Page 58 of Hidden Fates

She chuckles, the sound light despite the heavy thoughts I know must be running through her mind. I may have witnessed atrocious things in Kolcruz, but she lived them. And she never let them break her.

“Alright, get back home to your mates. I can settle in for the night without you hovering.”

I hug her tight, pressing a kiss to her fine hair, not walking back to the house until she’s inside the apartment and the lock on her door clicks.

Her words linger as I step back into the house and hear my family playing in the other room.

Our life might not be perfect, but it is wonderful.

Chapter Nineteen

Staring up at the ceiling, I sink further into the way-too-comfortable bed in my new room at the Pack Crowley estate.

I should get up and start my day. Check on Skye. Call the label to make sure there won’t be any issues with me joining Shattered Horizons. Go to the gym.

Anything but lying here doing nothing.

But I can’t make myself move. My body feels heavy; the dark thoughts crowding my mind digging their claws in and slowly tearing strips off me.

It’s been a while since I’ve felt like this. So hopeless that I can barely find the energy to get up to take a piss, let alone leave my room.

Someone knocks softly on the door, but I can’t make my voice work to answer it. Not that I want to, I don’t want Skye or her mates to see me like this.

It clicks open, the worried scent of moonflower trickling through the gap. Skye’s gorgeous green eyes peek around the edge, meeting mine with a whirlwind of emotion that knocks the breath from my lungs.

“Oh, Caleb,” she whispers, shutting the door behind her and padding over to me.

I clear my throat awkwardly, trying to hide how miserable I am, but I forgot she can probably feel it. Through our Fated connection. The one I left her to suffer from for the last eight years.

Fates, I’m a piece of shit.

She climbs onto my bed and lies down beside me, her head coming to rest on my chest. “I’m here. I’ve got you.”

Tears well in my eyes as the softest purr rumbles through her chest. She’s soothing me when all this is my fault. It’s too much to bear, and I lose the fight to keep the tears at bay. Skye doesn’t comment on them; she just holds me as I fall apart, humming soothing songs and continuing to purr.

“I’m sorry,” I choke out, wiping my face and twisting to my side so she’s buried against my chest.

Fingers press against my lips, silencing my apology. “None of that. What’s happening to us is just a bad twist of Fate. You aren’t to blame, neither am I.”

Jerking my head, I pinch my eyes closed, trying to hide my doubt. No matter how many times they remind me, I can’t force myself to believe it. I was the one who left. Who let my fear of not belonging to her push us apart.

Her fingers crawl up my cheek and into my hair, carefully digging into the messy curls. Feather-soft kisses ghost along my jaw, forehead, eyes, anywhere she can reach.

When she tugs hard on my hair, angling my head so she can continue her path down over the tattoo on my throat, I finally look down at her. She’s watching me, longing and concern evident in her bright eyes.

I release a long breath, muscles melting as I feel the clutches of the dark spiral loosen, slipping away with each swipe of her lips and flick of her tongue.

Skye must see the change in me, or she feels it through our connection, because she melts in relief. Her kisses don’t stop, turning hurried as she tracks over the ink marking my skin. Her tongue is rough as she licks across my nipple, and my cock goes from semi to rock hard in an instant.

My chest is heaving when she reaches the top of my boxers and dips her fingers beneath the band. “You don’t have to…” I trail off when one of her brows raises as she peeks up at me.

“I want to.”

She slowly pushes the fabric down my legs, lips parting softly as she tracks the tattoos covering every inch of me, including the thick, thorny vines inked around my cock. One finger reaches out to trace their path, ending at the metal pierced through my tip.

“I need this,” she whispers reverently, her skin flushing a gorgeous shade of pink. “We both do.”

A groan smothers my response when her mouth wraps around me. The wet heat sends jolts up my spine as I fight against the need to come at just the feel of her touching me again.