Twelve
Gareth
“Try something on me.”
The words rang in my head. For over a week, I’d stayed away, even with my soul crying out for Riley.
Hestia’s promise rang in my ears every time I wavered.
Aside from helping Oscar, there was nothing I could do for my mate.
I’d felt so helpless, while the connection between us tried to pull me in his direction.
Unable to speak to Riley, I’d taken what little knowledge I had of his other curse and tried to look for solutions.
Without knowing more about it, I found it almost impossible to work on.
So, I’d given up on that and focused on proving that I couldn’t harm my mate.
Hence, the half ton of paper I’d brought with me.
Riley had no reason to trust my word for it, though he seemed to.
He just needed to see it for himself to confirm it.
Apparently, this meant testing it on him too.
“What?” It was astounding he would trust me this quickly. Some of that had to be our mate connection. He had to be feeling the same as me.
When I studied him, I noticed it. The tremble of his hands, his blown pupils, the tension in his body. Riley was fighting with himself. He still wanted to flee, but something else was telling him to brazen this out. My mate was a stubborn one. I liked that a lot.
“I want you to try something. Just a tiny spell, like freezing me to the spot or something. Prove to me it works, then I’ll tell you everything you need so you can keep me here.” Riley’s chin jutted out defiantly. His bravado was on display for us both to see.
Oscar sat silently, just watching us both. It looked like he was barely breathing. Riley reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll fix anything that goes wrong, right?” He peered up at Riley and eventually nodded.
“Are you sure?” I asked, almost convinced this was the quickest way to get Riley to trust me.
Riley looked at me. It was the first time he’d maintained solid eye contact with me since I’d arrived.
His eyes were so dark brown they appeared to be black.
His eyelashes were dark and thick, framing his eyes so beautifully, it was a struggle to look away from them.
“We can try to track down these couples and waste days I don’t have, or we can try something now and get it over with. ”
“Days you don’t have?” I repeated, stuck on those words.
“After. Explanations after you prove this.” Riley looked fearful but determined.
If he was so sure about this, then who was I to argue? “Okay.” I stood. “Why don’t we take this outside? I don’t want to miss and break something.”
Riley nodded. He began putting on his winter gear, and I followed suit. Oscar scrambled to catch up with us as we left the cabin and stood on the snow-covered lawn.
“A freezing spell or a fireball?” This was probably a terrible idea that would land one of us in the hospital.
Okay, me, since I guarantee if I successfully used magic on him, he would shift into his cat and rip me apart once he was free.
Either that, or the guilt and shame would end me on the spot.
“Start by trying to freeze me. I’ll run at you,” Riley said with a faint smirk, as if this wasn’t bothering him at all. I knew it was bullshit. The cold wasn’t making him shake.
Then his words registered. Seriously? I cast him a dubious look and followed it with words. “You’re going to run at me and expect me to freeze you? What happens when I don’t?”
“Oscar will push us apart, or something,” he said with a casual shrug, the smirk growing into a grin.
Reassuring. Thanks, Riley, I snarked mentally.
“Um…” Oscar didn’t sound happy with the plan either. He didn’t get a chance to voice another protest, though, before Riley cut him off.
“Ready?” No, I really wasn’t. “Three, two, one, go!”
My mate charged at me, running across the snowy lawn at a sprint. I whipped my hands up, urging my power to freeze him in place.
Nothing. It seemed to bounce right off him.
Barely a second before he would crash into me, I tried again, and it still didn’t work. There was no time to dodge him.
Riley collided with me with an “oomph,” taking us both to the ground.
He landed on top of me, his body pressed against mine from shoulder to knee.
We were about the same size, though he was more muscular than me, with linebacker shoulders.
The air was knocked from my lungs, and I gasped as Riley laughed.
His dark eyes were lit up with happiness.
Distantly, I heard Oscar laughing behind us. “Sorry!” he yelled. “I didn’t manage the spell in time.” Not that I cared. Aside from the snow under us, I was exactly where I wanted to be.
“It’s okay,” Riley told his friend with a grin. “Fireball this time!” he proclaimed as he jumped up off me and dashed across the yard.
“Um, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Oscar looked worried.
