Chapter 90 – Our Love is on Hold

TERESA.

I couldn’t believe what my ears were hearing. This discussion was about me and I wasn’t present. How can I believe such a thing? How can I believe that Erik Von Hagen had the soul to abandon me on a beach, saying that he was going to bring my mother?

Time erased the faces of the two from my mind, but it had never erased the pain and loneliness I experienced in my soul. My adoptive parents, although they loved me enormously, could never fill that void left by a father who abandoned me and a mother who died before I could enjoy her.

Everyone looked at me in amazement. Erik was the most marked. He could not move, although I could see that he wanted to take a few steps towards me.

“Teresa, my dear, why did you get out of bed?” Thea cried, coming towards me.

I could really see the worry on her face, especially since I was holding on to my hip so I could stay on my feet. She really was the only one worried. “Oh God, at least let me help you sit down. The wounds that haven’t healed yet will open.”

“I’m fine, thank you! Both Erik and Bash have a lot to explain. I believe nothing I’ve heard,” I yelled so that everyone could hear me.

Whenever I grimaced, it showed the immense pain I was experiencing.

“Teresa…” Erik tried to get closer to me, but instinctively, I took a step back.

“Don’t come near me. Stay right where you are! You have no right to claim to be my father. My father wouldn’t have abandoned me!” I shouted as long as the air in my lungs held at this man standing in front of me, in pain, his face twisted by my painful words.

But I did not care. No one was in my shoes when I was five and left alone and helpless in the care of unknown people. Weren’t the feelings of that child considered?

“Teresa, calm down…!” Sebastian intervened.

The only one I really didn’t want to argue with.

“Are you the one asking me to calm down? It was you who ignored my suffering and clung to a story from my past and with which you slowly destroyed me. It was you who didn’t care if I would agree or disagree with all your decisions and now that I find out that behind all these atrocities is none other than your great-grandmother, you have returned to better feelings and thought to save me from her immeasurable anger.” I cried out in pain.

I was so enraged that with every step I took towards him, Bash retreated further back. My entire body ached and my soul and heart were so sore from so many lies. And they came from all over, without mercy.

“Teresa, please listen to me...” he tried for the last time but with no result.

I went out to the garden. Everyone followed me with their eyes. But Thea was the one who stopped Bash from following me, even though I knew it wouldn’t be long and he would come after me.

Outside, Liam was patrolling with all the werewolves near the mansion. The air felt thick and oppressive, as though a weight was pressing down on everything, leaving me feeling uneasy. Liam looked at me and continued on his way. He probably wanted me to know that I was safe.

I walked a little in the garden where the flowers had bloomed so beautifully. Too bad I couldn’t enjoy their beauty. The pain and my soul turned to shreds did not allow me.

I couldn’t gather myself at all. Lettice made me suffer both physically and mentally. My thoughts were so affected that it hurt. I tried to detach myself from all this, but I didn’t succeed.

There was too much suffering. Too many people in my life have hurt me. I wasn’t the type to burst like that. That’s why I wanted to come here, to calm down.

I was so lost in my mind that I did not hear the steps approaching, but as I thought earlier, I knew he would finally come after me. I didn’t even look at him.

My eyes, bathed in bitter tears and everything I had experienced until a few minutes ago, pressed me even harder with Bash’s arrival. His presence took me out of my rhythm.

I was no longer judging clearly. He had this gift of disarming me. Maybe he was wrong, but he trampled on my being so hard that it was so hard for me to get over it.

The moment he sat down next to me, his smell drove me crazy and I felt such a strong connection between us, the same bond that I didn’t believe in. I was trembling with desire for this man and no matter how hard I tried to keep him at a distance; I got even closer to him.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, at last, breaking this silence that shook me and made me feel uncomfortable.

Anything related to him took me out of the ordinary.

“The question is, what are you doing here?”

Agh, how I hated his audacity! To answer my question with another question. I could feel him catching fire around him. My body stiffened as he slowly placed his warm palm on my thigh.

The thrills and memories of the days when I was with him came back to my mind, unfolding quickly. All that lust and thirst for him spilled over me like an avalanche, and it was so hard for me to not jump on his neck and give myself to him.

He moved his gaze all over my body, who was waking up to life under his fiery look. My jerky breathing once again betrayed my feelings for him. If I didn’t care, I shouldn’t have reacted in any way.

His gesture stunned me. I was expecting it though, but I didn’t expect it to affect me that much. I noticed his muscles twitching in contact with me, and his perfect mouth arched slightly into a smile. “Okay, it’s good to keep quiet! Only your silence hurts me, baby.”

He suddenly turned to me and clasped my palms in his hands.

I was so close that I sank into his eyes, into the deep blue of his soul. I didn’t want to read his thoughts. My desire was to find a love that was genuine, with no expectations.

Besides, I didn’t even need to read his mind. I could see all the love reflected in his hypnotic gaze. Now I realize how empty my life was without him.

His next move boiled my blood. He caressed the wounds on my face, gently, lightly, without haste. I did not hesitate for a moment; I did not move an inch. While savoring on his warm breath, I meticulously examined every grimace on his face. My heart was beating in perfect harmony with his.

Then his palm moved up and down my cheek, causing me to close my eyes. I was daydreaming. He got even closer, his thigh brushing me slightly, and a million chills ran through me.

My heart was overflowing with love for this man and I found myself in a situation where I didn't know how to handle my emotions. I closed myself in for so long, and now everything seemed new.

The attraction between us was like for the first time. It was as if released from a cage, like a captive bird that was now regaining its freedom.

His soft lips gently touched mine. His thirst drove me crazy, but he tempered me slightly, still stroking my cheek, running his fingers over my lips. I felt him in every pore and I responded to him with an insatiable passion, although he took things slowly.

He moved away from me a little for a gasp of air, being the right moment to see the lust in my eyes. I read the same in his eyes, which shone with what fantasies he was thinking now.

He approached again, only this time his kiss being more hungry, even desperate, biting my lips slightly and leaving me breathless. At one point, he rested his forehead on mine, looking at me so closely.

His minty fresh breath was driving me insane, so I opened myself once again to have one more taste of those lustful lips. But then he stopped me.

He stared at me intensely, as if to understand what was happening in my heart. He didn’t want to read my thoughts either, nor did he have to do it to know how much I loved him.

“Teresa, please believe me when I say that I had no intention of causing you pain and I am speaking from my heart.”

I knew that such a speech would begin after seconds of intense pleasure. But what was I to answer? No matter how indestructible this connection was, I could not afford to hurt my heart like that. That wasn’t me.

“And yet you did it, intentionally or not, but you did it! Bash…” I continued, swallowing a few tears and sighs. “... I can only be grateful to you for endangering your life and the one of your packs to take me out of there, from a slow but sure death. “

He already frowned and looked at me, puzzled and thoughtful.

“Gratitude? And where is our love? Our oaths, Teresa? Are we ... What about us?” I could feel the pain in his voice. But Bash would have to work hard to get the old Teresa back.

“Our love is on hold, Bash ... on hold!”