Chapter 21

The clock on the microwave ticked off another minute, and I glared at it as if I could make time stop. Or speed up. At this point, I didn’t know which would put me out of my misery. I rubbed my hands over my face. Chloe, Trent, and the girls were sound asleep in their respective rooms. Piper was in the guest room a few feet from where I sat on the couch.

Sophie was staying in Isach and Abby’s room for the time being. Those two had gotten a room at the Inn tonight so they could have privacy. Piper’s other two sisters—Peyton and Sabella—had headed back to New Orleans as soon as the wedding was over, stating they had “business to attend to.” Despite my hints, Piper hadn’t offered any explanations about whatever business they had to deal with. In the grand scheme of things, that was the least of my worries.

My mind replayed Piper’s confession from earlier. She’d admitted to missing me and thinking of me the past six months we’d been apart. That was more than I had hoped for, but now I wanted more. I wanted her to acknowledge that I was her soulmate, too. That she couldn’t bear to be apart from me ever again. Though I had a sinking feeling those were words I’d never hear from her.

I stood and wandered into the kitchen, though I had no idea why. I wasn’t hungry or thirsty, not for human things anyway. Retrieving my phone, I pulled up Colt’s name and opened a new message. Not that I needed my brother to tag along, but we’d all made a promise to Dad that we’d never hunt alone.

Me: you up?

Colt: yup Me: I need to hunt. wanna go?

Colt: be there in 5.

Maybe hunting something bigger and meaner than me would help ease my restlessness and give me some clarity about my current predicament. Piper had missed me, and her actions proved she wanted to be near me, yet her nearness came with conditions. What kind of girl asked a guy not to kiss her on the lips? Of all the requests she could’ve made, that had to be the oddest one. There was a reason—one she wasn’t willing to share with me yet—but it had to be something related to what she was, to who she was. Right?

I put my shoes on, turned my cell phone volume to vibrate, then slipped it into my pocket before quietly leaving the house. When I stepped off the porch, Colt appeared from the tree line. I joined him.

“You look like hell,” he said.

“I feel like hell,” I admitted. “C’mon. Let’s do this.”

I bounced on the balls of my feet, then took off in a flash. Colt was steps behind me. Cold air whipped across my face and through my hair. I pushed myself harder and faster until I was moving on pure instinct, and my thoughts were blissfully silent. Somewhere to my left, a twig snapped. I froze.

Colt came to a sudden stop beside me. He gave me a curt nod, and then we both took off again. Him to the right, me to the left, and we met on opposite sides of a herd of deer that had congregated for winter. I slowly circled the animals, careful to stay downwind so they couldn’t catch my scent.

Adrenaline spiked in my veins, my vision narrowed in on my prey—the largest buck in the group—and my fangs broke free from my gums. As soon as I lunged at him, the rest of the herd scattered. I barely noticed Colt snagging one of the other spooked deer. My focus was on my own food.

I jumped and attempted to grab his thick neck, but he bucked, and his antler sliced across my stomach and speared my side. I howled with pain and snapped his antler off so I could dislodge it from my body. Now I was pissed. I lunged again, and this time, I didn’t miss.

***

The walk back Trent and Chloe’s was mostly silent as I stewed over the fact that I’d been injured by a deer. I couldn’t remember the last time an animal had gotten the better of me. Clearly, I was off my game, and for a being like me, that was dangerous.

“I’m seeing the waitress tomorrow night,” Colt said.

“No shit.” I laughed. “Good for you. Wait. What about Whitney? Don’t you two have a thing?”

Colt shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. “We help each other scratch itches when we need it, but that’s about it. Things with Whitney were never serious.”

I nodded, my mind drifting to thoughts of Piper. She’d gotten under my skin so fast I hadn’t even seen it coming, and now that she was there, I couldn’t imagine her leaving. But she would. I knew she would—I didn’t know how I was so certain of that fact, but I was. It was just an undeniable piece of knowledge I possessed.

“I doubt the waitress will be any different. She’ll be a fun distraction,” Colt said.

“Why do you say that?”

“I don’t know.” He sighed. “Trying to get involved with a human just seems like a shit ton of work with a very small return.”

Colt hadn’t lived a vampire existence as long as Trent and I had, nor had Colt grown into vampirism with us—through his own choices—and we’d only just reconnected with him a year or so ago, but in that time, I’d learned a few things about my long-lost brother.

