“Why wouldn’t she want you to mark her?” Isabella asked after I remained quiet.
I shrugged my shoulders. “She said that she was not ready for it. She was okay with the marriage, she said that it was her way of proving to me that she wanted to be with me and that she wasn’t going anywhere. Even though I wanted to mark her, I didn’t push her. I thought that there wasn’t a need to rush anything since she was already by my side every day.”
My head hurt at the reminder. If I had listened to my instincts and marked her, maybe she would still be alive today, I probably would have gotten to her faster because of the bonded link … But that would also mean that I might have never met Isabella.
I gazed at her again.
If I was ever given a choice, a choice that gave me the option to choose whether I would want a chance to have Maggie back into my life again but in turn lose Isabella or keep Isabella and forget about Maggie. Would I do it? Would I take that chance and lose the woman next to me right now?
Everything hurt at that thought and I pushed it out of my head before I lost my mind. Thankfully I wasn’t in such a difficult position, Maggie was gone but Isabella was still next to me. Her safety was important to me; I would live my last breath protecting her.
“So that means you and Maggie were never officially bonded?”
I nodded and refocused on the road once more. “no. We were never officially mated. We were never given the opportunity to have the joining ritual.”
My mind went back to the day that I lost her. I always tried to push it behind me. I hated to bring it up. It was easier to lock something behind closed doors and try to forget about it. now I was opening the locks so that I could somehow open up to Isabella.
I wasn’t sure that it was a good idea however. Once I reopened those old wounds, I didn’t think that I would be able to close it back again.
“Maggie and I had an argument over my sister. Esma and I have always been close after the death of my parents. We were all each other had. As such, I always kept close to her no matter what. When I married Maggie, that didn’t change. I would be there for my sister whenever she needed me. That day she asked for my help with a ranch for her horses, Maggie was angry that I was going to help her again. I had already told Esma that I would be there and I didn’t want to disappoint her. So I left after promising Maggie that I would take her out for dinner when I got back to make up for it. She didn’t want to hear me.” I felt like I was choking on the words with each memory of the past. “I got a mind link that day from Dane; he informed me that Maggie had been taken. I looked everywhere for her but because we weren’t officially bonded, it wasn’t as easy as it should have been to find her. When I finally did find her, she was … She was-“
I couldn’t continue. The image of Maggie motionless on the ground with her b***d smeared all over body was too much for me. I pulled to the side, unable to control myself anymore. I held my head and tried to get the image out of my head. I couldn’t take it. It was too painful, I didn’t want to remember, and I wanted the pain to go away.
My body stiffened when I felt Isabella reach across and climb onto lap. I held perfectly still as she cradled my head between her breasts. I closed my eyes and inhaled her sweet scent.
“Shh, you don’t need to say anymore. Let’s not talk about it again.” She whispered as she ran her hands through my hair.
Slowly my body began to calm down. Isabella was like a miracle in a bottle. I had no idea how she was able to return my body to normal.
I slowly lifted my head and gazed at her beautiful face. My breath hitched when I saw the teary glassy texture of her eyes. When the first tear rolled down her cheek I leaned forward and gently pressed my lips against it.
Her back arched towards me and I wanted to do so much more than just k**s her cheek.
I leaned my face closer to her ear and let my warm breath touch her skin. “Thank you.” I whispered. I felt raw need take over my body the moment I felt her shiver in my arms.
Her scent was beginning to affect me again and just like always my body was starting to respond to her soft luscious curves. If I didn’t move her away from me now, I would not be able to stop myself from claiming her here in the middle of nowhere.
I gently pulled away and guided her back to her seat. “I need to get you home safely.” I told her before pulling back into the road.
Isabella and I didn’t talk for the rest of the ride and I was grateful for that. It gave me time to think about everything. I wasn’t willing to keep her away from me anymore. Instead, I wanted to slowly allow myself to accept her and treat her the way that she was supposed to be treated the moment I married her.
When I pulled up to the house, Bruce was waiting right outside my front door. The moment I saw the frantic look on his face, I unbuckled the seat belt and turned to Isabella. “Don’t come out unless I tell you to.”
She nodded and I didn’t waste a second getting out of the vehicle and rushing to his side.
“Is there something wrong?” I asked Bruce.
He dug his hands into his jeans and looked around us frantically. “I need to tell you something and I’m not sure how you’re going to react to it.”
I tensed at his words. I’ve never seen him so worked up before.
He swallowed and looked me straight in the eye. “I think I saw Maggie … And she didn’t look like someone who should be dead.”
***HUnTER***
Bruce’s words took its time to register in my mind but when they finally did, my body took its sweet time to recover from the shock of it. There was this tremor within me followed by panic and confusion.
There was no way that I’d heard him right. I was absolutely sure that he hadn’t just said to me that Maggie, my supposedly dead wife was indeed alive. Well he didn’t say it in those exact words but he was definitely implying it.
“Do you know what you’re saying?” I asked him after finding my voice again. “You’re trying to tell me that you saw my DEAD wife and she was seen alive and breathing?”
Bruce kept a straight face; in fact, he didn’t even wince at my tone. It only made this entire thing all the more difficult to believe.
“Do you hear how insane that sounds?” I demanded when he refused to say anything else.
I waited for him to finally speak again. I needed him to confirm this for me; I couldn’t accept it so easily.
He sighed and rubbed his face before staring me straight in the eyes. There was so much emotion in his gaze that I couldn’t do anything but believe that he was speaking the truth even though how crazy that sounded. “You don’t think that I know that?” He asked me. “I thought about this many times before I decided to come and tell you what I saw. I knew that this was a sensitive topic; I knew that it was unbelievable. I also knew that I couldn’t bring this up unless I was sure of what I’d seen. There was nothing different about this woman, everything about her screamed Maggie. She shared all of the qualities that she once had … even that small scar in her forehead that she always had. I know this sounds crazy but you know me well, I wouldn’t bring this up unless it was serious and unless I knew that you would want me to tell you.”
I tried to keep a straight face but his words completely crumbled me. I didn’t know what to feel with this information.
for one, I was extremely confused. Maggie was dead. I saw her with my own eyes. My sister held a funeral for her … One I did not attend. I wasn’t the only one that saw her dead body. Then how could Bruce stand here and tell me that he saw the woman that’s been haunting me for years completely alive and well?
Then there was also Isabella. How would she feel if she knew that there was a chance that Maggie was alive? I could feel her eyes on me even though she was still seated in the vehicle and situated very far from me. I didn’t want her to see me like this. If she did, she would ask questions and I didn’t know if I’d be able to answer them.
Bruce touched my shoulder, reminding me that he was in front of me.
More Kickass Werewolf Reads
Dive into our collection of free werewolf romance novels—where fierce Alphas, daring heroines, and heart-stopping twists await. Every story burns with forbidden desire, loyalty, and destiny. Don’t wait—here’s a world where love bites hard and nothing is stronger than the call of the mate.
Leave a Reply