Page 12 of Their Fated Magic

“Tara.” Garrick’s low voice rolls along my spine, but I try not to react other than rubbing the tears from my face. I don’t want him to see the way they can hurt me.

Wisp is gone. She always is when other people come around, and I desperately miss her company. Especially when she’s been replaced with a bear shifter I kind of hate right now.

Garrick sits down beside me on the log, his big body shifting the whole thing. “Let’s talk.”

“I don’t really want to talk to anyone right now,” I tell him honestly, wiping my tears on my palms.

“I don’t blame you.” He sighs, and the sound is sad. “It figures. I’m normally good with women, but my own wife I can’t seem to stop screwing up with. I should have thought more before spouting off the wolves’ plan. I should have thought about how much knowing the truth would hurt you.”

His words ease something inside of me. Maybe because they sound so honest. “You’re not all that bad. You’re just someone who was forced into a marriage he didn’t want because of an alliance.”

He abruptly turns to face me, and his tone shifts from sad to serious. “You’re mixing me up with the wolves. We’re not the same.”

Maybe I am. All this hurt is hard to separate.

His gaze holds mine. “But I’m going to clear everything up for you, real quickly.”

I shrug. “I’m not stopping you.” Technically.

He gives a little nod. “Yes, I came to speak to the wolves because I wanted to be part of the alliance, and I wanted to be part of the mission that would help find the cure to the illness for my people.”

I look at him, surprised. “Your people are getting sick too?”

He frowns. “Yes. I didn’t want to tell the wolves so they wouldn’t have more leverage over me, but we’re getting sicker than the wolves. Things in bear lands are dire.”

“I’m sorry,” I say, surprised.

“It’s okay. We’re on a mission to help them.” He takes a deep breath before continuing. “So I wanted to be part of the alliance to help my people, but the second I set eyes on you, I fell for you, and the feelings I have for you have only intensified from that moment. And I mean the second I set eyes on you, which is probably earlier than you think. You’re fucking gorgeous, funny, and interesting. I didn’t marry you because I was forced to, or because I needed something from you. I married you because I wanted to.” He stares into my eyes as he speaks, and as much as I hate myself for it, I’m hanging on his every word.

“Really?” I ask, the word coming out small.

“Really.” He looks intense. “I have absolutely no plans to end this marriage when all is said and done. As I told you last night, this is forever for me.”

My mind starts working. “And when exactly did you first fall for me?”

I’m thinking about that moment in the courtyard, the one where our eyes met, but he surprises me. “In the woods, when you were upset. Remember that bear?”

I stare at him in shock. “That was you?”

He nods, a little smile playing on his lips. “That was me. And that was the moment I fell for you.”

He sounds sincere, but he hurt me last night. Can I trust him?

I cock a brow and decide just to lay it all out. “I’m going to help cure the illness no matter what you say, so you don’t have to tell me what I want to hear.”

He’s offended, I can tell, but the look on his face eases. “I’m not telling you what you want to hear. If the wolves try to take you from me, I’ll fight them with every inch of my being. You’re mine, and I’ll consummate this marriage any time you want to prove it.”

It’s weird… I think I believe him, even if I probably shouldn’t. “So, it’s just the wolves who don’t want me?”

“They’re idiots,” he says, followed by a snort.

“They are,” I say, feeling a little happy that someone else agrees.

His shoulders straighten. “But now that we know their plan, we can come up with our own.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, confused.

He takes my hand in his much larger one. “We can disappear together in bear territory and leave the wolves to themselves.”

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