Page 3 of Love in the Forest
“You’re right. This is on me, but I promise you it wasn’t intentional. I had no idea it existed until now.”
“So I gather.” She eyed him warily.
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Give me the chalice and I’ll release you from the bond.”
“Let’s get one thing straight, I’m not leaving Savage without the chalice. You’ll have to kill me to keep it.”
~ ~ ~
Abby had the completely awkward experience of being aroused by a wolf to the point she was ready to jump his bones, yet so enraged she felt like her head was going to explode. Braden had no rights to the chalice.
What infuriated her even more was that she’d been so consumed with passion the night they’d been together she’d actually let a wolf form a bond with her. Unbelievable.
She hadn’t even known the bond existed until a few moments ago when she’d felt the internal tug as though he’d pulled on some kind of line between them.
The odd thing was, when the tug first happened it wrecked her emotions because what returned to her was the depth of Braden’s loneliness. She could feel it even now like a compression on her heart.
She could also relate.
This was, after all, Five Bridges, and there wasn’t an inmate among them who hadn’t endured a terrible loss following the painfulaltertransition. Her husband had divorced her when the heinousalterserum had made her a vampire. All she’d done was imbibe a glass of tainted wine then poof, she’d grown a pair of fangs.
Happy days.
She sighed.
After she’d slept with Braden, she’d Googled him. His experience had been far worse than her own. He’d had a wife he adored and two school-age children. The children were teens now, but his wife had moved to Idaho where there were no incidences ofalterserum exposure. She’d taken the kids with her as well and had remarried. He hadn’t seen his family again since entering Five Bridges.
Thirty years ago, a practicing human witch of some ability had concocted thealter serumfor vampires, then developed four other species. She and Braden were just two of the five she’d created: vampire, wolf, witch and wizard, fae and dead-talker. Each species had its own territory in Five Bridges and the territories had been at war for the entire three decades of their existence.
In recent years, some tensions had eased, but a general distrust among the species still existed.
As she stared at Braden, it seemed perfectly reasonable to her that a wolf had stolen her sacred property. His kind were thieves, rapists and killers.
Yet, to be fair, so were hers.
So, where did that leave them right now, with the chalice a heavy, critical weight against her thigh.
She tried a different tack. “You need to understand what this blood chalice means to me and to those in my care. It rests on an altar in our meditation chapel and provides tremendous comfort, and yes, I worked with a witch to create it.
“You’ve been to my safe-house complex, and you know the work I do. We don’t worship the chalice, but it was designed through a unique witch’s spell to bring peace to our kind, hence it was fashioned with metal and blood.”
He frowned. “Whose blood exactly?”
She didn’t want to tell him, but maybe it would help him to understand and to relent. “Mine. So, now you know how personal this is to me.”
He appeared perplexed and for a long time, didn’t say anything. But his shoulders finally relaxed.
He was gorgeous, she would give him that. His golden complexion was heightened by the recent chase. His hazel eyes were bright. He wore his brown and gold hair long and in braids like a majority of the wolves from Savage. No wonder she’d flipped for him at the White Flame Club.
She’d already had three vodka tonics when he sauntered up. She recognized him from his rescue of the vampire, the one he’d brought to her shelter. So, she was already disposed to like him, wolf that he was.
He had a beer in his hand and a relaxed look in his eye. She suspected the beer wasn’t his first. “My friend dared me to come over here. You’re Abby, right?” The White Flame Club was known for catering to all species with the intent of creating good will in Five Bridges.
They’d at least had that for each other, a lot of good will for the rest of the night.
Afterward, she’d fantasized about the lovemaking repeatedly.
God help her, she still did. A night hadn’t gone by when Braden hadn’t been in her thoughts. Last night had been particularly lustful and featured his teeth holding her in place. Maybe it was the partial-bond or maybe it was just him, but she wanted more.
