Chapter Sixteen #2
“Curtis is one of the rangers here,” Dominic explained as they turned down an unmarked trail. “He’s also part of my pack. He’ll make sure we have some privacy.”
Erica slid him a glance and wondered when this fairy-tale illusion would shatter.
Just like everything else, she had turned pessimistic and a little cynical.
How much longer before he gave up and dropped her and her emotional baggage off somewhere?
How many more meltdowns would he endure?
There weren’t enough words in the dictionary to describe how absolutely foolish and embarrassed she felt for the way she behaved.
It was like something in her just cracked open, and she couldn’t stand it anymore.
He said he wouldn’t leave, but her father must have told her mother that countless times before he finally did, at her insistence.
For the thousandth time, she caught herself comparing them to her parents.
Ever since she came home after her talk with Cole, she wondered if her parents had a whirlwind romance like theirs.
Did they have sex after only knowing each other for a week or so?
Did they feel undeniably attracted to each other?
How long did their love last before it began to fade?
When did her mom find out about shifters?
Did she feel this incredible pull to be with her lover every waking second of the day?
And if she did, then why the hell didn’t they try to stay together?
Why couldn’t Erica be a good enough reason to make their marriage work?
She heaved a heavy sigh and tried to fight back the wave of regret and confusion.
Erica wanted to hate them both. Hate her mother for forcing Cole away and then hate Cole for not trying harder. Over and over, she tried to rationalize it, to come up with some excuse to defend them and the choices they made, but she couldn’t.
All she was left with was an aching black hole of a heart that Dominic repeatedly poured into.
No matter how hard he tried to distract her with nice words and plans of what they would do out at the park, nothing stuck.
It all went in one ear and out the other as long as this open, gushing wound continued to bleed.
They came to the campsite, which was more or less a shady clearing surrounded by tall pines and oaks.
Only a tiny speckling of blue sky could be seen through the canopy of branches above them.
Out here, there was nothing but the occasional warbling of birdsong and the rich, earthy smell of the forest. Erica would have found it tranquil in any other circumstance.
Dominic hauled their disassembled tent from the bed of the truck and carried the bundle of canvas and thin frame components over his shoulder.
He set it down near a patch of heavily trodden grass almost at the center of the clearing, no doubt the same spot other campers had used.
At first, he had told her to take it easy while he set everything up, but it didn’t matter how fried her nerves were, Erica wasn’t going to just sit around while he did all the work.
After some half-hearted protest on his part, Dominic gave in, and together, they assembled the poles and stretched the canvas across the frame. Within a few minutes of fumbling, the tent was set up, and she blinked at how small it was.
“Isn’t this supposed to be for two?” she asked as Dominic went to retrieve the cooler and other supplies.
“I figured after last night, you wouldn’t be so shy about cuddling up.”
How could she possibly forget any of that?
Still in disbelief that she’d had sex with a man so soon after knowing him, Erica was even more astonished that she didn’t feel the least bit humiliated by it.
Having sex with Dominic was the most natural thing, the right thing.
Feeling his hard, muscled body over hers, having him inside her, hearing him groan and whisper nasty things in her ear …
Dominic broke her daydream and chuckled. “I thought so.”
Erica looked up, eyes wide. “What?”
Dominic gave her a smoldering look. “You might want to be careful what you think about too soon, or we may never get to take that hike I was planning.”
“How do you know what I’m thinking about?”
He set down the cooler and tapped his nose. “I can smell the effects, sweetheart.”
Forget the part that he could smell when she was turned on.
The fact that she wasn’t furious with him calling her that nickname made her feel a little uncomfortable.
Were they at the point that they were free to use endearments?
She had never been with a man long enough to reach that stage of the relationship.
She folded her arms over her stomach and shot him a look. “You can’t blame me for daydreaming about all that mind-blowing sex.”
Dominic grinned. “Mind-blowing, huh? Yeah, I think that describes it pretty well.”
Secretly, she hoped she’d have her mind blown again just about every night. Once more, her doubt came back to remind her that all good things came to an end. Maybe that would be several years down the road, and not anytime soon.