He generally didn’t say much about anything. He almost never openly shared his feelings. And, like me, he resorted to humor to deal with difficult situations. So, the fact that he was now sharing these things with me had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on edge.

I stopped and grabbed his arm. “What’s going on with you tonight?”

“That damn wedding,” he grumbled. “First Trent. Now Isach. And we all know you’re going to be next.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t count on that.” I dropped my hold on his arm. “She’s not exactly making any of this easy on me.” And that was the understatement of the century.

“Yeah, well, either way, all of this love and marriage and family shit has gotten in my head.”

I frowned. I knew how he felt, but I couldn’t give him a single piece of useful advice because I hadn’t figured it out yet, either.

“Wyatt and I are talking about taking off for a while.”

Wyatt had suggested the same thing to me about six months ago, said the three of us should take a vacation after dealing with Ivy. We hadn’t left, but clearly Wyatt wasn’t giving up on the idea.

Stopping once again, I stared at my brother. He was really starting to worry me now.

“Taking off to where?”

He shrugged. “Wherever we feel like going.”

“When?”

Another shrug. I was tempted to break his shoulders so he couldn’t answer me with anymore shrugs. Blowing out a breath, I dragged my hand through my hair. The movement caused my blood-soaked T-shirt to lift, the fabric sticking and peeling from my flesh. A trickle of fresh blood oozed from where I’d been stabbed. For some reason, that wound wasn’t healing as fast as it should.

My skin crawled with aggravation, for so many reasons. My family. My soulmate. Life in general…

I was happy for Trent and Chloe, I truly was, but the only time I saw my brother lately was when I invited myself to sleep on his couch, and I didn’t do that very often because I was tired of inadvertently hearing them having sex. Colt and Wyatt had become thicker than thieves while I’d been in New Orleans with Abby, and now I just felt like a third wheel with them. And then, of course, there was Piper.

I scowled. “Well, you fuckers better say goodbye before you leave.”

I stepped out of the woods, and the cabin loomed in front of me. I stalked toward the back porch, leaving Colt to do whatever the hell he wanted. Was he really going to take off? If he and Wyatt did take off, and Piper chose to leave, too, what did that mean for me? I shook my head with disgust and jerked open the sliding doors so hard the glass rattled.

“Shit,” I mumbled and closed the door a lot quieter so as not to wake the twins. When I turned around, I came face to face with Piper.

She stood, arms crossed, and glared at me like a pissed off girlfriend. I couldn’t have hidden my smile even if I wanted to.

Her gaze dropped, and her eyes widened. “Is that your blood?” She took several steps toward me. “Are you okay? What happened?”

Her immediate concern shocked me to my core, and all I could do was stand there and stare at her for several long moments. Finally, I shook myself out of my daze and said, “Yes.”

“Yes?” She tilted her head slightly and leaned forward as if waiting for a better answer. When I didn’t give one, she said, “Yes what? Yes it’s your blood? Yes you’re okay?”

“Yes, it’s my blood, and I’m fine. My food decided to bite back tonight.” I still couldn’t believe I’d taken a deer antler to the side.

Piper took a startled step back. “Is that a joke?”

“Does it look like a joke?” I waved my hands down the length of my torso.

“Do I even want to know?”

“Probably not.”

She sighed and pointed at the stools in front of the island counter. “Sit.”

I narrowed my eyes. Too many questions rushed to the tip of my tongue, but I bit back every one of them, deciding instead to see where she was taking this. Gaze locked on hers, I walked to the stool and sat.

Piper moved to the sink, grabbed a clean cloth, and wet it. “Take your shirt off.”

So far, I liked where this was going. I flashed her a grin before slowly peeling my shirt off and dropping it to the floor. She sucked in a sharp breath as she admired me in all my bare-chested glory. Of course, she was probably more shocked about all the dried blood coating my skin rather than the sight of me without a shirt. Right now, I’d take whatever I could get.

She cleared her throat and approached. “Lean back, please.” Her voice wavered the tiniest bit.

Propping my elbows on the counter, I leaned back, offering her a better view of my now almost non-existent injuries. Without looking at my face, she gently pressed the cloth to my stomach and washed the blood off. And she did one hell of a job ensuring her skin never once came into contact with mine; the cloth was a constant barrier between us.

