Page 28 of Outcast
"Well, well, well. Look at you guys already playing house together. How damn adorable."
Milo and Seth moved towards him, but my voice rang out with authority, "No. I’ll handle this.”
Apparently I was a comedian, because Jameson bellowed with laughter, doubling over and slapping his knee. “You got some dick and all of a sudden you possess a backbone? That’s fucking hilarious.”
I fell into a trancelike state, and my wolf and I became one in our energy and emotions. We were furious that the man before us could speak so disrespectfully of the soulmate he was destined for.
It was a slap in the face to us and the goddess, and to all of those who would give up everything to find their fated mate but had yet to.
He straightened as I approached him without even an ounce of fear, not stopping until mere inches separated us. Glancing up into his brilliant blue eyes, I spoke with an air of confidence, "I'll make this extremely simple for you. You can answer with a yes or a no to my questions."
A scoff was his flippant answer as I plowed on. "Do you want this bond between us?"
Perhaps my straight-to-the-point attitude shocked him, because he looked bewildered for a few moments. Then his lips tightened into a thin line. "No."
I’d known that was coming, so I didn't let my anger show.
"Will you ever be able to forgive me for whatever you so adamantly despise about me?"
His eyebrows raised, "Never."
"Then get the fuck out," was my final statement for him before I turned on my heel to go to the kitchen to eat. Before I could get far, his hand wrapped around my arm to halt me, and it lit a fire within me at his audacity to think he had the right.
My heart raced frantically, and my vision went hazy as I felt my blood pressure rising.
He needed to learn that he wasn't the king of the world, and I'd gladly be the one to smack him off his self-appointed pedestal.
Something in me broke, and my body felt weightless as my vision shifted to one of greyscale. It didn't even cross my mind to question why this changed, my attention focused solely on knocking Jameson down a few pegs. Everything around me seemed to suddenly move in slow motion as I spun to the right and out of his grip to face him, gasping at the glowing blue flame I saw in the center of his chest.
His mouth was moving at a fraction of the speed, and his gaze was still where I would have been a moment before. Looking quickly to Seth and Milo, I hastily noted the same blue flame within them, but it burned brighter and with a pure white core.
Looking back to Jameson, I noted trails of black woven into the flames. All of this reminded me of the flames in Selene's realm, and I reached out to touch the ones within him. I felt drawn to them.
Were these their souls?
As my fingers passed through what should have been solid flesh and bones, at the faintest caress of his inner flame, my mind swirled with a mess of memories and emotions.
Hundreds of them assaulted me at once, and I had a hard time making any sense of them. Overwhelming guilt and sorrow stood out to me the most. The emotions hit me in the chest like a semi, shaking me to my core.
Was this what he carried around within him all the time?
The sheer force of it threatened to consume me, and a part of me softened towards him despite his treatment of me. He was struggling, but instead of finding a way through it, he was wallowing in it and lashing out.
His emotions turned as one memory stuck out to me. It was one of me in the fields, sitting on my knees and gathering flowers to make bouquets for centerpieces for our banquet tables. It had only been a few months ago, and I was dressed in a simple sundress with my hair in a braid down my back.
Desire and anger twined together for this particular memory. A longing for me, and then immense hatred at himself for feeling that way. He had stayed to observe me for quite some time, despite the emotional war waging within himself.
The next memory was one of Jameson just last night as he shifted back from his wolf form for the first time. He had been thrilled and nervous to have found his fated mate, but had felt like he would be overshadowed by the other two. This was before he found out it was me.
He harbored a deep feeling of inadequacy and fear of not being enough for his mate.
Dammit, what was going on? What was this?
I felt my soul sucked back into my body like a rubber band snapping back, and it was jarring to say the least. A wave of dizziness hit me, and I wobbled a bit on my feet. The arms that held me up were the last that I expected to reach out to me.
His pine scent grounded me, bringing me back to reality, and I held my arms out, "I'm good."
He backed off with disgust on his face, like he had just touched the plague. Meanwhile Seth and Milo came to my sides, twin looks of concern mirrored on their faces.
