Page 126 of Until the Stars Fall

All familiar, but now I was seeing it through the eyes of her mate.

Stars, this was complicated. How was I to tell this woman that she was bound to me but not to worry about it because she didn’t have to accept it? Even though I’d then be destined to spend my entire existence alone or in a loveless union, knowing my mate was elsewhere?

“Why?” Lieke’s firm tone snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Why what?” I asked, my brain hunting for any clues about what she was referring to. It could be any number of things, honestly. Why had I saved her? Why had I kissed her?

Tossing her feet to the floor, Lieke rested her forearms on her knees and leaned forward. Her scowl deepened. “Why are you avoiding me?”

Apparently, my subconscious had decided to give me as much grief as Mrs. Bishop. There truly was no escape, was there?

When I still hadn’t answered after several breaths, Lieke raised a brow and scrunched her nose. “Well? Let’s hear it, Wolfie. What…” She paused, and her eyes softened with vulnerability as she lowered her gaze to her hands. “What did I do wrong?”

“Nothing,” I answered, perhaps a little too quickly, because I had no other words ready. Slowly she lifted her face, revealing fresh tears, and my heart cracked open. The pain in my chest instantly pushed me to my feet and sent me across the room to her. Falling to my knees at her feet, I covered her hands with mine, stroking her legs with my thumbs. Silently she pleaded with me to give her an answer. But I couldn’t, not even here in my head.

This isn’t her,I reminded myself.You can talk to her. What better time is there to practice what to say?

My stomach writhed, and I uttered the first thing that came to mind.

“I’m scared.”

It wasn’t what Ineededto tell her, but at least it was true.

Lieke’s brow creased with concern. “Scared of what? Me?” She laughed nervously.

I shrugged and offered her a tight smile. “Well, yes. Actually.”

Slowly, she slid her hands out from under mine and began to wring them in front of her chest, averting her eyes again. “You don’t think I had something to do with the attack, do you? Because I didn’t. I didn’t know they were going to… I didn’t know.”

Her voice broke into soft sobs that throbbed in my chest as if they were my own.

“No, it’s not that,” I said, joining her on the bed and wrapping my arm around her shoulder. I winced as she nestled against my collarbone. As much as I wanted this—wanted her—this wasn’t real. This was just a dream.

Then let yourself enjoy it,my mind urged.

No, that was wrong, selfish. Wasn’t it? To enjoy her company here as I slept while avoiding her otherwise? That wasn’t fair to her.

Yet when her hand settled on my chest and her fingers curled around my shirt as if I were the one thing she needed, I couldn’t deny the heat that pooled within me. Reaching around, I ran my fingers along her neck and under her chin, coaxing her to look up at me, but her eyes fell squarely on my lips. Without thinking, I allowed my tongue to sneak out to wet them.

My breath ceased as she lifted her face, letting her lips whisper over mine.

I shouldn’t do this.

Mates or not, I shouldn’t be allowing this, not when she didn’t know, not when I hadn’t figured out how to tell her.

Her exhale warmed my skin, and I closed my eyes as I drank in all of her.

“I shouldn’t.” This time I whispered the words aloud, but I didn’t pull away.

Lieke’s lips grazed mine. “Then tell me to stop,” she whispered back, and my resolve melted away.

Dream or not, I needed her like the stars needed the heavens.

Sliding my hand along her jaw and tangling my fingers in her hair, I pulled her to me, molding her lips to mine, urging her to open so I could savor her—her lips, her tongue, her breath—as I hadn’t been able to in the stables. I explored her slowly, cherishing the way she moved with me. Tears laced her kiss, healing and breaking me all at once as I consumed her. My soul sighed with more contentment than it had experienced in years—or ever.

Her fingers worked to undo the buttons of my shirt, and my thoughts resumed warring inside my head, arguing over whether to stop her out of propriety or take this wherever she would allow. I was still fighting with myself when she swung her leg up and over mine to straddle me.

Fuck.The curse echoed in my head as her center pressed against me.

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