Unable to deny Riley when he looked so damn happy, I conjured a fireball in my hand and got to my feet. “Ready?” I asked Oscar. “I don’t think you’ll need to heal him, but you might need to help me put out a fire if those trees go up.”
“Ready!” Oscar stood off to the side, well out of range.
I tossed the fireball directly at Riley’s chest. It seemed to hit a wall before it could touch him, then rebounded and hit a patch of grass, fizzling out instantly.
“Again!” Riley laughed.
I shot fireball after fireball as my mate stood in place, unharmed.
Each one that failed seemed to take some of his anxiety and fear away.
He got closer and closer to me. I stopped, tired.
“Are you okay?” he asked, taking a step closer.
He was almost within touching distance. I ached to hold him close.
“I… I’m relieved. Tired. Glad.”
“Glad?”
“That we’re mates. That I could be someone safe for you.
Riley… I want to be someone you can trust.” I meant those words with my entire being.
Since the moment I’d met him, my mate had held me captive.
I didn’t want to be free. I wanted to drown in those deep brown eyes and let them be the last thing I ever saw, so long as I got to be with him.
Riley reached out and cupped my face, his fingers warm despite the chilly winter air. “All of this… I don’t have words. You make me glad I trusted myself enough to ask for this. You showing me meant more than words ever could.” He ran his thumb over my cheekbone, the touch sweet.
I held his hand to my face. “Thank you for trusting me.” My voice nearly broke on the words. “It means everything. I hope we can build from this.”
The expression in his eyes turned sad. “What if I told you I have less than three weeks left in Greyhaven? Would you still want me?”
Without thinking, I answered. “Yes. If you leave, I’ll come with you.”
As soon as I made the offer, I wanted to take it back.
Could I do that to Greyhaven? How would the wards survive without me here to bolster them?
Like the other warlocks of Greyhaven, I shared my magic regularly.
Since the summer solstice, I’d added my magic at least a dozen times.
I didn’t know how to get around it, though.
This was my fated mate. My one and only.
I couldn’t bear to lose him so soon after finding him.
He startled. “You’d do that? Give everything here up for me?” Seeing the hope and wonder on his face cracked something inside me. With one throwaway offer, I’d gotten closer to Riley accepting me, just at the cost of my town.
“That’s what mates do. We were made for each other, Riley. No one can replace you.” I smoothed my fingers over his hand, wanting to keep him close to me. There had to be a way to break this curse, but I’d find a way to fix the wards before then, just in case.
“But we don’t know each other!” he protested. Riley didn’t pull away. If anything, he stepped closer.
“Maybe not now, but we have time. Let me get to know you while we try to break this curse.” I wrapped an arm around him.
The outside world ceased to exist. “Give me a chance to decide for myself if losing you is better than losing what I have here, because I can already tell you that I’ve been waiting thirty-three years for my mate to show up, and I already don’t want to give you up. Not now you’re here and touching me.”
Greyhaven would be okay without me, wouldn’t it? I focused on Riley, determined to enjoy this moment of peace instead of worrying about something that might never come to pass.
“Gareth?”
“Yeah?” I whispered.
“Can I kiss you?” His breath was warm on my face. He was so close to me we were sharing breath.
“Okay, this is awkward, but I’m going to head home and check on Hayto. I’ll catch you tomorrow, maybe. Have fun!” Oscar gave a wave and scurried off toward his apartment block.
“Who’s Hayto?” I asked, voice low. Neither of us had moved.
“His bird. His familiar.”
“Right.”
“Gareth?”
“Hmm?”
“Kiss me.”
We surged toward each other, our lips meeting for the first time.
The feeling was electric, sending a jolt through me.
I opened for his tongue, letting him taste me.
I adored the feeling of him in my arms, of him directing the kiss.
His scent, apples and spice, surrounded me, making me think of safety, warmth, and home.
Long moments passed as we made out on the lawn until the cold nipped too harshly at us. We broke apart breathlessly, grinning at each other.
Riley grabbed my hand. “Come inside with me. Stay, please.” His dark hair was tousled, his lips kiss swollen, eyes bright. He was so beautiful.
There wasn’t a thing inside me that could deny him. “Okay.”