by Lila Felix
“Okay.”
“Good.”
I started to get up, but Harrison had already stripped off his shirt. I hadn’t seen this much of him until now. At the castle, we dressed in our separate bathrooms.
My stomach quivered with tingles from looking at him. His pecs and stomach were muscular, though I’d never seen him work out. One tiny patch of hair trailed the way to his hands, which were now unbuckling his belt.
“See something you like?” he teased again.
“Maybe. But now you have to turn around while I undress. I am so not giving you the show you gave me. No way.”
“Fine.” He shucked his pants and socks, and with my hand now over my eyes, I heard the splash before water droplets showered me.
“Hey!”
“Come on, Atlas. I want all of you. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
He was right. There wasn’t. Most shifters were accustomed to nudity in clans. But this was different. This was my mate and a mate I hardly knew, at that.
Drumming up all the bravery I could muster, I took off my top first and then my jeans. Bra and panties were nothing more than a glorified bikini, right?
I placed my clothes over a rock and then tiptoed through the dirt until I got to the water. It seemed like a shame to mar the beautiful scene with two skinny dippers, but that was exactly what we were about to do.
Chapter 16
Harrison
I swore I thought I heard her say she was sorry to the small patch of weeds we’d sat on and flattened. She had a heart, and almost every day since I’d known her, it showed in the little things. She said thank you to the servants when we ignored them. She handed them her teacup and her plate instead of making them bow down to retrieve them.
She smiled at everyone.
She apologized to weeds.
“Did I make the fish go away?” She looked around, twirling in a circle, trying to spot the magical beings.
“I think once people are in the water, they go away. Don’t worry, they’ll come back.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “The water feels amazing. I thought it would be cold, but it’s like the perfect warm bath.”
“We can come here anytime when you know who isn’t here.”
“That’s insane. You’re a grown man. Wait, I don’t know how old you are. How stupid is that?”
The tepid water sloshed around me as I took a few steps toward her. “Not stupid. I didn’t think to ask you, either. I’m twenty-five.”
“So am I.”
“Birthday?”
“June thirtieth. You?”
“December fourth, but we don’t really celebrate birthdays around the castle. Mom always brings a cupcake to my room at midnight. Has since I was a toddler.”
Sadness, or maybe pity, drew a frown on her face. “That’s awful.”
“It’s normal for me now.”
Her hands went directly to her hips, and she made fists with them. “No, I’m not putting up with that. I want a cake, mister, and I want you to sing happy birthday to me.”
Violently, I wrenched my hand through my wet hair. I couldn’t let myself believe that she would actually be around a day past the ninety day probation period, much less by the time her birthday came.
One day she would go.
Another male would put his mark over mine and cause it to go away like her memories of me. She would forget our time here at the falls.
It would all fade into something she faintly remembered when she was eighty.
I didn’t want to be that memory.
I wanted to make memories with her.
“I’ll give you whatever kind of birthday you want.”
With her gorgeous fiery brown eyes, she looked at me and smiled. Really smiled. Not the fake one she’d been giving me for the last several days, but a sincere gesture of joy.
Then her stomach rumbled. It sounded like she had the entire Kasun pack right there in her belly.
“Are you hungry, or are you carrying a triceratops in there?”
“I’m actually starving. Is there any chance we can go somewhere and get something to eat in the town? Maybe act like a normal couple for a while?”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure that normal couples skinny dip, but sure. Do you want to go home and change first?”
Her blush grew more furious. “I think we’d better. Otherwise, people in town might think . . . I don’t know what they’d think.”
The humans were too clueless to know any better. They wouldn’t know who or what we were.
“Let’s stay here a few more minutes.”
My phone rang several times on the bank, but I ignored it. There were more important things to do here, like splashing my mate.
She turned to avoid the water, and I took the moment of weakness to do what I’d been craving to do for days. Damn it all if she didn’t lust after me like I did.
There was nothing I wanted more than what I was about to do.
My arms encircled her waist. A gasp broke from her mouth, but she made no move to get away from me.
“This might be my favorite place now.” I breathed into her ear.
She nodded. Even with the steady rhythm of the cascading water around us, her heartbeat fluttered out of control. Mine matched it beat for beat.
“I’ve been wanting to kiss you all day,” I whispered before sucking at her tender lobe and swallowing the drop of magical water that hung there. A moan, low and slow, came from her throat. Atlas turned in the circle of my arms and wrapped hers around my neck.
“We shouldn’t get attached, Harrison.”
It was too late on my account. I already was. She was under my skin and pulsating through my veins.
I wanted it. All of it.
“I think I already am.”
Her words said she wanted to stay away, but with every breath, her mouth came closer to mine, until I couldn’t differentiate between the breaths she exhaled and the ones I inhaled.
The scent of desire filled the air around us. I was done for.
“One kiss can’t hurt.” She spoke to herself.
