Chapter 9
“Hey, Kitten,” Bridger said with his lips pulling to one side in a lazy smile.
What the fuck—What. The. Fuck. There was no time to think about what Bridger was doing here, let alone how he got here.
The panicking woman didn’t let up. “Doctor. You need hospital,” she demanded in broken English.
Vega’s eyes felt glued to Bridger’s, and it seemed she had the same hold on him until the woman started blabbering to the new people gathering around to see what the fuss was about.
“I could use a little help here.” Bridger’s words broke her trance—stole the only moment of peace Vega had felt since waking up in this life.
Her body acted before her brain could catch up, still lagging from the comedown of the splitting headache.
Bridger was here.
On Earth.
In Rome.
Vega crashed into him with so much force he stumbled back a few steps.
Her arms snaked around his midsection, and when she inhaled, Vega smelled home.
The crisp pine scent mixed with Bridger’s fresh clothing.
“I wasn’t going crazy,” she whispered, feeling tears sting behind her closed eyes.
She squeezed them tighter. “I knew it was real.” For over a month, she’d been questioning her sanity.
Day in and day out, Vega was starting to feel like she was losing her mind—creeping further into a state of psychosis.
Bridger tensed for a second before wrapping his arms around her too.
For the first time since she reset in this life, Vega felt no pain when she remembered.
I can go home. To Tolevarre.
“Hospital,” the woman said again, ripping Vega back into the current world she was in.
Fuck.
He couldn’t go to a hospital here. He couldn’t draw the attention of authorities. He couldn’t get in trouble… because he wasn’t from here, and not existing in this world would cause other problems Vega couldn’t deal with.
“Oh my god!” Vega exclaimed, having to remember not to add the s at the end.
She pulled out of Bridger’s arms and looked up at him.
“What happened? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.
” She reached up and placed her hands on Bridger’s cheeks, playing the part of worried lover well.
Splatters of blood had already started to dry on his neck and chest from the cut still oozing near his collarbone.
Her hands warmed where they connected with Bridger’s body.
“Are you okay?” she asked loudly enough for everyone to hear.
Bridger’s eyes flashed with recognition and something else—gratitude? Gods, focus.
He smiled softly, resting a hand over one of hers. Vega did her best not to flinch away. “I’m fine. I told this nice lady,” he said with a sneer, “what she saw wasn’t as bad as she thought. I took a wrong step and tumbled a few feet. That’s all.”
Vega had learned the bare minimum Italian over the last month, but she understood most of what the woman said, telling a much different story than Bridger.
She dropped her hands from Bridger’s face, holding them over her heart with a gasp as the woman spoke. “My goodness. Thank you for helping him.” Vega reached for Bridger’s hand.
“He needs medical attention!” the woman continued to yell. She was panicking, rightfully so, after seeing a man drop from the sky in front of her.
We have to get out. Bridger glanced down at her hand, then up at her quickly before his fingers slid between hers. It was as if he understood the urgency in her look without hearing the thoughts in her head.
“Is he hurt?” another voice asked.
“What happened?” Others joined in.
Vega laughed, pulling Bridger along as they barged their way through the crowd. “He’s fine, really. Just a little clumsy.”
A whistle from an approaching officer made a warning alarm go off in Vega’s mind. A few onlookers pointed at them, drawing the police’s attention.
Vega didn’t hesitate. As soon as they broke through, she dropped Bridger’s hand. “Run!”
Bridger kept pace beside her, hardly breaking a sweat while Vega pushed herself enough to make her lungs burn.
She hadn’t gotten much exercise while here on Earth and felt it as they rounded the corner down a long roadway with lots of traffic and people; people who gawked at the two weaving between pedestrians and stopped cars.
They needed to get out of sight. Vega checked over her shoulder before slowing them to a walk and pulling Bridger by the crook of his elbow into an alleyway.
When they were deep enough to be out of sight from the road, Vega let go of Bridger’s arm and spun around.
He smiled and started to say something, but Vega wasn’t having it. As happy as she was to see him, it wasn’t to see him… It was because seeing him meant she was right—it meant she wasn’t going crazy, remembering a life that never happened.
It had happened. All of it. The lives. The memories. Everything.
Vega had been right.
She’d tricked the fucking curse.
