Page 46 of Cold Foot Curse

His glance was soft on her, but he didn’t push her. Not at all. He just waited patiently instead, and for some reason, that made her feel safe to talk.

“My dad died and it was the curse that did it. My mom worked so hard for so long to keep my dad at a distance and never to fall in love with him, but then she broke the rules. She fell in love, and he died for it. I don’t think she could ever get over that. She couldn’t forgive herself so she just…numbed out the noise.”

“I’m sorry,” Kade said softly. And it was enough. It was the perfect response. There was nothing that would make the truth of her life easier. It just felt nice for someone else to be like ‘that’s awful’ in a word, and then they could move on.

“CPS took us when I was eight, and Samuel was twelve. They split us up immediately, and then it was just confusing, you know? Everything was unfamiliar. People, places, bed, school. I had to be in a special foster home because I was a shifter, and I couldn’t understand why my brother couldn’t be with me. It was just girls in the home, and he was sent out of state, but I didn’t find that part out until later. And then there is the missing the parents, and missing the old life, and the emptiness, and the trying to process really heavy stuff but I was just a kid, you know. I didn’t even have the tools to cope with any of that. No one showed up to adopt me, like it happens on tv. I turned eighteen and aged out of the system and then it was just me in the world, and how do you even cope with that, you know? By that time, my mom had moved out of the trailer park I remembered. I tried to find her and couldn’t. And Samuel was just a ghost, and I was reaching for something familiar, but there was nothing there. All I had was this locket my mom had clapped into my hand when CPS was taking me away, and I knew exactly what it was. She’d been talking to me about it since I could remember. So that’s what I have.”

“The locket.”

“The curse. That’s the only thing that was familiar for all those years.”

“I remember the first time I saw you,” he said softly.

“Yeah? Was I a cool tiger? Were you seduced by the power of my animal? Was I interesting?” she said sarcastically. She no longer had her animal in that way. Everything got messed up.

“You were at the meeting where I was inducted into Sister’s Edge.” Kade stooped and picked up a stick and began breaking the little branches off the side. “I only knew Tawk, Seth, and Tanner, and had been talking to a few of the higher ranks about joining for a few months. I’d been living on the outskirts, waiting for the invitation. There was a dinner.”

Jess frowned as her memory got jogged. “We were having Frito pies.”

He grinned and nodded. “Yep. You were sitting on a countertop in the kitchen with Misty, Cara, and Danielle.”

“Oh gosh, I remember this. I was close to Cara and Danielle before they left Sister’s Edge.”

“Yeah. I could tell. You were all four laughing at some inside joke. I kept looking over at you because you had this huge smile, and I remember wondering if I had ever seen a smile that big in my life. You were pretty.”

“Were,” she muttered.

“You’re prettier now,” he said, and she jerked her gaze up to him, because there had been that damn beautiful truth in his voice. “Your eyes were so bright,” he said, with a faraway tone to his voice like he’d been transported to Derek’s kitchen all those years ago. “They had this intensity whenever one of the males walked past you. A defensiveness. I checked your hand when you talked in gestures, making sure there was no scar on your palm. None of the males hung too close to you, so I thought you might be single. I couldn’t quit looking at you. I wanted everyone to shut the fuck up so I could hear what you were saying to the girls. I wanted to know what was so funny. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to smile at inside jokes. I wanted your bright eyes to land on me, but you were just…happy…right where you were.”

Jess’s lip trembled, and she bit it to stop the traitorous movement there. Those were good times. She had been happy back then. “What were you doing at that park?” she whispered through her tightening vocal cords.

“Making sure you were okay.”

“You saw me leave Samuel’s house?” she guessed.

“I was working on my truck in Tawk’s driveway, and you bolted out of that house and ran down the street, and I knew you were upset. I could feel it. I called out to you.”

“You were the one who asked if I wanted a ride somewhere,” she said on a breath, remembering. She’d been so upset.

“You told me to go fuck myself,” he said with a chuckle.

“Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was so hot.”

“What? You are damaged.”

“Yep. Your animal was all worked up, and your eyes were glowing, and when you threw me that dirty look, I knew you could be a monster, and I wanted to see her.”

“My tiger?”

He nodded once. “I had to. I followed you knowing you were going to have to Change. I wanted to make sure you were safe, and no one would mess with you, but I also had to see what you could turn into. And I did.”

“You don’t sound sorry at all.”

“I’m not.” Truth. “So, to answer your question, yes.”

“What question?”

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