The kiss I’d intended to take from my mate began with her. She cut off my next thought by crashing her mouth down on mine. Lips that I thought would be soft surprised me by being strong and pliant at the same time. Her hands kneaded the back of my neck and pulled at the tender hairs. My only choice was to give in—give in to what she was giving me in that moment and give in to what she wanted to take from me.
I would’ve given her everything, surrounded by those enchanted waters with nothing between us but thin slips of material.
Frantic to get closer to her, I reached to cup the backs of her thighs and pulled her legs around my waist. As she deepened the kiss, plummeting her tongue into my mouth, her hips rocked into mine.
Atlas Xavier was everything.
Without warning, she jerked back. “That was . . .”
Fear crept into the moment. A mistake? Trouble? Fucking hot?
“It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever experienced,” I said instead.
The coldness seeped in as she unwound her legs from my waist and lowered herself back into the water. “Weren’t we supposed to go somewhere?”
My eyebrows questioned how she could hop so quickly from a moment of passion to one of ice.
“I don’t trust myself here, Harrison. It’s not you. You’re absolutely right. That was incredible. If I stay . . . here . . . we might get lost. I would get lost.”
After taking a moment to calm down and collect myself, I realized that even though we’d stopped, there was something there. A passion between us that was reeling us both in minute by minute, and there was nothing we could do to stop it. “Okay. Let’s get my female some food. I know the best taco place.”
Her stomach agreed with my choice.
We dressed by the waterfalls in silence. There was too much to say, yet not enough words to express it all.
We were falling into a hole
that we swore wasn’t there.
Chapter 17
Atlas
My thighs throbbed the entire way back home. I blamed it on the rumble of the motorcycle. I blamed it on the cold since leaving the water. Anything but the truth.
And the truth was, my thighs were on fire and my stomach was pulled taut because of the man in front of me. He was too attractive for his own good and certainly for mine. He was supposed to be ugly and callous and rude—all for the sake of making my break from him easy.
I shouldn’t be longing for the touch of my mate.
The mate I’d never intended to keep.
When we arrived back at the castle, Harrison couldn’t stop smiling. Neither could I. At least I did a little better job of hiding it. We looked like fools in love.
“Harrison!” A shrill rip of a voice called his name. At first I thought it was a wild animal, but instead, a bouncing bundle of bleached blond locks came our way and barreled into my mate.
“Sela?” What kind of name was Sela? Her arms were in a tangle around his neck, and her legs circled his waist like mine had not so long ago.
A growl, loud and pointed, bellowed from my throat, aimed right at the blond black bear.
“Sela,” Harrison spoke in a dull tone. “This is my mate, Atlas.”
My bear’s steady disapproving rumble continued until he had successfully disengaged her from his body. Harrison came over to me, wrapped his arm around my waist, and held my hand with his other hand. As much contact as possible.
My bear relented—a little.
“Oh! Of course. I was at the mating, you know. I just came around to say hi.”
This woman didn’t look like someone who dropped in to give her greetings.
She looked like someone who had an agenda.
“Well, you’ve caught us at a bad time. My mate here was about to take me into town to get something to eat.” Even I cringed at my snide tone. I wanted this female gone. I didn’t like her, and she smelled like desire—around Harrison.
“Oh, fun! I’ll just catch a ride with you two to do some shopping while you eat. I can find my own way back home.”
Great.
“Sure. No problem. We are going to change clothes. We got a little wet at the falls.”
She giggled. It was forced. “Oh, I see. Good times.”
I turned to leave the area before showing her really good times.
“Hey, wait up.” Harrison was behind me.
“What?”
“She’s an old friend of the family. Nothing more. No more growling, female. I’m yours.”
“She wants you to be hers.”
“Well, I’m not. Come here.” He shut the door behind him and held his arms out. I stood firm for a few seconds. I wouldn’t give in that easily.
Harrison cocked his head at me.
I would give in that easily.
When my forehead met his chest and I breathed him in, my bear breathed a sigh of relief. She was content here.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to growl at your friend.”
He laughed, and it made my head jostle around. “You didn’t? It seemed pretty purposeful to me. Made me proud.”
Proud.
“Why?”
“Are you serious? My mate’s bear laying claim to me right there in the presence of Sela? I’m wishing we had stayed at the waterfalls to finish what we started. Then your bear would know that I am hers.”
He spoke as though my bear and I weren’t the same being. We were one and the same, yet as different as night and day.
He was my bear’s.
And he was mine.
“Just a ride to town and then we lose her, right?” I hated to be possessive, but I had a bad feeling about little miss sunshine.
“Exactly. I promised you a date.”
Without those words, I guessed he had.
“Casual?”
He chuckled, moving my hair from my face. “Jeans. A prom dress. Whatever you want. The town isn’t formal and the humans might wonder why you’re in your prom dress, but who cares?”
Jeans it was.
Sela sat in the back, shooting questions at Harrison that I thought were a little intrusive. Then again, five seconds after meeting her, I didn’t like her.
