Chapter 17
I would travel through time and space and distance to get back to her.
“Penelope.”
My head snaps up at the sound of Sanders’ voice.
Impossible.
He just disappeared. I saw it. He was there and then he wasn’t. And now he is.
I jump up and rush toward him, knowing I won’t believe it’s real until I can feel him. I slam into a hard body. Sanders lifts me up, twirling me as I wrap my legs around his torso.
“How—I-I don’t understand!”
I’m sobbing again. Well, still. I haven’t stopped since Sanders disappeared. I knew it was the right thing to do, to allow him to find the peace he’s been seeking for centuries, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.
“I am here,” he soothes. “I am not going anywhere.”
His hand caresses the back of my head, a strong grip coming to the nape of my neck to encourage me to look at him. When I do, I can’t help but kiss him. All over his very real, very corporeal face.
“I thought I’d never see you again!” I exclaim between kisses. “I don’t understand how you’re here.”
“Let us go home and I can explain everything to you.”
Home.
Mine. And now his, if he wants it.
I barely detach myself from Sanders the entire walk home. I’m not sure if I ever will, to be honest. There was such a visceral heartbreak that occurred the second he left me, it will take time for my body to realize that he’s real.
That he’s here.
When I attempt to let us back into the apartment, my hands are shaking so bad that Sanders has to take the key from me.
Once we are inside, his large hand envelopes mine and he drags me to the kitchen.
With ease, he lifts me onto the counter, stepping between my legs so he can part my lips with his own.
His tongue finds mine, teasing and exploring. I could stay like this for eternity. Maybe I will stay like this for eternity.
Except Sanders pulls back. “You are hungry.”
I’m wha—my stomach growls as if on cue.
“How did you know that?”
His hand comes over my heart, a small smile curving his lips. “You accepted the bond.”
Did I? I close my eyes, looking for that thread inside of me.
And—he’s right. I hadn’t even realized, but as soon as Sanders came back, it snapped into place.
The frustrating tug is gone, and instead I can follow a golden light from my heart all the way to Sanders’.
Now that I know what it is, there’s an overwhelming number of feelings that inundate me.
Relief, lingering heartbreak, love, and, of course, hunger. A mixture of his and mine.
He plants another kiss on my forehead before taking out two bowls and pouring both Reese’s Puffs and Cinnamon Toast Crunch into each, topping them with almond milk. Handing me one, he commands, “Eat. You will need your energy.”
“My ener—oh!” I feel the lust down our bond and suddenly know exactly what he’s talking about. “Naughty.”
“I have several centuries of making up to do.” He smirks.
“And we will,” I promise. “But first I want to know what happened when you left.”
He finishes his bite of cereal and then sets the bowl down. So this must be serious.
“Did you know your family lineage traces back to medieval England?”
I gasp, both hands covering my mouth. “What do you mean?”
“Somewhere many generations back, you are related to one Victoria Graves,” he continues.
“It was not incredibly common to have what you would refer to as a doctor or a nurse on the battlefield, but that day she was there with us offering help to the wounded. I had completely forgotten about her as the decades passed—I was in such a haze in my final days, there is not much that I did remember.”
“Victoria… that is a family name. We haven’t used it in a few generations, though.”
He looks at me, tucking a piece of wild hair behind my ear.
“Well, this Victoria looked a lot like you, from a distance at least. When I first came upon her, I could not see her face, and I had a fleeting thought that you had somehow followed me. When she turned around it was obviously not you, but… she is the one who cursed me all of those years ago.”
“What?” I ask, incredulously. “Why would she do such a thing? Is that why our magic has been diluted? She used it in a way she wasn’t supposed to?”
“We did not get that far.” He chuckles. “And I am not upset that she cursed me. Not anymore. Not now that I have found you.”
I shake my head. “But why? Why did she curse you to begin with?”
His lips are whisper-soft over mine ever so briefly. “Because she knew. She saw that I was bonded but could see that it was too faint to be connected to anyone at that time. She cursed me so I could spend the rest of my life looking for you.”
A tear slips down my cheek, his caress wiping it away. “And you found me.”
“I found you. And I love you. And I would spend millennia continuing to search if I had to.”
“Well, you don’t have to,” I say, tugging him closer to me. “Because fortunately for you, I am here and I’m not going anywhere.”
“Lucky me.” He grins.
And both of us, in fact, get very lucky.