Page 70 of Bewitchingly Hers
I nodded, tears dripping from my eyes. “I don’t want to lose him.”
“You won’t,” Rina promised.
Unfortunately, it was one she couldn’t keep.
Wrapping a blanket around myself, I stepped onto my back porch, the morning light already leaking through the trees.
The rest of the girls were asleep inside, though I knew they were mostly there for moral support for me, and Willow, who had fretted over all of us until Cait had finally made her a cup of tea and took charge of the rest of us.
I had a cup of coffee in my hands, the warmth spreading through my body making me feel a little bit more like a person again, but I hadn’t drank a single sip yet. All I’d managed to do this morning was take a shower and pull on a fresh set of clothes.
Barrett hadn’t returned.
I felt sick. Like this monumental, life altering thing had happened, only I had no control anymore.
The trees rustled, and I perked up.
“Barrett?” I called, holding my breath.
Instead, it was Ezra. He held his side, blood leaking down his shirt. His skin had lost some of it’s usual pallor, and his eyes were closer to black than their usual red.
“Oh gods.” I rushed over to him. “What happened to you?”
He groaned. “Ambush.”
“Is Barrett okay?” I asked him as I guided him into a chair on my porch, pulling his hand away to find a similar wound to what Barrett had been covered in weeks ago.
He jerked away when I tried to touch him to pull his shirt back. “Don’t.”
I frowned. “I can heal you.” I let my magic run into my hands, glowing warm light coming from them. “It’s my ability, and I?—”
Ezra shook his head, cutting me off. “You shouldn’t touch me. Barrett… He’ll be feral.”
I didn’t understand. “Why? You’re hurt. I want to help. Barrett would want me to help his friend, too.”
“No. I need to feed. But…Fuck.” He ran his fingers through his blond hair, blood from his hands coating the strands. “I can’t feed from you.” The vampire rubbed at his forehead. “Besides, your scents are all over each other.”
My cheeks burned. That was mortifying. “You can… smell that?” I knew Barrett could scent me, but I hadn’t realized that anyone else could. For some reason, I’d just thought it was a wolf thing.
“Your mate didn’t tell you?”
I frowned. “Mymate? I don’t…”
Everything hit me all at once.Barrett. How possessive he was over me. How right it felt to be with him. The connection I’d had with him, since the very first night. He was my…
How was this possible?
Ezra went deathly still. “You really didn’t know.”
I shook my head, a sinking feeling settling in my gut. I couldn’t believe it. How could he not tell me? How long had he known and kept it from me? “No,” I whispered.
Letting my blanket fall to the floor, I looked out into the forest.
My mate.
Barrett was my mate.
And he was… what? Hurt? Missing? A sob escaped my throat.
