Page 127 of King of the Cage

“I know why.”

Bran raised an eyebrow at me. “And why is that?”

“Because your father told you to. The O’Connors and De Sanctis families weren’t getting along, so your inventive Da, patriarch of the clan, decided to solve things the old-fashioned way. Elio told me.”

“You brother doesn’t know shit.” Bran snorted softly.

“Oh, really.” I sat back and folded my arms across my chest. “Why then? Because we were mixed up in this secret society bullshit?”

Bran shook his head slowly.

“So, you told me to ask questions, but now you won’t answer them?”

He picked up his pint and took a long swallow, staring at me over the lip of his glass. “I married you, Giada, because I had to. I had no choice. I was compelled to. Since the moment I saw you, across the room at Renato’s wedding, something inside me just knew.That’s my wife. You see, I don’t believe in coincidences. I only believe in fate. And from the moment we met, we were fated. I believe that down to my bones. That’s why I married you.”

I forgot to breathe while I was listening to him. His words were spellbinding. I sucked in a breath as a different musician took the small, makeshift stage and tuned up his instrument.

“But I’m not her. The woman from the wedding.”

“Yes, you are, you’re just her a few weeks younger.”

I laughed. “Still. If you change the past, who knows if two people would still come together. The experiences we shared are gone…”

“That only matters if you think love is a circumstantial accident… a serendipitous occasion, which I don’t.”

I managed to pull myself together enough to meet his unwavering gaze. My eyes urged him to go on.

“Which is all a long-winded way of saying that no matter how we met, where, or when… I’d fall in love with you every time, in every eventuality, selkie. There’s no version of my life where I don’t love you. That’s what fate means. I was fated to love you, and I will be here, unwaveringly doing that, until you come back to me.”

My mouth dropped open. What could I say to something like that? It was sweeping and breathtaking and stated so fucking calmly, without arrogance or pride, my heart clenched. A beautiful pain.

The musician onstage started to play. It was a haunting, melancholy melody. I latched onto the chance to change the subject. Bran’s raw emotion was making me feel all kinds of things.

Words appeared in my head, and I tried to sing them softly under my breath, but they were just out of reach.

“You know this one?” Bran asked, sitting back in the booth and studying me.

I nodded. “I think it was my favorite, but I can’t remember the damn name… so nothing new, right?” I gave him a small, tight smile.

His breath hitched in his chest, and his hand curled into a fist on the table. His wedding ring caught the light above the table, a golden flash.

“Well, I can help you out with this one. It’s called ‘The Selkie and The Spring Tide.’”

37

BRAN

Giada fell asleep in the booth. One second, she listened to the music, a faint relaxed smile on her beautiful face, the next, her head nudged my shoulder before resting soundly.

I sat there for hours, relishing the feel of her sleeping on my shoulder, the smell of her hair all around me. The musicians finished; the patrons headed out. The lights were low, and outside, snow fell. It was a perfect moment. Just me and my girl.

When it got cold enough for her to shiver, I took her upstairs. Lifted her against my chest and carried her over the threshold of my apartment, like I’d wanted to the night we were married.

I still had her things in here. I’d kept them all in place, like some deranged stalker waiting to capture the object of his obsession and keep her in a pretty cage.

Who was I kidding, that was exactly who I was. I’d stolen my selkie’s skin, after all.

I didn’t sleep that night.

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