She desperately wanted to believe that Dominic was right, that she wasn’t like her mother. But she saw far too many similarities. How could she not be like her mother? Or worse, what if she’d end up like her father and didn’t try hard enough to keep Dominic if he was the one who wanted to leave?
“Stop thinking about it,” Dominic gently scolded.
“What? Do you smell that on me too?”
“No,” he replied as he tossed the sleeping bags in the tent. “I can feel it.”
“Feel it?”
Dominic’s smile faded and Erica braced herself for more bad news.
“It’s a little complicated.”
As much as she dreaded to hear something else that would make her question reality, she hated the idea of there being secrets between them. Everything was going so well so far.
“Then explain it to me.”
Dominic straightened from his inspection of the cooler contents and slid his hands into his jean pockets. His eyes wandered through the trees around them. “Maybe we should start that hike now. This might take a while.”
“Is this a shifter thing?”
He only nodded, and she went to retrieve her camera bag from the truck. She couldn’t have cared less about bringing a change of clothes or hygiene amenities. She wasn’t going to miss out on a chance to photograph the park. It’d give her mind something else to think about, anyway.
Dominic led them toward the forest, and at first, there was no clear path through the trees. The bushes and low-lying branches snagged at her clothes and brushed against her legs until they finally found the well-worn dirt lane just wide enough for two people to walk abreast of each other.
Erica fished out her camera and turned it on.
The slight whirl of the electronics was incompatible with the peaceful nature around them, but Dominic didn’t nag her for bringing the piece of technology into a world that might have been considered part of his territory.
He was part animal, after all. This park must have been like his domain.
“You’ve heard the thing that wolves mate for life?” Dominic began as her thumbs worked the settings.
She froze when her mind started to turn over his words, and she stopped completely. “Oh, God,” she groaned and looked to him for a more thorough explanation.
Dominic laughed. “Don’t get ahead of me. It’s nothing that permanent. Come on.”
He offered out his hand and she took it, almost without thinking, despite the momentary panic at what he’d said.
The last thing she needed to hear was that they were somehow cosmically bound for all eternity.
At the moment, it didn’t seem so bad, but everything seemed too uncertain to commit to forever.
“Shifters experience relationships differently than humans,” he began again.
“When we feel that true, deep, meaningful connection with someone and that feeling is reciprocated, our animal sides kind of get ahead of ourselves and form what we call a mating bond. The best way I can describe it is a spiritual linkage of the souls.”
Okay, maybe there was a little cosmic nonsense to it. “Like soulmates?”
“Yeah, but without the assurance that there’s that one person out there for everyone. Some shifters may go their whole lives without forming a mating bond but go on to have healthy relationships, and some may form several mating bonds before they die.”
Erica wasn’t sure what was greater: the panic that they were somehow connected through this bond thing, or that it could be broken just as easily as it was formed. “So, shifters don’t mate for life like wolves?”
Dominic kept his eyes ahead as he led them through the park at a steady, but meandering pace. “They are capable of it, and most do. But the mating bond can be severed, is what I mean. They don’t have to be permanent.”
Her lungs seized a bit. “Is that what my parents did?”
“Probably.” By the tenderness of his tone, Dominic must have known to tread lightly into this sensitive topic.
“It would have been absolute torture for them otherwise. Being apart from one’s mate is like missing a part of oneself.
It’s not so easy to sever the bond, from what I’ve been told.
It takes real conscious effort on both sides.
Both have to want to disconnect, but they’re never the same afterward.
A part of them always stays with the other. ”
That didn’t give her any solace, only further context for her parents’ tragic end.
“Through the bond, I can feel what you feel. I know, right now, you’re scared and broken. After you had the talk with Cole, I knew nothing was right with you. I came as soon as I could because I knew you needed me.”
Erica closed her eyes and once more stopped on the path. Dominic didn’t let go of her hand, but turned to face her, patient and waiting.
“So we’re … we’re mated?”
“Yes. From the moment we kissed that night in your kitchen.”