The emotional and physical connection had struck like a bolt of lightning.
His parents had yelled for a few minutes, until they noticed the bands on his wrists. Then they did their best to comfort him. Offer him some kind of hope for the future. But he had none without her. He’d known she might leave, but he hadn’t realized how painful it was to be so far from her. The further she traveled, the harder it was to maintain the connection between them. He was losing her.
His father and uncles had done their best to reach out and find her with contacts above and under the board. To no avail. It was as if she’d literally dropped off the face of the earth.
Allan said it was called going off grid.
Day after day, Noah found himself back in old lady Craig’s barn. He could still catch Emma’s scent here. It was the only place in town he could still find it.
He took a deep breath and looked up at the glints of sun shining through the walls of the old barn. Old hay, manure, and a little of her clung in the air. It was almost gone now. Soon he wouldn’t be able to connect with her here either.
Then it would get really bad.
The only place he found respite from the pain was in his books. Literature and history were his refuge. He’d thrown himself into his studies and gotten A’s in everything. Even in the math class he despised.
“Noah?” His brother’s voice pierced the early morning silence. Finals were over now.
“I’m here,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. He wiped his eyes in case an unwelcome tear showed itself.
The door on the barn creaked and Luke slipped inside, sinking to the floor of the barn on the opposite side of the post, putting them back to back.
“How did you know I was here?” Noah asked, leaning his head against his arms as he draped them over his raised knees.
“Mom called and said you never came down for breakfast. This is where we always find you when you disappear early in the morning.”
“You’ve been following me?”
“Yep.” Luke chuckled. “Mom wanted to know you were okay.”
“You mean she wanted to be sure I hadn’t left.”
“That too,” Luke said, his voice low and drawn out. “You have to go find her, Noah. You can’t live like this.”
Noah sighed. If only it were that easy. Maybe, if he had followed her from the very start, but now...now he would wander forever, always trying to get a bead on her location. The pain of losing her overwhelmed the beacon he should be able to use to track her.
“If she needed or wanted me half as much as I do her. She would come back.”
“You know that’s not true. You told me she was afraid. She’s staying away to protect you. She’s probably curled up somewhere just as miserable as you are, dreaming of seeing your ugly face again.”
“Hey, at least I don’t have yours.” Noah raised his head and felt his lips twitch as a smile played with the corners.
He missed his twin brother. They might not have identical faces, but their personalities were more alike than either of them cared to admit, even though their interests varied greatly. He missed living with him.
“I don’t know where to start. It’s been too long. I can’t feel her anymore.”
“That’s hogwash and you know it.” Luke snorted. “Close your eyes, find her scent, and slow your heart.”
“How do you know what to do?”
“I asked Dad.”
“He wants me to find her?” Noah sat up straight and twisted to the side so that he now faced Luke. “They want you to be happy. I told them the only way that would happen is if you found Emma and brought her back to Somewhere. She hasn’t returned to the Hamptons or popped up anywhere else. Allan has been keeping an ear to the ground and Uncle Jason said a lawyer buddy of his told him that last week the Carrington estate was finalized and liquidated.”
Noah shook his head. She would’ve come back to him. Wouldn’t she? If she was free of the darkness that plagued her, he would’ve felt her relief. Or was he too much of a mess to feel anything right now?
“Are you ready to try? Or do you want to sit in this musty old barn and hope for the best while your life with Emma fades into the aether? Even Kara, has been bugging me about it.”
Noah took another deep breath and glanced toward the barn door. “Tell me what to do. The last thing I need is your girlfriend giving me a guilt trip. If she’s bugging you, I know I’m next on the list, especially since I can smell her standing outside.”
His brother smiled. “I wondered how long it would take you to realize she came with me.”
“Her scent is all over you, but the breeze started to carry it through the cracks in the walls.”
Luke stood and Noah followed suit.
“Dad said to close your eyes and picture her in your mind. Slow your pulse and take long deep breaths.”
Noah followed his brother’s directions. When his eyes closed, he could see her as she’d been last— about to cry as she left him right where he was standing. Pain lanced through his heart like a knife and a tear rolled down his cheek.
“Push past that memory and look for her. Your souls are tied together. You can find her. Search for that strong connection you had those first few days. Pull it forward.”
That connection to her was tangible after the initial spell had been cast. For the first few days, he’d known exactly where she was and could almost hear the roar of the truck engine and the jolt as the raced down the highways away from him. He’d felt the warm breeze on her cheek the day after she left, like she was outside somewhere standing in the sun. And he’d felt the burn of tears when she’d cried herself to sleep that first night.
He should’ve followed her then, but he was angry and hurt. She’d been able to ignore the call of their bond and leave him behind. He should be able to do the same.