Until she turned halfway and tossed it into the sink. “Lift your arm,” she instructed.

I raised my left arm.

“You’re not arguing with me,” she said.

“Would you like me to?”

“You normally do.” She leaned down to get a closer look at my side, and I momentarily closed my eyes, inhaling her sweet, floral scent. “The fact you’re not makes me a little nervous.”

Tenderly, she touched the spot where I’d been stabbed, and I flinched.

She sliced a look at me, but she didn’t remove her hand. “I thought vampires were supposed to heal fast.”

“We do.”

“I think we have different definitions of fast.” Flattening her palm, warmth spread through me, and when she finally pulled her hand away, the wound had vanished.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“A healing spell. You’re welcome.” And there was that snark I loved so damn much.

“Thank you.”

She nodded. Neither of us moved. I knew why I wasn’t—because I didn’t want this moment to end—but why wasn’t she?

I shifted on the stool and straightened. “Why are you up so late anyway?”

“I couldn’t sleep, so I came out here to get a drink and noticed you weren’t on the couch.”

“And you decided to wait up for me?” My lips twitched with a barely restrained grin. “You better be careful, Piper. I’m starting to think you might actually care about me.”

She rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh. “You really should be more careful. I might not be here next time to heal you.”

I cringed at her choice of words, and if the way her mouth formed a shocked “o” was any indication, she realized a few seconds too late what she’d said.

“I just meant…” She stood between my parted legs and directed her attention back to my side, but this time, she trailed her fingertips over my ribs and across my stomach.

Her touch turned my blood to liquid fire, and then she struck the match. My veins blazed, my flesh burned, my heart jackhammered, and my chest seized with my inability to take a breath that wasn’t tainted with the scent of the one thing I wanted above all else—her—the one thing that wasn’t mine to take. Yet. There was no stopping the guttural groan that tore from my chest as I grabbed her ass and lifted her from her feet.

In one fluid motion, I spun her around and set her on top of the counter. My lips damn near crashed down over hers in a kiss that I was determined would drag her straight into the fire with me, but I caught myself—barely—before I did the only thing she’d asked me not to do. I planted my hands flat on the counter and fought with every ounce of strength I possessed to stay on the right side of the bloodlust tearing through me. My entire body was coiled tight, my muscles aching with the effort of controlling my urges.

So, I did the next best thing. I nipped at her jaw and kissed along the delicate edge until my nose was nuzzled right below her ear in that sweet, soft, warm spot. Tilting her head to give me better access, she let out a needy moan. I was pretty sure my brain exploded because I could not think straight to save my life. And then she tangled her fingers in my hair and held my face against her neck, as if she were worried I’d stop. If anything, she should be worried that I wouldn’t be able to stop.

I dragged my mouth down the column of her neck and up her throat. The way her pulse raced spurred me on, and the way she trembled served as an ultimate tease of all the other reactions I knew I could coax out of her if she’d only give me the chance. Clutching her waist, I yanked her to the edge of the counter, and she hooked her legs around my waist, using the hold to jerk me closer.

As if that wasn’t enough to send me over the cliff, she firmly shoved against my chest until I stopped teasing her neck. With a hungry gaze that I was sure rivaled my own, she licked her lips and coursed her hands down my chest, across my abs, and around to my back. I flexed my fingers on her waist and shifted on my feet, adjusting my stance to accommodate the growing bulge between my legs.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she leaned forward and pressed her mouth to my chest, showering me with tiny, heated kisses that had me fighting back a full body tremor. I failed. Miserably. And I didn’t give a single fuck because this amazing woman—my soulmate—was touching me. Kissing me. Showing me that she wanted me.

I swear to fucking God if this is all just a dream…

Despite how incredible her lips felt on my skin, I couldn’t take another second of it. I took her face into my hands and peered into her dark, lust-filled eyes, and I ran the pad of my thumb across her plump, rosy-red lips. What I wouldn’t do for a kiss. Just one. A tiny little taste to satisfy my craving.

“Jax.” She uttered my name like it was her own personal prayer, and her eyes fluttered closed. “Please…” Fear and pleading mixed in her tone, creating a deadly cocktail that had the power to bring me to my knees.

“I won’t,” I promised, swallowing around the lump in my throat. And that was the hardest promise I’d ever made in my entire existence.