And this life, the things happening in it—the headaches, the therapy for a TBI, Chase’s reaction to finding her with the broken brooch, were all because of the curse.
It was still trying to take her from herself.
Vega slammed him against the alley’s stone wall, pushing him back again when he tried to step forward.
Bridger threw his hands up in surrender, looking down his chest at her. “Easy, Kitten.”
“What are you doing here?” she spat.
Bridger faked a gasp, acting hurt. “What happened to the girl who was so happy to see me that I got a hug?” He crowded her space, leaning forward.
Vega pushed at his chest again. He gave up quicker than she anticipated, letting his butt rest against the stone with his hands still up. “Why are you here, Bridger?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I came for you.” He pointed at her, letting his hands fall to his side from there.
“Good to see you still have your memories. Don’t you think maybe it would’ve been easier to, oh, I don’t know, walk back through the fucking portal instead of risking yourself and your memories again? ”
Vega stalled for a moment, her eyebrows drawing together.
“What?” She paused to gauge his seriousness.
She quickly realized he was dead fucking serious.
“It doesn’t work like that. I have to reset.
The curse has to reset… That’s the whole poi—I’m not getting into that with you right now.
” She shook her head, holding her hand up and wagging her finger like Bridger was a child in trouble. “How did you get here?”
Bridger reached out, grabbed her finger, and gently pushed her hand to her chest. “None of that.” His voice had a deep and commanding rumble.
“I came through a portal.” Bridger’s eyes flicked to her neck, and she watched his emotions flip as quick as a light switch.
In less than a second, Bridger went from thoughtful to downright scary. “Who the fuck choked you?”
There was no stopping him from pushing off the wall now. Vega took a few steps back as he stalked her, gaining ground quicker than she could flee with his long legs. “What?” Vega asked, taken aback.
A mark must already be forming from Chase’s attack.
“Your neck. There are fingerprint bruises forming on your neck.” Bridger was fighting to keep his cool, but the words spoken through gritted teeth gave him away.
This time, it was Vega’s back against a wall.
Bridger reached for her face, and Vega didn’t flinch, didn’t move.
He gripped her jaw so gently she might not have known he was touching her if it weren’t for the warmth of his skin and the tingles traveling through his fingertips like little tendrils of her lightning.
He turned her head to the side, getting a better look. “Vega…”
Her name from his lips reminded her of the conversation they were having before, of how badly she didn’t want to remember the inhuman stare of Chase’s black eyes.
“That’s not important right now… You said portal?
Like, the portal that’s supposed to be in California?
” Vega asked, trying to distract and pull herself away from Bridger.
He was too close. Vega couldn’t think with him this close.
She hated the way he made her head feel clouded. He shouldn’t make her feel anything but malice.
Her distraction didn’t work. Bridger let her jaw go, though, standing his ground. “Who hurt you, Vega?”
They didn’t have time to get into this right now. “Everyone! Everyone has hurt me! The curse, Chase, Marlena, this world!” Vega threw her arms up, exasperated. “You,” she said on a breath.
Bridger flinched like she’d slapped him, taking a step back.
“Something is happening. Something is different in this life. We don’t have time to worry about who and what is hurting me. This world is always going to try to hurt me. I don’t belong here.” Vega swallowed, and she could feel the tenderness in her throat now that the adrenaline was wearing off.
Bridger stood unmoving except for the rise and fall of his chest.
“How did you get here from California?” she asked, her tone direct.
A muscle in Bridger’s jaw ticked, and the veins in his arms looked like they might burst from the force of his clenched fists. Vega could tell he was fighting against losing himself to rage, a natural reaction inside him as a blood-born warrior.
Bridger was trained to keep calm in situations like this—but sometimes even Tolevarre’s best let their masks slip.
It took some time for him to answer. “Not that portal… a new one,” he said while motioning to the cut on his chest. Blood had finally stopped dripping from the deep gash, but it smeared over his exposed skin.
“Marlena made it, but apparently someone or something didn’t like that because it didn’t feel right.
And there was a voice…” He paused, thinking about his next words. “It exploded.”
“What do you mean, it exploded?” Vega asked through a rush of shock, making her sidestep to stop herself from swaying.
“I mean…” Bridger closed his fists and opened them, mimicking the sound of an explosion. He cocked his head, confusion marring his stupid-handsome face.