Page 54 of Cursed Touch
“I’m sorry if I’ve made you feel rejected, sweetheart. That was never my intention,” he said.
She huffed, and pain shone in the depths of her eyes. “Well, you failed miserably then.”
Carter dropped his head. “God, I’m so sorry.” When she did not give him a response, he met her gaze. “There are things about my family you don’t understand—”
“Because you’ve never tried to explain them,” she said stubbornly. “You know, for someone who keeps insisting we’re soul mates, you sure don’t trust me with shit.”
Her words sliced through him. He could not argue with her on the matter either. It was never that he did not trusther. He just never trusted the soul mate thing, even after watching his siblings find theirs.
“When Brandy met Ryan, it was one thing to wrap my head around the fact we were witches. I did not understand or believe they were soul mates. Chemistry? Hell yeah. As a medical professional, I understand the power of pheromones, but soul mates? No. Then Ethan and Serena got together, and it was just as fast and just as deep. I could not help but wonder if there was something in the water making them crazy. When Max found Claudia injured, I tried helping, but at my initial approach, he tossed me across the room—me, his brother, for a woman he’d only just met. That was the moment I realized there was something science could not explain away.”
When his vision went hazy at the memory, Vanessa cupped his cheek and forced him to look at her. “Some things can’t be explained.”
He studied her a moment. There in his darkened room, with their bodies pressed together—skin touching—he truly understood Max’s reaction. It was a miracle he had not been more aggressive around Peter or Joel.
“There’s more…” he stated, finally ready to lay it all out.
There was no way he could walk away from her, but she had a right to know. If she did not accept all of him, he would lead a lonely life. No other woman would be right for him, not now—not after he’d met his mate.
“When each sibling found their destined mate, it was clear that the moment they had sex, they cemented their bond as soul mates. A telepathic link formed between them, and that’s what has held me back. I want you on a level I’ve never experienced. You’re my breath, my every thought, my forever, and I’ve had a hard time wrapping my head around it all. There was no way I could allow us to bond without you knowing the truth. The idea of connecting on a telepathic level used to scare the shit out of me.”
The words had tumbled out of him, and with the full truth out, a weight was removed from his shoulders. After letting the words loose, he realized how stupid he had been acting all along.
Chapter 25
“Telepathic?” she muttered, her hand dropping to her side.
Carter nodded, his lips twisting to the side. “Yeah, telepathic. Crazy, right?”
Her eyes rounded as she took a few seconds to let his truth sink in. She had lived her entire life with very few people to share her thoughts with. Now Carter was informing her that once they had sex, he would be privy to her deepest thoughts?
“Wait? How does it work? Like, are we talking we can communicate telepathically, or you’re going to know I secretly hated Georgia for six months when she dated my crush?”
Carter opened his mouth and closed it. “You hated your best friend?”
She waved away his silly question. “That’s not the point. Let’s get back to thisif we have sex, we’ll become telepathicthing.”
He sat up and she missed the weight of his body immediately. He was like one of those anxiety blankets. The moment he lay on her, she felt everything would be okay. Vanessa sighed and also brought herself to a sitting position, tucking her legs cross-legged underneath her.
Carter ran a hand down his face. “I don’t know. I’ve never actually asked how it works. When Ryan got kidnapped last year—”
“Whoa! Your brother-in-law got kidnapped? By who?”
Carter chuckled. “He did, and by some crazy demon trying to get to Brandy. Anyhow, when that went down, she was able to use their link and learn he was okay and where to find him.”
“So that sounds like she had to make the connection,” she said. “What about Serena and your brother?”
He snuck a peek at her from the corner of his eyes. “Well,” he said, then cleared his throat. “When Serena was kidnapped—”
Vanessa put a hand on his arm, stopping him. “Whoa, wait a minute. Serena wasalsokidnapped? Let me guess, another demon?”
Carter smirked, and her heart squeezed in the sweetest way. “She was, but no, not a demon. A witch posing as one.”
“Of course, why didn’t I think of that…”
“As I was saying, when Serena was kidnapped, Ethan was able to communicate with her and also figure out her whereabouts.”
“So, if we link up, it will pretty much be useful in the likely scenario one of us pisses off the wrong person and we get kidnapped. Wonderful.” Sarcasm dripped from her words, and she scrubbed her face. “Do you know anything else about it other than it’s useful in captivity?”
