Page 39 of Bound By Destiny

The evident pain on his fine features humbles me. “I’m sorry I made you worry. But there was no way I could let disaster happen when I had an idea how to prevent it.”

Dane’s eyes are glued to one particular polka dot on the sheets, heavy shoulders slumped. It feels like there’s something he wants to say, but he doesn’t know how. He twists his wrists over and over. What could possibly make him so nervous?

Last time you two spoke,a snarky little voice whispers in my head,Dane was pretty clear about the fact that he didn’t want anything to do with you.

I twist the blanket in my hands, my old anxiety kicking in.What if he doesn’t want to see me? What if I’m intruding? How am I going to explain that I came to Australia?

“Hey, hey,” Dane calls out gruffly. “I didn’t say any of that, so turn the volume down in there, okay?”

I gawk at him in stupor. “Are you a psychic?”

He shoots me a wry smile. “No, but my sister-in-law is.”

While I’m left to ponder about that, gently, he pries my fingers apart from the cover and captures them in his hand. My heart feels like it may jump out of my chest.

“The reason you travelled all the way here, Destiny, is because you’re my mate.”

I study him in confusion.How does he know why I made the trip, when even I don’t fully understand? And what is it with this ‘mates’ thing?

“Is that Australian to say that we’re friends?”

A surprised chuckle escapes Dane’s lips. “You know just as much as I do that we’re a lot more than friends.”

I nearly choke on my own breath. “Are we?” Embarrassing memories of the evening before he left Catalina Foothills flood my mind. “When I told you about my feelings, all you were interested in was saying goodnight.”

He meets my gaze sheepishly. “I was running away, Destiny. I’m sorry.”

A chill courses down my spine even if Dane’s hands are wonderfully warm. “What do you mean, you were running away? Running away from what?” My jaw drops. “Running away from me?”

He takes a deep breath and rakes trembling fingers through his copper strands. Seeing him right now, I realize he’s not looking very good – as far as that’s possible for Dane. His hair looks like it could use a few brush strokes, his straight jawline is peppered with stubble, and dark shadows sit under his eyes.

“With phoenixes, there’s such a thing as a fated bond,” he carefully explains. “Two beings who were crafted for each other, who are meant to spend eternity side by side.”

A million emotions hit me at once. Wonder, because ever since we made love under the mountains, Dane has gotten under my skin in more ways than one. Hope, because maybe I have a chance to be together with this man who makes me feel whole.

But also budding suspicion. Unease. There’s more to the story, I can sense it.

“So you and me…”

“We’re meant to be,” he finishes bluntly. With those heart-melting beams of grey, he says in a tone barely above a whisper, but that resonates deep within: “Nothing makes sense without you. That’s what I found out in the two weeks we were apart. I was about to fly to Arizona, but then all hell broke loose and I couldn’t leave Warwick and Luciana alone with the storm coming.”

A few days ago, I would’ve killed to hear such things from Dane’s lips. All I did was pace my apartment, trying to figure out whether I truly misinterpreted things, or if Dane had at least an inkling of affection for me, perhaps without even being aware of it.

But now that he’s mentioned mates, some things just don’t click. I can’t shake off my gut feeling. Something is off.

“Since when have you known we’re mates?”

Dane goes back to staring at a polka dot.

“The second I laid eyes on you.”

His words hit me like a ton of bricks.Ever since he laid eyes on me?Every single second we spent together rushes through my mind, from the day we kissed in the supermarket to the evening he confused a cactus wren with a vulture.

And the time we made love. He knew we were mates, and he made me promise never to touch him again?

And the time I confessed. He knew we were mates, and he refused to so much as answer me?

Somehow, the rejection hurts even deeper now. He and I are tied together by some kind of fateful bond. He knew. Yet he pushed me away.

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