Chapter 31
“Were you chowing on donuts again?” Shannon gave a breathless laugh.
Rot pulled me back with one quick yank that made my back pop, dragging Shannon too. She used a leg on each tree trunk on either side of us to anchor her position.
“You came back for me?” My voice came out small. She should have been long gone by now. Why was she here?
“I never left you.” She leaned back to hold me in place. But when Rot did another tug, she sat down on the gravel, digging in the heel of her boots into the trees. The root snapped, and he pulled us both back into the swamp like our combined weight was nothing.
But she didn’t let go.
She should have saved her own skin, but there she was doing her damndest to hold on to me. Even though she was soaked to the bone and her face was beet red from her efforts.
“I called a real Rinah witch. A hunter. She’ll be here any minute,” Shannon warned breathlessly. Her nail dug into my skin as she gripped me tighter. “Let Talia go, and I’ll send her in the wrong direction.”
“I’ll kill her the same as I did her sisters,” Rot snarled. I refuse to let my mate go. No one will take her away from me. I waited too long.
I briefly wondered if this was what it felt like to be quartered. My body was being ripped in two directions, except my heart was warm.
Shannon was fighting for me. Not to own me. Not to make her life better.
For me.
Sinking understanding that wasn’t mine settled in my gut, making me nauseous.
Rot stopped pulling me as hard, like he wasn’t trying to win anymore.
But he became a statue, holding his position like a brick wall.
A defensive growl shook his chest, and a wave of hesitation and fear hit me like a tidal wave.
Shannon fought, trying to go back, but her feet mostly slid and kicked in place. Sweat poured down her temples. “If she wanted to stay with you, she would. Now let go!”
His mind was a slew of incomplete thoughts, but all of them were uncomfortable. I found myself opening up to his mind so I could interpret some of it.
Rot slowly released his grip on my ankles. His hands caressed my skin as I collided with Shannon, like he wanted to touch me one last time. I slammed into Shannon’s lap as we slid onto the gravel.
The sudden jarring disorientated me, and it took me a long minute to catch my breath. The entire length of my body was on the rough gravel.
I’d escaped the swamp.
That can’t be right. There was no way Shannon overpowered Rot.
I rolled over to find him just inside the swamp, staring at me with sad eyes and his posture deflated.
He let me go.
He allowed me to go where he had no control.
As hard as I’d fought to leave, it stung to realize he’d let me go. It made my voice break, “What are you doing?”
“When you chose me, I was too scared to appreciate what that meant. For a woman who never chose for herself to select me.” He swallowed loudly. “If I drag you back, it won’t be the same. That fire I love so much about you will die.”
I hated the painful way his voice broke. His red eyes glowed in the dark, still a predator even when he wasn’t a threat anymore.
“If you choose me again, I won’t repeat that mistake.” It was strange to hear his voice devoid of all its arrogance and gruffness. “Please. Come back to me.”
Shannon shot to her feet, crossing her arms. Those critical hazel eyes turned to daggers, even in complete darkness. “How does she know this isn't manipulation? Prove that you mean it.”
“Shannon.” I let out a breath that could have been a laugh if I had the energy for it. She didn’t even know what was going on.
“You’re almost a doctor, Talia.” She rolled her eyes, shifting her glare to me. “You can get any man you want with a bat of your pretty blue eyes and a wiggle of your ass, and you both need to act like it.”
“She’s right,” Rot agreed.
The shock made me freeze. He dropped to his knees and bowed in the mud, his weight slowly deepening the position as he sank down.
For the first time, I realized exactly how guarded he’d been. The guardrails around his emotions dropped, and his emotions flooded me. As if all the thoughts I’d heard before were seepage from a cracked dam.
His body grew tense and hunched in an uncomfortable position. It reminded me of a street dog waiting for a human to hurt them. Yet his claws dug into the ground, ready to fight anything.
I knew how much it hurt. To bare yourself to the other person.
“Please stay,” he begged. “For me.”
The swamp went silent, as if even the frogs and bugs were waiting for my response.
The sound of a car coming off the highway and the flash of headlights came from the exit ramp up the way.
“The witch?”
“The cops wouldn’t come. She said she’d be here as soon as possible. I didn’t think it would be that fast.”
“She’ll hurt him.” Fear boiled inside me. What if she hurt him? The fear made my chest tight. Whatever my decision was, I didn’t want him harmed.
“I brought her here. I’ll get rid of her.” Shannon shrugged like it was nothing, then smiled. “Maybe she’ll give me a ride back to town.”
Pain washed over me as Rot got a taste of what I’d felt, waiting for my response.
What if this was a trick? What if he reverted to his normal behavior the second we were alone?
A sharp jab in my chest almost made my knees give out. I deserve that.
Did I really care? Part of me liked his rough, possessive edges. Having a choice was a healthy change of pace, but I’d searched my entire life for something to belong to.
Even when he’d been rough with me, he was gentler than Gale ever was.
Rot was asking me to give up my future.
My life.
My doctorate.
He flinched on the ground as he realized exactly what this would cost me. The realization that there was no real reason to choose him. Fear sent our linked hearts into overtime.
That he’d been open and honest in a way that hurt, and I could heartlessly stomp on him.
The way I did to her.
Shame made our stomachs do flips.
A smart woman would finish her degree and find a man who didn’t have claws and teeth. No doubt we weren’t done hurting each other. We were broken, and it would take a lot of effort to heal.
Panic made our hands shake. He hated every part of this, but there was also an understanding that it was necessary if he wanted to keep me.
Who other than him, could understand my weaknesses and faults?
The answer must have been in my eyes, because Shannon handed me the bags that were resting on the ground a few meters away. Our eyes met for a long time, as we communicated in complete silence.
That I wouldn’t give up anything. She wouldn’t allow it. And more gratitude than I could ever verbally express to her.
I accepted the bags with steadier hands than I’d had in a while, and I limped back toward the treeline.
Rot’s head shot up as I took deliberate steps back into the swamp. His eyes watched me like it was too good to be true. When I squatted in the ankle deep water in front of him, his hands twitched like he wanted to snatch me and run.
“Why do you want me here?”
“Because you make me feel like I’m not alone.” A real answer. Not one soaked in survival.
I leaned my forehead against his. That was all I wanted.
To be chosen.
Not taken to profit off of.
I closed my eyes. “Then I’ll stay with you.”
He let out a shaky breath of relief. He took my face into his hands like he couldn’t believe I was still there.
“Mine,” he whispered in disbelief. The swamp's creatures sang again. I put my arm over his shoulder, encouraging him to pick me up.
Shannon smirked and waved as he shot deeper into the swamp. The dark car pulled up behind her, and she turned to focus on them.
Relief exhaled from the core of who I was.
This was where I belonged.