Page 102 of Thunder with a Chance of Lovestruck

She yanked on me, hugging me more again, sobbing loudly.

I drew back some, lovingly wiping her cheeks before kissing her forehead. “I have so many questions.”

She nodded. “Same.”

I noticed her arms. They were covered in Fae symbols. I lifted a brow.

She smiled, still crying. “Long story.”

I hugged her again. “And I want to hear all about it. I don’t want to let go of you, but I can’t stay.”

Her brows met. “What? Why?”

Torid pushed against my leg.

I rubbed the top of his head. “Hey there, buddy. I want to catch up with you, but I have to go check on—”

“Rachael?”

I tensed, positive I was imagining things. That I couldn’t have possibly just heard Drest’s voice.

“Ohmygod, Rachael, look who found me,” said Astria, turning my shoulders slightly so that I was facing two men.

I was so overwhelmed by everything that was happening that, at first, I was confused. “Stratton, is that you?”

He looked equally as stunned to see me as I was to see him. He then pointed to his left.

My gaze slid there and froze.

The very man I’d given up on ever seeing again in my lifetime was standing there, his face flush with emotions, his hands balled into fists at his sides, as he looked to be fighting tears. He’d barely changed. He looked a bit older than before, which was odd since Robin had explained full-blooded Fae didn’t really age much once they reached maturity.

I opened my mouth, but words wouldn’t come. I couldn’t seem to get my body to respond either.

Drest jerked faintly, as if coming out of a daze, and the next I knew, he was charging at me. He grabbed me and lifted me, hugging me tightly in the process. He spun me around, set me on my feet, and then dragged me against his powerful body, holding me to him.

My arms had a mind of their own as they wrapped around him, clinging to him, desperate to feel that he was real. That I wasn’t having some kind of psychotic break and imagining that he, Astria, and Stratton were in Grimm Cove.

Drest shook as he held me. He kissed the side of my head repeatedly, whispering something in Fae that I didn’t understand. He then slid his hands to my face, cupping it as he stared down at me. His gaze searched my face, and then he was kissing me.

I melted against him, returning the kiss, as if it hadn’t been thirty-six years between now and when I’d last seen him. We kissed like lovers who had never been apart.

It wasn’t until my brain began to play catch-up that I came to my senses and broke the kiss. I pushed back from Drest, shaking my head. “No.”

“No?” he asked, looking confused.

“We’re not doing this,” I said fast. “I can’t do it again. I trusted you. I believed what you said about us being mates. That we were meant to be together. I bought the pretty lies.”

“Lies?” he questioned, grabbing me again. He cupped my face again, shaking his head. “Hon, I wasn’t lying. We are mates.”

“You never came for us,” I said, sounding defeated. “You disconnected your phone. You returned my letters.”

He looked horrified. “What? I’d never return anything from you, Rachael. I tried to find you.”

I shook my head, backing away fast.

Astria rushed to me. “Rachael, stop. He’s telling the truth. The Nightshade Clan put a magikal ban on him. It blocked any contact with you, with us, for what was it again?” She looked to Stratton.

“Fifteen years,” said Stratton, his gaze never leaving me. “Rachael, he has hunted for you, for his daughter, and for Astria every single day for thirty-six years. He’s never stopped. You consume his thoughts. His actions. And before you ask, he’s never moved on.” Stratton glanced toward Robin, who was standing about ten feet from us, his expression even. “Seems to me, you moved on from him just fine though.”

---