Dark Fates (A Paranormal Anthology)(12)

No, she used her gift to help others.

It was all she could do in thanks.

So now, here she was, head bent over another book, magic unlike a witch’s running through her veins and a small prayer in her heart.

Noah shifted, his arm pressing into hers slightly. She pressed back, leaning into him, taking that small guilty pleasure.

He bent and kissed the top of her head, sending warmth through her body.

It was such a small thing, a slight touch here, a sweet kiss there, but she relished it. Craved it.

She didn’t want to let it go.

Not ever.

“Shit. What about this?”

Emeline started at Noah’s words then looked at the book in front of him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. She inhaled his musky scent then promptly forgot her need for him as she read the words in front of her.

“Oh goddess, this could work!”

Noah kissed her temple and squeezed her tight. “It’s a spell to counteract the dark. The only caveat is that it takes direct contact with the optical nerve.” Noah cursed. “I’m not proficient enough for what this eye surgery would entail. I’ve assisted North with it once, but I’ve never done anything like that on my own. I’m still learning. But with Hannah’s help, I think we could do it.” He and North might run only a clinic, but they’d learned as much of modern medicine as they could. They needed to heal all types of injures humans could not be allowed to see, so it made sense that Noah would know about this type of procedure.

“You can. You’d have to take your time and learn how to do it before we even go to North. Plus, according to this, it will take me at least six months to brew the right spell.”

“But we can do this. It’ll work.” Excitement filled Noah’s voice, and it was all Emeline could do not to throw her arms around him and kiss him senseless.

“It will work. We can’t get North’s hopes up, though. So we keep it to ourselves while we’re learning and then let them all know so they’re prepared.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. Holy shit, Em, we did it.”

“Well, we’re going to.”

He smiled then kissed her softly, pulling back with a groan. “Let’s get you some food, put these books away, and take the night off.” He ran a fingertip under her eyes. “We both need the rest.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

They picked up their mess and sank into the cushions of the couch, gorging on antipasto and the small sandwiches Noah had made. Emeline leaned into him, enjoying the small comfort.

“Can you tell me about Jeffery?”

Emeline sat up, her sandwich forgotten. “What?”

Noah cursed then sat up as well, taking her plate from her hand and setting it on the coffee table. “I meant to be smoother about that. Shit, I’m sorry, Em.”

“Why? Why do you want to know?”

A strange look passed over his face, and then he sighed. “I want to know more about you. Jeffery was your mate and a heavy part of your past. I…I just want to know you.”

Emeline licked her lips, her mind going in a hundred different directions. She didn’t want to talk about Jeffery. She wanted him firmly in the past. She couldn’t think about what she’d lost when she sat next to the man she wanted now.

It wasn’t a stain on Jeffery’s memory for her to want another man. It had been a years since he’d passed, but it was difficult for her to speak about him in any sense.

That’s why she had to do it.

“He wasn’t my full mate,” she began. “We never completed the mating process.”

Noah nodded, urging her to continue. He took her hand, and her wolf steadied, ready for her to speak.

“My father never liked him. You see Jeffery was a submissive wolf. A strong submissive wolf, but not high ranking. My father was a purist. He wanted only the best for me and refused to believe fate would give me something as useless as a weak mate.”

Noah growled, and she held up her free hand.

“My father was an idiot. I know that. I knew that then. I was ready to run away with Jeffery, but he wanted to prove himself worthy.” She let out a sigh. “Only I didn’t know that at the time. You see, when my father found out I was going to mate Jeffery anyway, he locked me away and told Jeffery I wanted nothing to do with him. I’d been chained in the basement and broke my fingers trying to release myself, but I couldn’t. Jeffery left the den thinking I had rejected him and went to fight another war for another Pack. Instead of fighting and coming home a hero, he died at the hands of another wolf. He was a submissive. He was never supposed to fight in that war, but my father made him.”

“Oh, Em, I’m sorry, baby.” He cupped her face, and she turned her head, kissing his palm.

She didn’t shed a tear. Not this time. She’d moved on from Jeffery in the years past, but it still wasn’t an easy conversation to have.

“What happened to your father?”

Emeline sighed. “A former Alpha, Kade’s grandfather, had him executed in a Pack circle. He was a traitor.”

“Shit, Em. Damn. I don’t know what to say.”

She shrugged. “It’s been over for centuries, Noah. Now you know my past, but you also need to know that it won’t direct my future. I’m not the same person I once was.”