He’d fled the house after feeling her sorrow. Turning into a wolf the second his feet touched the ground outside. He ran until his lungs gave out and he collapsed onto a bed a prickly needles at the base of a large grove of old pines.
But then he’d felt her fear and confusion. She’d felt him running. She could feel everything he felt. So he’d shut it off. He’d blocked everything so she could have peace...so he could try to do the same.
It hadn’t worked.
Now he had to flip the switch again and feel all of her rushing back into his consciousness. She wouldn’t be able to block him. She hadn’t been taught how.
He had to find the thread.
It was there in the back of his mind. He could feel the power ebbing and flowing through it. Pulling it forward, he focused on it and felt the magick grow and expand as it came rushing back. It hadn’t been as hard as he thought it would be, but it was much more painful.
He groaned and leaned forward, resting his shoulder against the post. She was there in his mind once again. He could feel heat from the sun. She was sad, but not distraught. Her pulse was speeding up. He knew she could feel the bridge between them unfurling again. It had to be so confusing. Soon he would explain everything and she would be safe in his arms again. Soon this pain would be gone.
Whatever had driven her away from him the first time didn’t matter anymore. He would face anything to have her again. He just needed her to feel the same way.
“I love you, Emma. I’m coming for you.”
“You found her?”
Noah nodded. “Tell Dad to call the airport. I’m going to need the plane.”
Chapter 22
“Emma.”
“Out here, Lucy,” Emma called from the veranda of their small villa in Argentina. It was on the side of a mountain, looking out over the small town below. It was a quiet place to disappear. That’s what they’d done—completely disappear.
It had been necessary. People were hunting her. One by one, Lucy had made sure they were taken care of—arrested or...something else. But after things calmed down, she missed her life. But mostly she missed Noah. Which was stupid
in her mind, because she barely knew him.
Yet, there was this magickal connection they had. She’d felt it right after he’d said the spell in the barn and then for nearly a week afterward. Every breath of pain and anguish he’d felt, she’d felt. How, she didn’t know. But somehow something was allowing her to feel his emotions. Even sometimes to feel things physically that he was feeling.
Then one day it stopped.
And Noah’s absence left an emptiness in her that made her weep. It was like he’d cut the cord. Everything was gone. The feelings. The sense of being connected. It was all gone. She was alone. Weeks passed before she was able to stop begging Lucy to take her back to Somewhere, Texas. She had to see him again. At least to know he was alive and well. Not knowing if something had happened to him was worse torture than sharing his pain had ever been.
But then three days ago, the connection came back. It was different this time. Stronger and swelled with a confidence that hadn’t been there previously. The pain had been replaced with hope.
She spent every day on the veranda, watching the road, waiting for him to appear. His presence got stronger and stronger, until every nerve ending in her body hummed with anticipation. She needed to see him as much as touch him. Taste him.
“He’s coming, isn’t he?” Lucy walked up and stopped next to her chair.
“I have to go with him, Lucy. I love him. I can’t explain it, but I do and I have to, Lu—”
“Shhhhh, child. I understand. There are only a few people left that present you any threat at all and none of them will think to look for you in Somewhere. But you will have to keep a low profile and you won’t be able to contact your old friends again. You’ll also have to keep your alias. You can never officially be a Carrington again.”
Emma smiled. “I like being Emma Craig. I’m fine with living a different life, Lucy. I just...”
“I know.” Lucy turned to leave, but paused. “I’ll give you two some privacy.”
“You know he’s almost here? How?” Emma asked, her eyes searching the road again.
“A friend called me when he landed at the airport,” Lucy answered, a hint of amusement in her eyes. “I know almost everything before it happens.”
Emma grinned. “I think you’re the one who might need to relax a little more.”
“Never happen,” Lucy said as she left the porch and disappeared into the villa.
No. It probably wouldn’t.
The rumble of an engine on the road snagged her attention and she stood from her chair. A brown jeep pulled up to the front of the house. Noah’s tousled light brown hair was flipping in the wind, begging for her fingers to dig through it. She met his heated blue gaze and leapt from the porch to the driveway below.
“Emma.” He slipped from the Jeep, his black cowboy boots hitting the gravel drive with a crunch. She was in his arms before he could take another step. Their emotions swirled around them. Fear. Love. Joy. Anxiety. It was a mix of long overdue excitement and nervousness about what the other might say.
His strong arms encircled her and she took a deep breath of the woodsy piney scent still clinging to his blue plaid flannel shirt. Soft, yet deliciously strong and masculine. She’d missed him so much.
“God, I love you, Emma.” He squeezed her tighter and buried his face in her hair. “You have to come home with me. I need you more than the air I’m breathing right now. I know you can feel it, too. I know it’s confusing and frightening and I’m sorry I didn’t have time to explain everything that would happen. But, I want that chance now. Please, Emma. Just give me a chance.”
