Page 51 of Tangled Hearts

“All it's gotten me is being used,” I said, wiping my face, pacing in front of the makeshift bed. “I can’t be this girl anymore, Max. I can’t be the soft fragile girl who needs protecting. She’s sheltered me, taken my memories and I don’t even know what’s happened to my family. This has to stop.”

“Sol.”

“I can’t, Max, it’s not fair. I?—”

“Sol,” he said sternly.

“What?” I snapped.

He stood in front of me, cupping my face. The moment he touched me, it immediately eased the hurricane of emotions that was stirring. “Your feelings are valid. You spent almost two centuries thinking she was your mother. Your feelings aren’t going to magically disappear.”

“I wish they would magically disappear,” I cried.

“I know, Sol. There have been many times I wish I could make my feelings go away too,” he said, pulling me against his firm chest.

I’m so selfish. Of course, he knew what it was like to deal with betrayal; his own brother captured him and forced him into the form of a cat.

“You’re not selfish,” he murmured against my hair.

I pulled away abruptly, my eyes were open wide as I realized he had heard me talk to myself in my head.

“You’re not selfish,” he repeated, like he thought I needed convincing. “You are?—”

“Max,” I interrupted him. “I didn’t say that out loud.”

He scoffed, but immediately his eyes grew wide. “The bond?”

“Is it coming back?” I stammered, blood roared in my ears, hoping that it was because we deserved what had been stolen from us.

“I don’t know. Your voice sounded just like you are talking now,” he said, looking hopeful before a big smile graced his face.

A smile almost bloomed on my face, but the thought of getting excited to just be disappointed held me back. This might have been nothing and there was no point in getting excited if all there was, was disappointment.

“It’s not much, but it’s a start and if you can’t believe it, I’ll believe it for the both of us,” he said, cupping my face with his hands, leaning down so his baby blues looked into my hazel eyes. “Nothing is going to stop me from believing our bond can come back to us.”

He kissed me softly before deepening the kiss. Max tasted like hope, except it had a bitter taste when I thought of what was going to happen next. What I wouldn’t give to be his, to stay in this bubble. He slowed down the kiss before sucking on my bottom lip.

“Lay with me, please?” he asked.

I nodded my head as he pulled me to our makeshift giant bed. He settled down, pulling me so I laid over his chest wrapping our legs together. My mind raced with good and bad things until his steady heartbeat lulled me to sleep.

The sound of soft murmurs pulled me from sleep. I took a deep breath, rubbing my face on whoever I was lying on, wanting to keep sleeping because that meant I didn’t have to think about anything. The gravity of our whole situation left me exhausted and all I wanted was another few hours of freedom from my toxic thoughts.

Mate.

My eyes opened quickly as I looked up to see Ryder lying there and not Max. I was surprised when my grumpy mate was in his place.

“Don’t look so shocked,” Ryder said, with his eyes closed.

“I just thought you were Max,” I said, debating if I should get up.

Even though we had kissed, I didn’t know how to act around him or where we stood. He had been less grumpy, talking to me more, and healing him felt like it had brought us closer. There was still a part of me that wondered if this was just to placate me while we figured out what to do with me.

“You’re too loud,” he grumbled.

“I’m not saying anything,” I said defensively.

“I can see that crease in between your brows, and I think it's getting deeper with every thought that is going through your head,” he said, as his eyes never opened.

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