Page 7 of Breathe Again

“My lips are sealed, but I hope you’ll reconsider and talk to her.”

“Don’t. . . it’s not going to happen,” I said as I left the room and headed outdoors to try and gain some sort of grip on this alternate reality.

Elizabeth had never mated?

Elizabeth

Chapter 4

I couldn’t breathe; my chest hurt; my cheeks stung from the tears flowing down them; and the world was darkening around the edges as I ran from the house. Lily was hugging Cole Anderson. He was really here. I saw it with my own eyes, I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

I knew it wasn’t safe for me to drive, but I didn’t want to walk home and risk someone seeing me in this condition. I headed instead for the back of the house, and when it was clear to do so I took off running.

I had always loved to run, whether in human or wolf form. It wasn’t safe to let my wolf free, so I stayed in my skin. I knew, without a doubt, that she would go after him if I let her out.

It had been nearly half a lifetime ago that I last saw him. In the sixty seconds I stood there in shock, my wolf had memorized our mate, flashing a constant stream of pictures in my head as I ran. He was much bigger than I remembered, his shirt stretched across clearly defined biceps. I hadn’t noticed in the moment, but in the images from my wolf I took in tattoos decorating the exposed skin on his forearms. I had always been a sucker for tattoos.

What I had noticed immediately were his eyes. His face may have been more chiseled and defined, but his eyes were the exact same ones that haunted me every night in my dreams.

How had I missed word that he was coming early? The celebration was still a week away. Then I remembered: Maddie had insisted on coming beforehand to help with the preparations. Cole must have escorted her and her family.

I knew he had made a name for himself as a Beta of Westin Pack. His harem of women and panty melting smile were known throughout all the Packs: the unobtainable, legendary bachelor every available she-wolf tried to tame, but in all those years he still remained untamable.

I thought it was too late for us. That ship had long ago sailed, but the way my wolf reacted so strongly and protectively of him towards Lily, I knew we had some serious unresolved issues to address. I just didn’t know if I had the courage to face him.

When things had fallen through with Santos all those years ago, I’d been so embarrassed. I’d given up everything for him. Everything! I’d moved to the East Coast and started a new life. At first, I couldn’t find the strength to face my family, but eventually I came home with my tail between my legs and explained what had happened.

My family had been so supportive. I loved them more than I could show. They were my life, but after a few months being home, Cole hadn’t come. News across Packs as closely allied as Collier and Westin meant no true secrets occurred. I knew he had to have known I was back, and I waited. I waited for almost a year, every day expecting him to arrive and claim me. It had been a pipe dream. He never came, and I couldn’t take it anymore.

That’s when I moved to the city and accepted a position with a law firm there. I was working hard with my goal set on making junior partner when Maddie disappeared, and my life changed once again in an instant. I didn’t come back home right away, but eventually I did, and even though I’d called Collier home again for many years, Cole Anderson still never came.

Now here he was, and I couldn’t begin to process why or what to do about it. It seemed clear by the shock on his face that he hadn’t come back for me. Of course, in my head I knew that, but my heart wanted to believe it was so.

My wolf had been complacent for a number of years; lethargic, unmotivated, she didn’t even bother to fight me anymore. On the rare occasion I let her out, she’d run west. Always west no matter what I did. I knew it was her way of reminding me that he was still out there, but we’d been mourning his loss for almost half my life. Now, suddenly, she was alive again, tormenting me with pictures of him, with memories of him, with the smell of him. It was almost more than I could bear.

When I’d pushed him away and told him I was mating another man, I had assumed the bond that had started between us would sever, but it never had. I was wrong. Maybe if I’d actually mated Santos it would have broken the connection, but I hadn’t. People say that you can break a bond between true mates, that you still have a choice, but no one tells you how to break a bond, and clearly time and distance meant nothing.

I lived in limbo, half dead, half alive. The half I thought was dead belonged to Cole Anderson. Sixty seconds of seeing him was all it had taken to awaken that part of me.

I had been young. I had hurt him. I had been naïve. But I wasn’t that girl anymore, and from what I’d seen he definitely wasn’t the sweet boy I once knew. That thought alone equally terrified and excited me.

What I did know was that my one true mate was in Collier. I assumed he’d be there at least through the celebration, so that gave me just over a week to either complete the bond and get my happily-ever-after or figure out a way to break it for good and free us both.

I had resolved to face my demons when an eerie howl sounded nearby. I looked up and before me stood the most magnificent black wolf I’d ever seen.

Mate!my wolf said in my head, surging to be set free. I held my own and did not cave to her aggression. I watched and I waited to see what the wolf would do. He hesitated, taking a step closer to me, then retreating back two.

I could sense the internal battle Cole was struggling with, but in the end his wolf won. He stepped forward one paw in front of the other until I was face-to-face with the eyes that tormented me. Even knowing it was rude and disrespectful to do, I reached out my hand and touched his soft fur. When he didn’t run away, I threaded my shaky fingers into the fur of his neck and leaned in to breath in his scent.

The sensations I felt overwhelmed me. I took another deep breath and it felt like the weight of the world came off my shoulders. My lungs opened up and I could finally breathe again.

Tingles of pleasure tickled my spine, and my heart felt lighter than I could remember. The world around me was righting itself and for a moment I was blissfully, happy.

And then he stiffened and pulled back. My wolf wailed in my head as our mate slowly pulled away. I sat there shocked as disappointment filled me. I could feel Cole at odds with his wolf, and I knew that he still felt the bond just as strongly as I did because it was only the human side fighting it.

I stayed still to see if he’d come back, but instead he turned and ran back towards my parents’ house.

It was going to take a lot to break down the barriers between us, but his wolf had restored my hope that it was possible, and I was ready to fight for the man I loved. . . the only man I’d ever loved. Years of law practice had given me a strategic advantage and made me tough and determined. When I set my mind to something, I didn’t back down, and right now my mind, my eyes, and my heart were fixed solely on Cole Anderson.

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