“I want that, too, Noah. I want you with every breath I take. With every beat of my heart, I ache to be with you.” Emma slid her hands up his hard chest to his neck and then cupped his scratchy face. His love for her poured out of him and into her like water flowing from a fountain, washing away any doubt she’d ever had about staying with him.
“Lucy said it’s okay for me to go. But I have to keep my true identity a secret.”
“Whatever it is that haunts you, I can protect you. My family can protect you. You are family. You are mine,” he said, the last part only a whisper as he slipped his hand into her hair and pulled her mouth to meet his.
His lips crushed hers and she melted into his kiss. Feeling the rush of emotions flow between them was heady.
Nothing had ever felt more perfect. More right. No one had ever felt more like home.
She pulled back and cupped his face. His blue eyes pierced her soul. Magic may have sealed the bond, but she’d fallen for him long before that spell had been cast.
“I love you too, Noah.”
Ready for the next VonBrandt Pack story?
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READ AN EXCERPT FROM TO WIN A MATE…
VonBrandt Pack Book 3
New Orleans, Louisiana
“Jared, so good to see you.”
Jared VonBrandt handed his invitation to the perfectly-put-together middle-aged woman behind the table, and smiled. “You know I’d never miss one of the LaBlanc Charities. My family’s company has supported the LaBlanc Cancer Research Institute for years.”
“Probably a decade now,” she said, handing him his number. The large card was white, with the number fifteen printed in bold black at the top. “You’re at table three, hon.”
He tipped his chin down and smiled. “Thank you.”
The crowd of people at the LaBlanc event was dressed in their absolute finest. The family had a way of bringing wealth from all over the country to support their institute. Cancer research was definitely worthwhile and this charity received at least a quarter of VonBrandt Oil’s budget for donations.
Straightening the bowtie at his neck, Jared took a deep breath and readjusted his tuxedo coat. He didn’t mind getting dressed up, but if he had a choice—boots, jeans, and a T-shirt were his go-to choices. Didn’t need anything else on the ranch. He worked from his desk eighty percent of the time anyway, never leaving his house except for events like this one.
He ran the promotional department of VonBrandt Oil. At least it gave him something to do, other than sit on his porch in a rocker like an old man. He was only thirty-two. His cousins had lots of friends in town, but he preferred the solitude of the ranch and the woods.
Jared ran daily with the hybrid wolves his cousin, and alpha, Aaron kept at the main house on the ranch. The dogs were good companions and he enjoyed soaking up the sun and scent of the pine forest. He’d been born a werewolf, and embraced it completely. Being a wolf was as much part of him as being a person.
An excellent business degree from the local university, in Somewhere, Texas could’ve gotten him a job anywhere in the country, especially with his extended family connections. But his only desire was to stay on the ranch, eventually find a mate, and have a family. So far no one in particular, even the visitors during the full moon runs, had piqued his interested.
For now, he’d just continue on with life. Tonight his mission was to find a piece of artwork for Tonya, Aaron’s wife. She’d requested something for the redesign of her formal living room. Something with blue preferably. He’d hugged her and assured her
he’d keep an eye out.
The massive ballroom was filled with people. Several women looked his way and gave him a smile, but he merely returned the polite gesture and moved through the crowd to his table. It was near the front. Another perk for being part of a very wealthy and influential family.
Since two of his cousins had married into powerful east coast families, he’d been invited to several functions in the Hamptons during the summer season. Still, the LaBlanc dinner was phenomenal. The food was prepared by a Michelin—star Chef—and well worth the five hundred dollar donation for his dinner plate. The auction after dinner was always a good place to find unique items, too.
Jared found his place, marked by an elaborately penned calligraphic version of his name. The waiter filled his water glass and he ordered from the provided wine list while the rest of the dining room began to take their seats.
He enjoyed his wine, shortly followed by a stellar five course meal. A photo slide show played, and the LaBlanc’s head of PR narrated the progress the Institute had made over the previous year. They also shared plans for the upcoming one.
Mr. and Mrs. LaBlanc got up, once dinner had concluded, and gave their sincerest thanks to everyone attending. They announced that the dinner tickets were sold out and had raised one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
“We need your absolute generosity again this year. Last year the auction raised $2.6 million dollars. We have some very special things in store for you this year and we know you’ll all help the institute reach its three million dollar goal this year. Thank you,” Mrs. LaBlanc said, blowing a kiss to the audience. “Your catalogs have been delivered to the table. Let the bidding begin.”
To Love A Mate: Somewhere, TX (VonBrandt Pack Book 2) Page 12
