Page 164 of The Delta's Rogue
Reid laughs. “I suppose I did.”
King Malachi chuckles. Reid winces and flicks his eyes towards him apologetically, his head dipped low, which makes Sarina and her dad laugh harder. I join them, shoulders shaking with noiseless laughter, and Reid shoots me a glare.
“What did you do with the potion Amara gave you?” Dominic asks, making his way back to the table with a plate piled high with food.
“I gave it to Dr. Russo for safekeeping.”
“Are we sure they weren’t giving it to Sarina?” Reid asks. “Maybe that’s why she can’t feel your bond right now.”
“Sebastian wouldn’t be able to feel it either if they gave it to her,” Rune says. “Theseparatum amoris nexumpotion blocks the mate bond from both ends.”
“I felt it when Taryn was taking it,” Reid informs her.
“That was a rare case,” Taryn reminds him. “Maya and her mom both agree it’s because my wolf built up an immunity to the ingredient that’s supposed to block your partner from feeling it.”
“I can feel it sometimes,” Sarina says.
My fork freezes above my plate of food, and I stare at her with raised brows. “You can?”
“Little flickers of your emotions or brief sparks when we touch. Never like before, but…it’s there. It’s behind a dense wall of fog, but it’s there.”
“That’s good, though.” I squeeze her hip. “Something is better than nothing.”
“And your lycan?” King Malachi asks.
Her head shakes, and her hair sways with the movements, the ends brushing her collarbones. “Still quiet.”
Sarina turns her focus back to her meal. Her lips pinch together, and she pushes the food around on her plate. She’s silent for the rest of the meal, not eating and not talking to anyone or even following the conversation. At one point, she leans back into me and rests her head against my chest.
“Your lycan will come back.” I nuzzle my nose closer to her ear. “I know she will. She needs to heal too, and once she’s ready, she’ll come back.”
“I know.”
I cradle the back of her head as she hides her pain-filled face from the others, who thankfully continue talking to each other as they clean up their dishes. They pretend as if they can’t see or hear us.
I hug Sarina closer, waiting for all of them to finish leaving the dining room. “Maybe spending some time with your family will help.” I continue speaking to her in a low tone right next to her ear, even though the only ones left in the room are her parents, who converse on their own in whispered voices as well. “I need to let my lycan out for a run, so while I’m running, maybe—”
She jerks herself upright before I can finish my sentence, her eyes wild, hopeful, and bright. “Will you take me with you?”
“You want to comeon a run with me?” I ask, trying to hide my skepticism. “Are you sure you don’t want to spend time with your parents?”
She shakes her head emphatically. “I want to spend time with you. I want to see your lycan. It might…”
“It might what?”
“Maybe if I see your lycan, it will encourage mine to wake up.”
“My lycan is fast.”
“You’re strong,” she retorts, jabbing my upper arm. “You can carry me.”
My lycan and I both perk up at that. “You want me to carry you?”
“Your lycan, yes.”
I stare at her as I imagine the picture she’s painting: her in my lycan’s arms as we run through the forest. Safe and close to my side, with the wind streaming through her hair and her face tucked into my chest while we strengthen our bond.
My lycan’s tail wags, and he hops from one foot to the other impatiently, pawing at the confines of my mind to get me to do as she asks.
