Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 148955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 745(@200wpm)___ 596(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 745(@200wpm)___ 596(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
I go inside and lock the door.
Ivy’s not in the bedroom. I see the door to my old room is slightly open. I find her sitting there on the floor against the wall with the yellow book in her hand.
Her pretty eyes look dull, red-rimmed. And they look more blue than purple right now and I don’t know why, but I find that alarming. Her lower lip protrudes in a pout when she looks up at me from the book.
“The guy wearing the yellow hat set a trap and stole the baby monkey from his life and took him away. He kept him. Maybe that monkey would’ve been better off in the jungle. Maybe the guy with the yellow hat was a monkey thief. How did I ever like this book?”
“Are you saying you think you’re better off without me? Am I the man in the hat?”
“I don’t know what I’m saying.” She puts the book down. “It’s like those old cartoons that we watched as kids, thinking nothing of it and now seeing how racist they were. It’s disappointing. It’s disappointing to think you feel some way about something and then realize you were stupid.”
I sit on the floor in front of her.
“Mason Quinn has your sister,” I say.
Her body jerks in shock and her eyes meet mine.
I swallow. “I could’ve kept that from you hoping to get you to forgive me instead of making you angrier, but I won’t hide things from you. I don’t know much, but she went to Arcana Falls to find you, she somehow knew to look there, and I’ve heard word that Mason left with her.”
“My sister’s wedding is in a couple weeks.”
“Looks like she’s getting married today, instead. Tell me about this witchcraft regarding us.”
Ivy blinks rapidly at nothing, processing this news I just told her, I guess.
Finally, her eyes meet mine.
“My aunt went to a fortune teller, my mom said, when I was a baby and paid money to the witch for some special supernatural happily ever after for me and my sister. I didn’t know about it until yesterday.”
“Seems there’s some mishap at play,” I say. “My mother and Bailey are trying to track down the witches.”
“To have it canceled?” she asks and the hope in her eyes feels like a blade sinking into my chest.
Her expression drops, realizing the effect her words have had, I think.
“To get information. According to typical pack pairings, the first alpha born in the calendar of a council mates first. They seemed to think if the spell was cast against my pack with your family that your sister should have been paired with me and you with…” I can’t even fucking say it.
“Mason,” she finishes for me.
The anger rises in me so quickly that it takes everything to tamp it down.
Her eyes flash with fear and I see my hands, see the fur receding. I half-shifted briefly.
I must learn to control that somehow. It’s never been this out-of-control. Maybe my father’s journals will have some answers. Maybe I can ask a witch what Cornelius would have injected me with so I can give that to Ivy.
“Ivy, I can’t help what I am any more than you can,” I say, using her words from not long after we first met.
Her eyes point to her hands.
She fiddles with her fingers in her lap.
“But I will do everything I can do to fix this between us. I fucked up. I’m sorry. But I’m me. I can’t promise you it’ll never happen again, or I’ll be lying. And I do promise never to lie to you.”
She continues staring at her hands.
“I wanted to come back here and fuck you until you submit to me. Make you come over and over until you know you’re mine.”
She cringes. Physically cringes. This hurts.
I keep talking. “But I’ll give you space instead. I love you, Ivy. I’m very sorry to make you hurt like this. To make you recoil at the idea of me touching you.” I swallow and let out a big breath. “I’ll do my best to be a good mate to you. I changed my mind. I can’t live in that city with the stench and the noise and so much pavement. We can live here, or we can live in Arcana Falls. It’s up to you.”
She says nothing.
“Now, I really need to run, and I also need to … do wolf things. So, I’m gonna go do that. Please stay here. If you leave again, I’ll just have to hunt for you and if I do, I can’t promise I won’t fuck you until you submit. I’m fighting all my instincts right now and believe me, it’s not easy. Obey me, please. Do you know how to reach Catrina?”
“I have Bailey’s number saved,” she says softly. “She sent a text with a bunch of peoples’ numbers.”