Page 8 of Destined for Dreams
Chapter 3
Cori
Cori shifted on her feet, glancing nervously toward the woods beside Bartol’s log cabin. The ground had a thick layer of undisturbed snow at least a foot deep and in some places more than two feet. There was no sign of a trail to suggest there might be anything within the thick forest. She’d be fighting for every step along the way.
“Are you sure he has a work shed back there?” Cori asked, turning to Melena.
The sensor nodded. “I’m not supposed to know about it, but I sensed him in there more than once and checked it out one day while he was gone. It’s definitely a full blown carpentry workshop, and he’s in there now.”
Cori sighed. “I don’t feel him.”
“Your mating bond is weak, but that’s good in this case because he won’t sense you coming, either. Of course, if things go well today, you won’t have that advantage anymore.”
It was rather depressing to think that they’d barely mated, and then let their bond weaken to the point she couldn’t sense him until he was really close. Cori had to rely on Melena and her ability to detect supernaturals to confirm the whereabouts of the man she was supposed to be tied to for life. Supposedly, their bond could weaken to the point of barely being discernible, but it wouldn’t break.
“Just do what I told you to do,” Melena said, nudging Cori gently. “But don’t push him too far this first time. This is a marathon, not a race. You’ve got to be careful, or this whole plan could backfire on us.”
And they couldn’t allow that to happen. Lucas had confirmed through reliable sources that there was a powerful demon moving through Europe, causing horrible deaths along the way. One of the people he’d talked to, an archangel named Remiel, insisted Bartol was the best person to meet Zoe, though he didn’t explain why. He was just very adamant about it, as if no one else could do the job better. There was something strange about that. What could her mate do that others couldn’t? Was she setting Bartol up for something dangerous even though everyone swore he just had to get the location of the demon? She was on the fence about all of it, but she also couldn’t resist her part of the plan. It was something she’d been wanting to do anyway.
“Yeah, got it. I won’t push him,” Cori said, turning away from the sensor.
She steeled her spine and began the long walk through the woods. She was supposed to go due west from the cabin, but that was easier said than done. Trees and high banks of snow blocked her path more often than not. She had to veer around them and use the faint glimpses of the sun through the high canopy to keep track of her direction. It was a good thing they’d planned this for late morning. With daylight hours in short supply, there was no way she could have made it through the woods at night by herself. Not without a flashlight and compass, which would have looked ridiculous since she was only traveling a quarter mile into the forest. Not to mention it wouldn’t have worked well with what she planned to do once she reached her destination.
Eventually, she caught sight of a large workshop made primarily of sheet metal and wood. It was larger than expected and probably about fifty feet by thirty feet with a steeply sloped metal roof and a stovepipe jutting from the top, billowing out smoke.
Bartol hated the cold, despite being immortal. She wasn’t surprised he’d added a source of heat to his private work place. In fact, she was rather glad because after slogging through the snow for twenty minutes, she was desperate for warmth. Cori could handle cold better after she’d been altered by Melena’s blood, but it was below zero outside, and her more resilient body still had its limits, especially with what she was wearing.
Cori took her time, not wanting to make too much noise during her approach. Every time she’d tried to stop by Bartol’s cabin before to talk, he’d spotted her driving up and disappeared. This shed gave her the advantage because he wasn’t expecting her to find him there, and it only had one small window next to the door that she could easily avoid by coming in from the side.
Every step was agonizing as she crept closer, finally reaching the building and skirting near the wall to avoid being seen. Training her ears, she caught the sound of metal scraping along wood in a rhythmic pattern. Mel had said he was making furniture in there, and Cori was dying to know what it looked like. She touched a gloved hand to the doorknob, turning it slowly.
This was the moment of truth. Would he stay and hear her out or would he flash away? Cori wasn’t religious—not even after meeting angels and getting a glimpse of the pearly gates—but she prayed to God that Bartol didn’t run this time. There was only so much she could take.
Pushing the door open, she stepped inside. He had his muscular back to her, sitting on a stool as he worked on a long piece of wood in front of him. She couldn’t be sure, but it might have been the beginnings of a table leg…or part of a chair? It was difficult to say at this early stage, but it was cylindrical and about three feet long.
She could finally sense him through their bond, which meant he could do the same.
He stiffened and turned his head to the side, giving her the beautiful side of his face framed by silky, golden-brown hair. “What are you doing here?”
His voice was gruff and didn’t come out all that welcoming. Her heart died a little at the complete lack of warmth. Sure, he’d been avoiding this meeting, but she’d hoped it was because he wouldn’t be able to resist her if she got close enough. A silly thought, but a woman could always dream.
Cori was nowhere near saying she loved him, but she cared for him and wanted to try making things work. It just needed to happen a little more slowly than what had taken place a mere month ago. One hot night of sex and they were bonded for life. That was not the way things worked in the human world and rarely even in the supernatural world. She’d been caught off guard. If Bartol would admit it, there had been similar surprise in his eyes as well. Neither of them had planned or expected it.
“I came to see you,” she said.
“I thought I made it clear that you should stay away,” he growled, then returned to his scraping.
She couldn’t help noticing his hands and long, dexterous fingers. They were roughened from his work with the wood, and yet they appeared strong and capable. She’d had those hands on her before. They could do things a woman only dreamed about and some things they wouldn’t have ever imagined. He might hate touching and being intimate, but his centuries of experience still shone through in what he did manage to do to her. God help her if he ever got over his time in Purgatory and the psychological damage done to him there. He’d take her over, mind and body, until she forgot herself and never returned.
Cori took a deep breath, knowing she needed to do something to mend the rift between them. “I want to tell you I’m sorry. It might have seemed like I was rejecting you, but I was in shock. Please believe me when I tell you that if I could take back leaving you that day, I would. I wish to God I’d stayed and talked to you instead.”
Silence. She waited for more than a minute for some sort of response or at least an acknowledgment that he’d heard her. The wood-burning stove was off to her left, tempting her to move closer to its warmth, but she stood her ground by the door and didn’t move. She had a plan and wouldn’t deviate from it.
“One might assume you wish you’d never left because your former husband captured you, tortured you, and nearly killed you as a result of fleeing me.” He swiveled a fraction on his stool and met her gaze, golden eyes blazing with emotion. “I would have kept you safe, and I never would have left your side the way you left mine.”
Damn, that was harsh. A lump formed in her throat. She’d run away from him soon after their one night of sex while he’d been asleep. It must have seemed like a rejection even though she’d just needed to go talk to Melena—the only other woman Cori knew who’d been through the mating process.
“I don’t mean I’d take back what happened with Griff—I most likely deserved that after what I did to him.” Because she’d believed she’d killed him years ago, but really she’d just left him for dead in a snowdrift. He’d survived thanks to someone finding him and turning him into a vampire. “I’m sorry I left you.”
