Page 23 of Marked By The Filthy-Mouthed Grizzly
I let out a breath, staring at my reflection in the car window.
I don’t know why hearing that makes me so happy.
He just bought himself an extra day.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Magnus
Even my bear is quiet tonight.
No snarling, no pacing, no threatening to burst out and wreak havoc. Just a heavy melancholy sadness we’re both drowning in.
I used to fear my bear losing control.
But this stillness? This ache? It's worse.
It feels like he’s lost all reason to live. I feel it too. I’ve never felt this empty.
I’m sitting on the porch of my cabin, slouched deep into an old wooden chair that keeps groaning under my weight. The dark mountains loom in the distance, black and still. The silence out here is thick, broken only by the cool breeze rippling through the leaves and the owl hooting in the distance, sounding just as lonely as I feel.
It can’t be over. It just can’t be.
But I keep seeing her horrified face when I told her… and… and it definitely feels like it’s over. It feels like she never wants to see me again.
I take a long breath, inhaling the crisp pine-scented air. I’d kill to go back to that night. Maybe I could have talked to Knox and Mace. Maybe I could have handled it differently—helped change them.
But even as I replay it in my mind, I know that would never have happened. It’s wishful thinking. Those boys were rabid dogs who needed to be put down.
I sigh as a hare hops out of the forest and starts munching on some wildflowers.
I only had a few hours with her. That’s the worst part.
A few perfect, blissful hours where the world made sense. Where the ache inside me dulled for the first time in years. Where everything felt so damn perfect. And then… over.
And it’s worse now.
Worse than before I met her.
Now, I know what I’m missing.
Now, I know that perfect girl is out there and she wants nothing to do with me. At least before, I had a small glimmer of hope that she could walk into my life at any time. Now, I have nothing.
My shoulders sink down as I shake my head, wondering how I’m going to go on.
Then, I hear it.
Tires crunching on the gravel road.
The hare perks up and bounces back into the forest.
I sit up straight, blinking toward the driveway.
It’s probably just Julian or Victoria coming to try and cheer me up even though I just want to be alone.
The headlights slice through the trees, casting moving shadows on my lawn as the car turns onto my long driveway.
“No way…” I whisper when I see the familiar little car pulling into the clearing in front of my cabin.
