know! Now, we can test if our theory was correct. If the scent in the woods doesn’t affect us like it did before, we’ll know it has something to do with the mate bond. Which would possibly support what Evelyn found.”
They’d discussed the matter well into the night. It was James who decided on it in the end. “My mate was human.”
The room quieted, and turned to him. His voice was thick with emotion, and pain was evident on his face. “Times haven’t really changed that much, at least not where I was from. My pack refused to accept the bond and threatened us both. Didn’t want to risk her life, so I told her it was over, that I couldn’t be with a human.”
He lapsed into silence. Vera pressed him for more information but the moment of lucidity had faded, the dazed look back in his eyes.
Now, they ran through the forest to the edge of the cabin’s clearing. The strange scent filled his nose. Vera bumped her head against his shoulder, reassuring him that she was there, that she wasn’t under the spell again. Her theory was proving correct so far.
At Jonah’s nod, they moved in closer to the cabin. Rami’s head spun. Something moved at the edge of his vision. He shook his head to clear it, but the fog remained, shifting the ground beneath his feet.
Vera whined. Whatever he was feeling, she was feeling it, too. Even Jonah stumbled. But Rami couldn’t reach his Alpha. The ground beneath him had turned to sludge, separating him from the others, widening the gap between himself and Vera.
He watched helplessly as shadow wolves descended on her. Their jaws stretched wide, and rows of black fangs dripped red onto the swirling ground. He couldn’t save her. Couldn’t help her. Fear tore at his insides.
Rami trudged toward her, and the distance between them seemed to stretch life taffy, dragging her farther away. His head filled with a sudden roar. It settled into a familiar sound, the back-and-forth arguments of his parents. He was ten years oldagain, watching them scream at each other in the kitchen, a pan flying past his head.
His vision shifted, and now it was Vera in his mother's place. The words were coming from his mouth, not his father’s, spewing awful, hateful things. It was his worst nightmare come to life. Rami struggled to keep the vision from overtaking him, from blocking out the sight of the real Vera, flesh and blood and inky black fur, from fading away while he drowned in the nightmare of his past.
The real Vera was there, and she needed him. That Vera would never cower as the one in his hallucination did, shrinking back from him even as her mouth flung insults.
“You’re so needy,” that wicked dream Vera sneered. “Everything is about how you feel. Are you going to cry again? So pathetic. I thought you were strong, Rami. I thought you were strong enough to be my mate, but you’re a sniveling little boy.”
For a moment, Rami was breathless. Her words cut to the core of him, targeted wounds that left a hollow gouge in their wake. He couldn’t stop himself from lashing out in the vision.
“And you’re a heartless bitch,” he spat, wishing he could snatch them back from the air before she heard them.
Her eyes widened, and she let out a cackle of delight. “Oh, it’s other one of your two emotions. Rage. Do you use that to make up for how weak you are the rest of the time? Even your anger is pathetic, Rami. Even your anger is impotent.”
The edges of the vision were blurs of smoke and shadow. He could smell the strange scent emanating from the witch’s cabin. It filled his head. But beneath it, so faint it was almost drowned by the cabin’s smell, was the sweet scent of his mate. Vera. The real one.
He could smell her honey and wildflower scent mixing with her fear. Was she struggling against her own vision, and if so, was he featured in it? Rami hated the idea of some monstrous vision of him tormenting her, and the thought was enough to shake his own terror from his mind.
Dream Vera heckled and taunted, drove the claws of her words into him over and over, but he resisted the urge to strike back. He walked closer to her, his heart breaking when she flinched back in fear from his lifted hand.