“Dolrich said he called you a bunch of times. You didn’t answer. He sent me up here to see what kind of mischief you two had gotten into.”
His cousin sent his friend up to the castle to check on us? What were we, twelve?
“My lovely mate and I were exploring. Leave it at that. Dolrich needs to mind his own business.”
Sela didn’t appreciate that answer. In the rearview mirror, I saw her cross her arms over her chest, only to uncross them and start typing on her phone.
“Here you go, Sela. Happy shopping.” Harrison had parked us on the outskirts of town. He waited until the blonde got out of the car before speaking. “That was weird, right?”
“Yeah.”
He shook it off. “So, tacos or diner?”
I gave him the stink eye. “Like real tacos? Carne asada on a corn tortilla? I don’t do crunchy shells and ground beef.”
“Real tacos. Promise. Come on. But I should tell you something about this place before we get out of this car. Havenwood Falls is glorious and terrible, lovely and vicious, pure and murky all at the same time. We don’t speak about who we are with anyone. You never know if you’re speaking to a human or not. Even our bear noses can’t tell the difference sometimes. The best rule is to assume human. I can’t wait to show you everything.”
As soon as he could, Harrison took my hand, and we walked down the streets of Havenwood Falls. He pointed out the bookstore and the coffee shop, whispering secrets to me about who owned each business and what kind of supe they were.
“Here we are.”
Harrison had brought me to a Grateful Dead concert—on a food truck.
“Are we sure that’s cilantro on these tacos? Or are they special tacos? I know that stuff is legal here. Are my tacos gonna make me see things?”
Not only did Harrison crack up, but so did the line of people waiting on tacos and some of the people working on the truck. I was surprised they could hear me over the lyrics of Shakedown Street.
“You’re funny when you’re not in the castle. Why is that?”
I shrugged. “I think that place sucks out the happiness and fun from my marrow. It’s depressing. No wonder you sneak out whenever you can.”
He pulled me closer. “It hasn’t been so bad lately.”
“Oh yeah? Why is that?” There was no hope left for me. I was a goner.
“Because I’ve got something to live for now.”
Yep. Gone.
Chapter 18
Harrison
The girl could eat. The castle must have taken away her hunger, too, because she put away six tacos before I could even finish two.
“Best tacos ever, man. Righteous.”
She was talking to the owner, Sky Spill Water, like she was on the road with the Dead right along with him. He’d come to sit by us after seeing my girl go after her food with such gusto. Said he was inspired by her. He was some kind of supe, but I couldn’t identify what. He smelled a little like troll.
He wasn’t the only one who was inspired, either. There was something about Atlas that I hadn’t noticed before. Maybe it was setting her free of the castle. Maybe it was the deep-seated magic of Havenwood Falls.
Maybe it was just because Atlas was Atlas.
“This bride of yours is something else,” Sky said while practically forcing a serving of flan down our throats.
“She really is,” I said, waiting for her to have something in her mouth, taking away her chance to protest. Eyes cut to mine, and even around a mouthful of flan, she smiled and took my hand under the table.
I didn’t know if it was the magic of the waterfall or simply getting out from under the roof of oppression, but something was happening to us. Something soul-tugging and life-alte
ring.
I thought maybe I was falling in love with my mate.
Stupid thing to do on my part.
We bade goodbye to Sky before he tried to fill us up with more food. He invited us to some kind of outdoor concert, but Atlas spoke up quickly and made our excuses.
“I couldn’t eat another thing. That place was so good.”
“I’ve actually never eaten there.”
She cracked up. “Oh, Harrison, you’re such a snob. “
Well, that hurt. She wasn’t wrong, on the same coin.
“I am. Wanna help me with that?”
“Help you with not being snobby? Sure. Pick up that penny.”
I looked down at the sidewalk where she pointed. Pennies were dirty and not even worth their weight in copper.
“Why?” That was my first question.
“Just do it.”
“It’s . . .” I hadn’t realized I had such an aversion to coins.
“Pick up the damned penny. I’ll give you a reward later if you do.”
The penny was in my hand before she could finish her sentence.
“For the rest of the day, you have to wave to people in town and smile.”
“That sounds painful.”
Reaching between us, she took my hand in hers. “Trust me, the rewards will be good.”
“Hello!” I yelled to the first person I saw and waved like a lunatic.
Ronya Augustine, one of the mages, didn’t wave back. Her lip curled at my out-of-character greeting, and as we passed her, she mumbled something under her breath that even my shifter hearing couldn’t make out.
Soon she’d forgotten our deal, enamored by the town square. “Oh! Look how beautiful. It reminds me of the Gilmore Girls!”
I didn’t know who the Gilmore Girls were or why the town square reminded her of them, but whoever they were had her eyes lit up like the lights for the fallen at the Festival of Lights in January.
I’d snuck into the Festival of Lights one time with Dolrich. He ended up tattling on us. We were fifteen.
