Page 36 of Destined Bear
Every time she sees me, she pulls away and scurries off like I’ve walked into the middle of her discussing something illicit. She could just be intimidated by me, but the guilty way she acts suggests something deeper.
My mom is still furious and refuses to share a suite with me now. She barely talks to me, and when she does, it’s to tell me to get out.
“There are plenty of rooms in this monstrosity. Have your mate set you up with another one. This is for Millie and me only.”
At first, I resist the idea. I don’t want to leave Mom’s side while Millie is still around, but eventually, I get tired of hearing the same request over and over. It hurts, but I finally give in,with conditions. I make sure one of Emeric’s staff members is always present in the suite to keep watch.
Emeric sets me up in another room nearby, close enough that I can feel his presence through the walls. The awareness of him so near keeps me awake at night, my body aching with need. The mate bond pulls at me constantly, trying to override my common sense. But my rational mind keeps whispering warnings: I still can’t fully trust him, the pack doesn’t accept me, and being fated mates might not be enough to bridge the gap between us.
“Even though we’re not together, I still want you close to me. It’s a form of exquisite torture,” Emeric tells me miserably when he sets me up in the suite.
He didn’t need to explain it to me. I know exactly how he feels.
The corners of my lips turn inward. I had been waiting for him to bring this up, but the timing had always been off. “Emeric?—”
“I get it. You don’t want to go down the same road we went before.”
His words sound rehearsed, like he’s been preparing for this conversation. But he conveniently left out the part about us being fated mates now. Fighting against the bond was much different than fighting a simple attraction.
“We’re just not good together,” I explain.
“Why does it always feel so good when we’re together, then?” His emerald eyes bore into me like always. “We’re mates. Fated mates. The chances of that happening are… infinitesimal.”
He’s not wrong. But it’s not enough. And I tell him as much.
I close the bedroom door on him, but he sticks his foot out to stop me, stepping inside. “It’s enough for me. The fates have plans for us, and I’m not going to argue with destiny. That’s pointless.”
His arms wrap around me, but this time, I resist him, even though every part of me is crying out for him. “No. Not now.”
He had no way of knowing if he had held on for even a second longer, I would have given in. But I’m glad he didn’t.
He growls and releases me, spinning around to storm from the suite with a slam of the door that shocks the walls. My head hangs, and I pad toward the terrace, opening the French doors to allow the cool Texan air to flow through.
Standing in the breeze, I close my eyes for a moment and try to envision what might have happened if Emeric had sided with me back then. Where would we all be right now?
My eyes pop back open, and I shake off the “what if?” game. It doesn’t get us anywhere. There’s nothing I can do about the past any more than Emeric can. We are just too different.
A pounding on the door shatters my moment of self-pity. Millie’s panicked voice pierces through. “Miss Vivienne! You have to come quickly!”
I sprint back to the door and throw it open. Pale and gasping, Millie waves for me to follow. She looks like she’s sick herself.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. She won’t respond! Miss Circe! She’s so pale!”
I can’t breathe, and I suddenly want Emeric with me, but I don’t order her to find him. Words stick in my mouth like glue.
Almost running, we make our way back to the suite in the far wing of the ranch, and I throw open the door. It’s exactly as she described. My mom has never looked so sickly.
I whirl around to confront Millie. “What did you do? She wasn’t this bad when I left!”
Shaking her head, Millie backs up with her hands in the air as I advance on her, my fangs elongating. I’m ready to pounce.
“It wasn’t me! I swear, I would never hurt Miss Circe!”
“I know you and Seline were plotting something, and now, the second I leave the suite, she’s dying?”
“What the hell is all the screaming about?” Emeric appears at the threshold behind Millie. She gulps as if I’m attacking her, but I haven’t even started.
