Page 5 of Tangled Hearts

“We can get you some clothes at the next city or town we go to,” I said, sitting back on the couch.

He grunted as he took off the foil from the burrito and took a bite.

“We can heat that up for you,” I said, knowing it wasn’t as good unless it was hot.

He shook his head, taking a massive bite of it. He studied the burrito while he chewed. If he was two hundred years old, then I’m sure everything was just about as new for him as it was for Oria, but at least with her, she had gotten to experience some things as time changed.

“I’m sorry,” I said, sympathizing with his situation.

He looked up at me with those piercing blue eyes. “For what?”

“I know all of this is new to you because she trapped you inside a cat for almost two hundred years,” I said, leaning my elbows on my thighs. “And I can’t imagine what a burden it's been for you to know the truth and sit back and watch her suffer.”

He stared at me for a second. “I would never do anything to hurt her or put her in harm's way. I took an oath to protect her.” He had a dreamy expression as he paused. “I care for her; we grew up together.”

“You love her,” I said, recognizing it.

He didn’t look up at me. “With every fiber of my being and I always will. I watched her get engaged to?—”

A moan cut off Maxton. A look of devastation crossed his face before he grabbed his last piece of burrito, walking out of the cabin. I heard another moan when I went to the fridge to get some water and head outside with him.

I didn't see him at first, worried he had taken off, but when I saw him pacing in the trees, I felt for him. He looked distraught, completely wrecked and I wondered if it might be a good thing if he just got away.

“Here,” I said, handing him a water bottle, thinking maybe he needed tequila instead of this.

“Thanks,” he grumbled.

He looked at it for a second before I grabbed it out of his hand, opening it for him. He nodded, taking a drink out of it like he was afraid to spill it. I almost laughed at the thought of having to teach him how to drink.

“Don’t,” he growled.

“I forget that you have no experience in this world, that most of this is new to you and it's definitely going to be an adjustment for you,” I said, walking to a rock, opening the water and taking a sip.

“I didn’t think I would ever get a chance to experience anything as a human again,” he said, looking up. “After the last hundred years, I had resigned myself to living forever as a cat.”

“I’m still surprised you didn’t lose yourself,” I said, listening for anything out of the ordinary in the forest. “I think I would have gone crazy from not being able to communicate.”

“It was awful. The first fifty years were the hardest because I tried to shift every day. I was so eager to save her, to help her, but I failed. She clung on to me so much, it eased the hardship of being just a cat,” he said, sitting on the floor. “After that, I stopped trying to shift and I just lived, trying to ease her pain. Her loneliness was the hardest to watch because there wasn’t anything I could do for her.”

His knees were bent as his arms rested on top and his head hung down.

I opened and closed my mouth a few times trying to figure out what I wanted to say to him. Nothing felt right except, “I’m glad she had you.”

His electric blue eyes looked up at me.

“I wish I could have been more. I’m jealous of you,” he said, looking away.

“Jealous?”

There wasn’t a lot to be jealous about.

“She is your mate,” he said, with a longing that made me feel like shit.

“She is,” I said, not knowing what else to say. “I…”

“You don’t have to lie to me. I know where your heart lies, but I also know your wolf is giving you a hard time,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I envy the bond you have with her.”

I wanted to say I didn’t want the bond, but I’d be lying. In the last forty-eight hours, she had burrowed her way into my soul. Her soft smiles, her ability to handle everything that had been thrown at her and the kindness she had shown me even though I had been a fucking asshole to her had won me over. My heart felt heavy thinking I was letting go of Serena too soon, leaving me confused and lost.

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