Page 12 of Forgotten Mate

Savannah led them from her shop to theapartment upstairs. She had a chair in the middle of the kitchen,resting on a large beach towel. Jericho had also been there,waiting for them.

Greyden took the beaker and looked at Zenia,maintaining eye contact as he drank it down. When he was done, hegrimaced. “Could’ve used some sugar.”

“That was probably the wormwood.”

He frowned. “Isn’t that in absinthe?”

“Is it?”

Jericho came over and tied him down.Savannah checked the tightness of the restraints.

“Good,” she said.

“Now what?” Zenia asked.

“It could take ten minutes or it could taketen hours. Hard to predict how strong these spells are, but I’mguessing it’s pretty damn powerful after five years. Might be agood idea to come back. I can call you.”

“I’m not leaving him,” she said.

Savannah nodded and grabbed another chairfrom under the table for Zenia to sit on. Then she and Jericholeft, giving her and Greyden a moment.

“Thank you for staying.”

She shrugged. “You’d do the same forme.”

“I’d like to think I would,” he said. “Ican’t get over the fact that if I hadn’t come here, I’d still becompletely oblivious to what happened.”

Zenia looked down at her hands. “Were youhappy with her?”

“I wish you hadn’t asked me that.”

“You don’t have to answer if you don’twant,” she said softly.

“You, out of anyone, has the right to askthe difficult questions. Was I happy? I suppose. Was I in love?” Hethought for a moment. “I don’t know. I thought I was, but there wasalways a voice in the back of my head telling me something wasn’tquite right. And now I know that voice was yours.”

“Do you wish you hadn’t come here?”

“Yes,” he replied. “And no. Mostly no. Moreno than yes.”

“I can understand that,” she said quietly.“I was the same. After I got back from the care home, Alpha Jerichooffered me a job. I couldn’t go back to the house I lived in withmy parents, so I sold it and rented a small house not too far fromthe coffee shop where you found me.”

“Your scent drifted toward me and I wenthunting. Eventually, I found you.”

She nodded, not needing to replay theevents. “What’s going to happen when the spell is lifted?”

He hesitated for a moment. “Good question. Iassume the mating bond will kick back in for us once more, and I’llgo back to my pack with you by my side.”

“I don’t know if I can go there with you,”she said. “She’s there. She’s been in your bed. Cooked in yourkitchen. Cleaned your home. You’ve had five years of birthdays andChristmases. You know her likes and dislikes.”

“It was all a lie, so none of thatmatters.”

It mattered to her. There was still one morepiece of information he didn’t know about, and she didn’t know ifshe should tell him. Perhaps she’d wait to see if there was a bondstill remaining. No need to dredge up unnecessary pain.

“I’ll sell the damn house,” he continuedwhen she didn’t say anything. “I can’t stay here with you inSheridan—”

“I know,” she injected quickly. “Your fatheris the alpha. I’d never ask that of you. I’m only saying that maybetoo much time has passed. Maybe when the spell is broken, our bondwill be too.”

“I don’t believe that at all.” He shook hishead. “Someone tampered with the High Luna’s plan for us, and whenwe figure out who and how and why, I’m going to make them pay.”

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