16
Sonya
One Month Later
The moon was full, casting long shadows across the desert as I traveled to him.
I spent a month waiting for the curse to trigger.
Four weeks later, nothing.
I was starting to believe it was just a myth.
Until tonight.
After I shifted to wolf form and healed myself in Vincent’s hotel room last month, I used all my strength to take on my human form again, and I left town. Stopping only for food and gas, I had driven all night and most of the morning to get to Rock Springs. I found the first motel in town, checked in, and slept for almost twenty-four hours straight before starting the first day of my job transfer.
Twenty-nine days after I was bound to Vincent, a full moon rose into the sky and sealed our fates.
It was the Thanksgiving long weekend, the first weekend that I was back in my hometown of Red Ridge, Arizona. I visited my pack on our clubhouse grounds on the holiday, and spend the rest of the time with Angel. On Black Friday, we went shopping for deals to decorate the cabin she and Axe shared on the Beartooth Brotherhood clubhouse grounds. We spent all of Saturday unpacking boxes and organizing while catching up. On Sunday, we relaxed. I had taken the Monday off as a vacation day, so my plan was to get to bed early Sunday night and leave at first light for my eight-hour trip back home.
As soon as the full moon came out on Sunday night, everything changed.
It felt like someone had tied an invisible tether tight around my chest, and had tugged on it sharply, wrenching my body out of Angel’s house, into my car and on the road towards Vegas. I had no idea where I was going, but when I got close to the first off-ramp in Mesquite, Nevada, the unseen rope gave another violent jerk and forced me off the highway. I continued this way, turning along the side roads to appease the invisible force demanding my presence.
The unknown pull made me stop at the high wrought-iron gates of a modern, sprawling mansion set against a steep embankment of rock-faced mountains. The top of each side of the gates had the initials ‘VB’.
Vincent Belmont.
Pressing the intercom outside the gate, I announced myself. The voice on the other end calmly instructed me to drive up to the front door of the main house. Vincent stood in the doorway when I drove up and got out of the car.
“Hello Sonya. I’ve been expecting you.”
“I had to see you,” I whispered. It didn’t even sound like my voice.
He nodded. “Come in and warm up. Look at you. You’re shaking like a leaf.”
“That’s because whatever it was that drew me to you, it had no goddamned patience.” I followed him inside, barely registering the massive foyer, wide halls, the multi-story vaulted ceilings, and archways everywhere as he led me to a sitting room where the fireplace was already on. I closed in on the crisp heat.
“Here. Sit.”
“I’ve never felt anything like this,” I told him, taking the armchair closest to the fireplace.
“Would you like something to drink?” he asked.
“No thanks.”
He sat on the sofa across from me. “How are you feeling?”
“I don’t know.” Rising from my chair, I went to him. “I’ve missed you.”
Vincent stood up, and ran his hands down my arms. He lowered his mouth to mine, seeming to wait for me to close the rest of the distance. I pressed my open palms against his chest, and he lifted my chin, delivering a heated kiss on my lips as though he’d been waiting all month for this. Or maybe that was me. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around his neck. I didn’t understand why, but I tilted my head to one side exposing my neck to him. Slowly, he moved from my lips, trailing kisses down to my collarbone.
“I’ve missed you too,” he said, sniffing the skin in the spot where he had bitten me a month ago. I let out a sigh when he nipped the spot with his lips, and gripped his shoulders in anticipation.
Leaning forward, he extended a hand behind my knee and lifted me into his arms. He moved swiftly through the main floor, navigating the stairs with ease until we were in his bedroom. He teased the same spot after he spread me out on his bed and stretched out beside me. It was strange. I wanted him to feed from me.
He didn’t, but pulled me in close against his chest. I whispered his name, and he took my cheeks in his palms and stared into my eyes. “We’ll get through this together. I promise.”