Page 19 of Fated to the Wolf Billionaire

The conversation devolved after that, Galyna and Elodie weighing in on options for removing the curse inside the enclave, with and without Karissma’s help. I wasn’t adding much to the conversation, so I excused myself, the desire to check on Fiona too strong to ignore after what I’d just heard.

Galyna’s words about her being hunted by other males until she wore my bonding bite echoed with my footsteps down the empty hallway. There was no way in hell I was going to let that happen.

EIGHT

Fiona

Itook a long shower. By the time I was done, the scent of my coconut shampoo permeated the small bathroom, carried on steamy fingers to every corner of the cozy space. But more than that, the familiarity of the routine cleared my head. When I stepped out of the shower, squeaky clean from head to toe and freshly shaved in all the areas that counted, I felt likemeagain.

All that had happened in the last day had shaken my very understanding of the world. The things that went bump in the night? Real.

Monsters? Real.

My very secure belief that I was an average, run-of-the-mill human being with chronic illness and split ends? Well, the split-ends bit was still true. The rest? Not so much.

I stared at myself in the mirror, rolling my shoulders forward and back, considering. Because I couldn’t go out there and open the door to all the possibilities that were Reed until I knew what I wanted.

The draw I felt toward him? Incredible. Alluring. Warm. Exciting.Delicious. Or at least I thought it would be if I followed the urges I felt to stay close to him.

But was that reallyme? Did I, Fiona Valentine, very boring resident of Philly who had to see a specialist once a quarter to keep up with my seizure disorder, actually want to be with Reed, the man? Or was it all a magical pull, altering my feelings?

I had no way of knowing. Because the feelings were soinnate. None of it felt unnatural or creepy. It was like going on a blind date, laughing all night long, and hoping with everything inside you that he kissed you on the doorstep and did it well. That hope, it was that feeling of more, times ten.

I picked up my toothbrush and squirted out a little dollop of minty toothpaste, scrubbing my teeth as I thought.

The question was, did I want to be open to the otherness of it all? He said I could go home. I wasn’t bound to stay with him, and I believed him. But if I walked out there with anything other than a firm conviction that I wanted to go home, go back to normal, and pretend all of this never happened… I would get sucked in.

It was already happening, and I barely knew the man. He made me feel safe and wanted.

I spit out the toothpaste, rinsing my mouth and sticking my toothbrush into the little cup next to the faucet. The smart thing to do would be to go home. Say, thank you very much for the offer of a week’s stay in Romania, but I needed to get home.

So why hadn’t I done that?

Because maybe, just this once, I wanted to be something more. And even the little bits I’d learned about myself and the world since meeting Reed were incredible.

I was standing on a precipice, a man before me holding out a red pill and a blue pill. I could leave, but then I would never know what I was capable of. What maybe, possibly, was meant for me.

I thought of my history, of my great-grandmother who’d been shut away for even daring to speak about the other she’d experienced, and I opened the bathroom door.

It took less than a minute to throw on comfortable clothes. Perhaps I should have tried a little harder to dress nicely since it was possible that Reed was my forever. But you know what? Forever meant he’d have to get used to the sweats.

I threw open the door with a little too much enthusiasm and smiled when I saw him. He was leaning against the wall directly in front of the door, eyes smoldering with heat and something more.

“I’m ready to talk now.”

He pushed off the wall with a lithe grace that made me shiver, signs of the predator inside peeking through, now that I knew what to look for. It was thrilling.

I stepped back, gesturing him inside. But he shook his head, nodding down the hallway.

“I know a place. This isn’t the kind of conversation you have trapped inside.”

I nodded, slipping the door shut and trailing after him down the hall. Within minutes, he’d led me back outside and to a lovely garden. There were white roses and butterflies, as well as beautiful benches tucked into nooks and crannies along the path. It was a little chilly, but worth the cold to see the beauty.

We reached a side path with a big bower of greenery over a swing at the end of it. He gestured for me to sit, so I did.

He smiled when I patted the spot next to me and slipped into place like he’d been doing it for years, not hours. Our hands were close on the smoothly worn wooden slats, not touching—but almost.

“Do you want me to start at the beginning, or do you have specific questions?” he asked.

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