Page 18 of Forbid Me

He was going to reject me as his fated mate.

I was about to be cast aside, deemed unworthy by the one person who had awakened a sliver of hope in my battered heart. All because I was defective. Because I couldn't shift.

Then it crashed over me, a vision so sudden and forceful it took mybreath away. I was about to get whiplash from all of these visions. I had never had so many in the same day.

This time the vision was of me and Oz. We were standing in a grand palace, surrounded by statues of panthers, jaguars, leopards, and cheetahs watching us with their stone eyes. I was draped in an exquisite gown, the fabric flowing around me like water. Oz stood beside me in military regalia, every inch the warrior prince. But he wasn't smiling. He looked so sad, so dejected.

That look twisted into a grimace of rejection as he turned away from me. The pain that shot through me was so sharp, so bitter, it sent me tumbling to my knees back in reality.

I didn't hit the ground. Oz caught me. Somehow, I knew he would.

I fought for breath, each gasp a battle against the despair clawing at my insides. The vision clung to me, a cruel reminder of my deepest fear. Rejection. It had always been my companion, a constant in a life filled with fleeting shadows.

Oz's arms encircled me, his embrace a fortress in the midst of the storm inside me. Within the safety of his hold, the world's chaos dimmed, even as the earth trembled with the opening of the portal.

"Please?"

"Tell me, princess. Anything you need, I'll make it happen. Just say the word."

"Please," I repeated, my voice a fragile whisper. "Don't reject me."

My hands shook as they clutched at him. Even as I sought to anchor myself to him, the vision's shadow loomed, a relentless reminder of a possible future filled with pain.

"My job is to keep you safe. I will not fail you."

"You'll keep me?"

He bit at his lower lip, like he was holding in a lie. I'd seen Ken do that. All of my other boyfriends, too. Oz was struggling to hold on to the truth.

"Just give me a chance," I begged. "Please."

"Know this, Stella; I would give my life for you."

It was a vow, a vow I believed. Still, I wasn't sure he was promising me what I wanted.

"If it were up to me, I would tear out the throat of that blond bastard that dared to hurt you."

More truths. Nothing but the truth. And the violence of those facts was turning me on.

"I will always protect you. But right now, I need you to shift so that we can run."

"I can't." The truth spilled from me, a confession I'd never dared voice. Because no one ever knew to ask about the animal hidden inside of me. "I can't shift. I've never been able to."

The words hung between us, bright light of revelation shone on my darkest inadequacy.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Oz

"Please don't reject me."

My brain stopped working. When it restarted, all I saw was red. Suddenly, I was no longer the chief of security and second to the king. I was on all fours, a cub again, vulnerable and pleading. The scene from my past unfolded with painful clarity: the cold, distant look in my mother's eyes as I stood before her, small and desperate.

"Please don't reject me," I had begged, my voice quivering with fear. It was a plea for compassion, for a sign of her love, for any indication that I mattered. But the response was a harsh lesson, a backhand across the chest with claws out, a wound so deep it felt as though it had carved into my very soul.

"Just give me a chance," Stella begged. "Please."

The damp earth of the forest underfoot snapped me back to the present, but the sting of that memory clung to me, as present as thescent of pine and moss that filled the air. My mother's rejection was a scar that would never heal. My mind was still reeling from the flashback that had sent me alone and into danger when I came to a full understanding of the dire straits I now stood in.

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