Chapter 13
1317 Words
Lisa
Sydney’s face drained of color as her eyes bounced between the two of us.
The fury that had burned so brightly in her expression cracked apart into pure shock. Her mouth opened and closed twice before any sound actually came out.
“What?” she finally whispered.
I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly hyper aware of the state I was in. My hair was a mess, my lips swollen, my dress wrinkled beyond saving. There was absolutely no hiding what had happened in this room.
Rowan leaned casually against the wall beside the door like Sydney hadn’t just caught us in the middle of the exact disaster everyone feared would happen one day.
“Well,” he drawled lightly, “this is awkward.”
Sydney whipped toward him so fast I almost laughed despite the panic clawing at my chest.
“You shut the f**k up right now.”
Rowan lifted his hands slightly in surrender, though the amusement never fully left his face. Lucille practically purred in my mind at the sight of him standing there so calm while everything around us threatened to explode. I shoved her back hard.
This wasn’t funny.
This was catastrophic.
Sydney turned back toward me slowly, her eyes softening immediately. “Lisa…”
Tears burned behind my eyes again and I hated it. I felt like all I had done since meeting Rowan was cry, panic, or completely lose control of myself.
“I know,” I whispered quickly. “I know this was stupid.”
Rowan’s posture immediately stiffened beside the door and Sydney noticed it too.
“No,” Sydney said carefully, stepping closer to me. “I don’t think stupid is the word I would use.”
I laughed weakly. “Really? Because sleeping with the impossible mate I’m not supposed to have feels pretty stupid right now.”
The room went quiet, the bond pulsing painfully in my chest at the words.
Rowan’s jaw tightened slightly, his eyes locking onto mine. “You really regret it that much?”
My stomach twisted because no, that was the problem. I didn’t regret it at all. Not even a little. I regretted the consequences. I regretted the timing. I regretted the fact fate apparently had some sick sense of humor.
But him?
The way he touched me. The way the bond came alive between us. The way he looked at me like I was something precious instead of something dangerous.
No.
I couldn’t regret that.
And judging by the way Rowan’s eyes softened slightly, he must have seen the answer written all over my face.
Sydney sighed heavily beside me. “Okay, first of all, both of you need to calm down before one of you says something dramatic and stupid.”
“I’m perfectly calm,” Rowan answered immediately.
Sydney snorted. “You literally have enough power leaking out right now to make the plants move.”
I looked over automatically and realized the flowers near the wall actually were swaying toward him slightly. My breath caught. I had been around witches my entire life now, but something about his power felt different. Stronger. Wilder. Like it answered to emotion more than control.
Rowan glanced toward the plants and then back to Sydney with a shrug. “I’m trying.”
“You suck at trying,” Sydney muttered.
I rubbed my hands over my face trying to think past the panic still bouncing around my skull. “This can’t happen again.”
Rowan sighed loudly behind me.
“See,” Sydney muttered toward him. “That dramatic s**t is exactly what I was talking about.”
I turned toward Rowan before he could answer. “I’m serious.”
“So am I,” he shot back instantly.
The bond sparked hard enough between us to make my stomach flip.
Sydney looked between the two of us like she was already exhausted. “You guys literally sound married already and you met yesterday.”
“We are not married,” I snapped.
Rowan’s lips twitched. “Not yet.”
“Sydney!” I exclaimed helplessly.
She held both hands up laughing despite herself. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry.”
I groaned, pacing a few steps away before turning back toward them. “You both aren’t understanding how bad this is.”
The humor faded immediately.
“No, we do,” Sydney answered quietly this time. Her green eyes landed on mine seriously. “Lisa, people already barely tolerate hybrids. Lacey only changed things because she saved literally everyone. And even then half the elders still look at her kids like they’re waiting for them to explode one day.”
A cold feeling settled into my stomach because she was right. Lacey was loved, but fear still lingered underneath that love. Rowan and I didn’t have the same protection she did.
“We know,” Sydney continued softly. “But hiding from each other forever probably isn’t going to work either.”
“It has to,” I whispered.
Rowan pushed off the wall finally moving toward me again. Slowly. Carefully. Like he was approaching something fragile.
Maybe I was.
“Little wolf,” he said quietly, “I’m not asking you to decide everything tonight.”
My chest tightened painfully at the softness in his voice.
“But I’m also not going to pretend this bond doesn’t exist just because other people won’t like it.”
“It’s more than not liking it,” I argued. “The council will lose their minds.”
“Probably,” Rowan agreed.
“The coven too.”
“Definitely.”
“And you still think this is workable?” I asked incredulously.
He stepped closer until the sparks danced lightly across my skin again.
“Yes.”
The simple certainty in his voice nearly broke me because I wanted to believe him so badly. I wanted to believe the bond meant enough to survive all of this. But wanting something and reality were two different things.
Sydney suddenly cursed softly under her breath.
“What?” I asked immediately.
Her eyes widened slightly as she looked toward the door. “Lacey.”
Panic shot through me instantly. “What?”
“She’s coming this way.”
“Oh goddess,” I breathed, immediately looking around the room like I could somehow hide the fact that I had very obviously just slept with Rowan.
Sydney burst into laughter.
“This isn’t funny!” I hissed.
“It kind of is.”
Rowan looked far too entertained for someone whose life was also about to implode.
“She cannot know.”
Both of them looked at me.
I blinked. “Okay maybe eventually she can know but not right now.”
“Lisa,” Sydney started carefully.
“No,” I whisper shouted. “She already has enough going on and if she finds out right now she’s going to stress herself out trying to protect us and then she will absolutely start fighting with the elders before we even know what we’re doing!”
Honestly, that part was true. Lacey would burn the entire council to the ground for people she loved, and Rowan and I barely even understood what this was yet.
A knock sounded at the door.
Every muscle in my body locked.
“Lisa?” Lacey called softly from the other side. “Sydney? Are you guys in there?”
Sydney slapped a hand over her mouth trying not to laugh.
Traitor.
Rowan looked down at me, entirely too calm for the situation we were in. Then, before I could stop him, he leaned down close to my ear.
“You smell like me,” he whispered.
Heat exploded across my entire face.
My eyes widened in horror just as another knock sounded on the door.
“Guys?” Lacey questioned again, sounding much more suspicious now.
- Writer
