Page 36 of Unforgivable Fate

Even now, maybe especially now considering that kiss and his close proximity, her wolf was growling and pacing inside of her. She wanted free so she could jump him and sink her fangs into him. Nova knew he must be feeling the same strain but he hadn’t pushed her over the last few days and he seemed content to let their night play out as he intended it to.

Instead of letting his animal instincts take over, he was sticking to his plan to share dinner with her, to enjoy the picnic he’d prepared and their time together.

She wasn’t sure she possessed the same self-restraint but hoped she’d last at least until they finished dinner before the urge to maul him overtook her.

“You know…” She smiled as she followed him past a fallen log. “If we go much further we won’t even be on Crescent land anymore.”

“Well it’s a good thing we’re here then.” He grinned as he pushed a low limb out of their way, ducking and holding it so she could follow him. “Ta-da!”

Nova stepped into the clearing and her smile instantly fell. A cold chill ran down her spine but she knew it didn’t have anything to do with the setting sun and cooling temperatures. She swallowed hard as a lump formed in her throat but she must have made an audible sound of horror, either that or Griffin had been paying enough attention to see it written all over her face.

“Shit, what’s wrong? What is it? Are we not supposed to be here or something?” He glanced around as if trying to see the little clearing with the creek running beside them through her eyes. “Are we past Crescent territory and on someone else’s land?”

Nova shook her head, “No. No, it’s not that. Technically Crescent territory ends at the stream. This is our land. It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay.” Griffin frowned, “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“It’s fine.” She realized she was still shaking her head and forced herself to stop. “Really, it’s fine.”

“Nova.” He stepped right up to her, forcing her to meet his gaze. “We said we were going to really give this a chance, give us a chance, and we can’t do that if we aren’t honest with one another. Tell me what’s wrong. Please?”

Nova shook her head again but he refused to budge. He kept standing right there in front of her, not looking away, not letting her get away with avoiding his stare or the conversation she didn’t want to have. She wanted to go back in time, even by just a couple of minutes, and stop before they exited the tree line because if they weren’t here, she wouldn’t have to face the truth, not yet at least.

She had known that being with Griffin would mean talking about her past. So much of it had defined who she was. The things that Maddox had done, the way he had betrayed her, were the reason she couldn’t simply trust and open up to Griffin but they were also the same reason that she had to.

She’d just really wanted to put it off and pretend that she was okay.

“Nova.” Griffin’s brows furrowed and concern tinted his eyes. “Talk to me. Please?”

God, she was really going to have to do this wasn’t she? She winced and wiped at her cheeks only to realize that the tears she’d been certain were falling weren’t there. They were a distant memory, transported to here and now because this was the first time she had come back to this place. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her cardigan when he continued to look at her with that worried expression.

“This place… this clearing.” She corrected herself. “It didn’t used to be empty like this.”

“What do you mean?” Griffin frowned.

“You stumbled onto this place and only saw the beauty in it. The green grass that grows tall on the other side of the creek. The old oak trees that form a semi-circle and give it shade. The flat rocks at the edge of the water that glisten in the sunlight.” Nova felt her bottom lip quiver slightly when Griffin nodded for her to continue. “But that’s not what I see.”

“Tell me what you see.”

“I see the way those same trees used to hug three sides of a little cabin on that side of the creek. It sat just outside of Crescent territory but not far enough inland to be on Moirae land either. I see the black smoke that filled the air when they burned it to the ground. I see the green grass that grew out of the ash that was left behind but also out of the blood that was spilled there.” Nova couldn’t look at him but she couldn’t look at the empty space across the water either so she stared at the ground. “I can’t see the beauty that’s grown up in this place because all I see is the evil and the death that permeated it the last time I was here.”

“Nova?” Griffin’s voice was soft and he reached for her cheek again, this time forcing her chin up so she would look at him again. “What happened here? Is this where he… where he…”

He couldn’t get the words out and Nova wanted to throw her arms around him and hug him for that. This was hard for him too. It had to be. So she put him out of his misery and shook her head quickly.

“No. He was dead by the time we found this place.” She took a deep breath and let it out, “It was his cabin though, a secret hiding place for him and his bitch of a mate. Carefully built outside the boundary of our land so I wouldn’t be able to see visions of it. This was where they met to plan the attack on my family, on the pack, and when it all went bad, this is where his mate brought Luna with every intention of killing her, and Darius, and the rest of us.”

“But you survived.” He reminded her softly, “You’re still alive. All of you are.”

Nova almost smiled at the reassurance in his voice but she shook her head anyway, “Not all of us.”

“His mate?”

She nodded, “I was so young then. Leo and Michael insisted I stay behind at the lodge while they went to rescue Luna. I didn’t understand why at first. Not until after, when they came back to burn the place down and I secretly followed them. My visions… I saw it all, saw the way Luna’s wolf ripped her into pieces to protect Michael and I screamed so loud and for so long that I couldn’t stop. Darius had to pick me up and carry me back home. I had nightmares for a long time after that.” She blew out a shaky breath, “Sometimes I still do.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Griffin pulled her into his arms and she let him. She buried her face against his chest and let him hold her. He loved the feel of her in his arms, loved that she fit him so comfortably, so naturally, and that she wasn’t trying to hide this part of herself from him anymore. He held her until her shaking stopped and then he kept holding her because she didn’t try to push her way out of his arms.

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