Page 111 of A Bond Beyond Blood

Closing my eyes, I thought back to the night I came home, and the words fell from my lips before I could stop them.“I was so afraid, Jackie.Terrified.I’d never been more afraid in my life.”

I didn’t need to say more; she knew how horrific it had been for me to watch my father die.To say this was more terrifying than anything else I’d experienced before...she’d understand the gravity of that.

Bracing myself, I continued, “I wandered that first night, starving like never before.Ithurt, Jackie, so fucking bad.Theburning...throughout my veins, my stomach...I felt like my body was eating itself from the inside out, like fire was licking at every inch of me.I didn’t understand what was happening—no, whathadhappened to me.My teeth were...”I shook my head at the memory.“They kept popping out, my new fangs, and cutting into my bottom lip, so by the time I strode through the front door in the middle of the night, I was covered in not only my own blood but the blood of countless others.”

She sucked in a breath and tightened the arm looped through mine.

“I don’t know how many I hurt that night or...or in those first few weeks following...until I found some sort of control and began to understand what was happening to my body.”

“Oh, Gannon,” she whispered, inching even closer to press her body heat against my side, her thigh pressed against mine.

“So I don’t blame her for freaking out,” I continued.“I should have...”I sighed and tipped my head back, staring up at the endless sky.“I should have stayed away until I was better in control.Because when she ran from me—”

“Oh god,” Jackie said, turning toward me, those big blue eyes wide with horror that punched me right in the gut.

“Yeah.She ran, so I chased.”I squeezed my eyes shut as if that could keep me from remembering that moment with perfect,excruciatingclarity.But it was no use; I’d remember my mother’s fear for the rest of my life.

“Gannon.”Jackie slid her warm hand over my chin and turned my face toward her.“You wouldn’t have hurt her—”

“But Itriedto, Jackie.”I searched her gaze and said firmly, “Iwantedto.”My voice caught on the words as a pained sound climbed up my throat.I pressed my fist to my mouth as the memory tried to rip me to shreds all over again.I’m not even sure what happened, how I stopped myself from attacking my own mother that night, but I’ll never forget the way she looked at me, the terror in her eyes...

“Oh, Gannon, I wish you would have come to me.”Jackie wrapped her hand around my fist and brought it down between us.

“What if I’d hurt you?”It was so hard to get those words out, they were barely a whisper.

She shook her head adamantly.“No, Gannon.You wouldn’t have.And youdidn’thurt your mom.”Her eyes flicked back and forth between mine as she squeezed my hand.

“I’ve missed you so much,” I whispered.“So many times I’ve wanted to call...”I swallowed hard as emotion thickened in my throat.“I was so scared.Scared of hurting you, of losing you all over again...”I opened my eyes and met hers, wet with tears that mirrored my own.“I’m so fucking sorry.”

Her gaze dropped to my mouth as she brought her hand up to my face, swiping the wetness from my cheek, and...for a split second, I thought maybe, justmaybe, she might be about to press her sweet mouth to mine—

And then she did.

Her lips were warm and soft against my own, moving gently until I began to move with her.her tongue was a soft, tentative thing as it licked cautiously into my mouth, and I had to fight with all of the self-control I’d developed over the last six months not to grab her and haul her body against me, to kiss her with the desperation I felt in the very marrow of my bones.

The kiss deepened slowly, and I couldn’t say which one of us was in charge here, but as our tongues danced faster and harder, licking into one another hungrily.I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her closer, desperate to feel every bit of her warmth.

A sob slipped past her lips and I swallowed it down as she cupped my face with both hands and kissed me with the same amount of need that sang through my veins.

I pulled back to search her gaze, tears flowing like rivers down her cheeks, then I licked up one cheek to pull that salty sadness into my mouth—but that simple taste of her wasn’t enough.

It was nowherenearenough.

I wanted to sink my teeth into her neck, bury my cock into her sweet heat like I had a thousand times before.I wanted to claim her all over again because she was and always would be my Jackie.

Mine.

There was no world, no future, that didn’t end in me growing old beside this beautiful, stubborn,strongfucking woman.

My heart stuttered as I realized only one of us would ever grow old now, but I pushed that chilling realization aside.It didn’tmatter.We were the long game.Forever.Whatever that meant.

My life always had been and always would be linked with hers.

We were initials carved into a tree in Central Park.

A love lock on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Matching tattoos on opposite ankles.

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