Novak Raven (Harper's Mountains #4)(31)

“This doesn’t scare me away.”

“It should. You haven’t seen the bad parts yet. I can’t spend the night or fall asleep beside you. It’s getting worse and worse, and you’ll be hurt by it.”

“I won’t.”

“You will. I watched my mom fuss over my dad my whole life. I want better for you.”

But Weston was wrong. There was no one better for her. “I don’t think you’re broken,” she whispered, hugging him so tightly her arms shook. “I think you’re perfect.”

“I’m not—”

“You are for me! I get to decide what I want and don’t want, Weston. Me. My choices were taken away my whole life, but my eyes are wide open on this. I care for you. Always have. Before the sight, after the sight, doesn’t matter to me. You’re telling me this thinking you’ll scare me away, but it won’t work. You letting me in only makes me care for you more.” Avery scrambled on top of him and straddled his hips. Then she leaned toward his left pec, her mouth open. He was too sad and too serious right now and she wanted to distract him.

“Whoa, what are you doing?” Weston asked, sitting up and nearly dumping her on her ass.

When he held her wrists, she stretched her neck forward and chomped her teeth, missing his pec by an inch. “I’m biting you. What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Biting me for what?”

“To claim you. The bears do it.”

“Good God, we aren’t bears, Ave. Stop!”

She stretched forward again and barely missed his shoulder when she snapped her teeth this time. Good grief, he was annoyingly strong.

“Ave, quit!”

“Okay, fine, you’re right. You bite me first.”

Weston’s eyebrows were nearly to his hairline now. “Have you lost your mind, woman? That shit’s permanent. You really want my mark on you after one night with me?”

“No. I want your mark on me after being friends for…” She counted quickly in her head. “Fourteen years.” Chomp. “And now official diddle buddies. You wanted to f*ck my titties, Novak. We’re committed.”

Weston was trying and failing to hide a smile now as he struggled to keep her teeth away from his skin. “We weren’t friends for most of those fourteen years.”

“That’s just a technicality, Novak.” Chomp. Whoo, that one was close.

“God, you would make a relentless and terrifying zombie.”

Avery peeled into a fit of giggles and fell over, clutching her stomach. “You should see your face right now.” She kicked her legs and cackled. “You’re freaking out.”

“Joking about claiming marks isn’t funny.” But she could see his pursed-lip smile from here, and this was definitely funny.

She spread out like a star on the mossy blanket and heaved a sigh. “Weston?” she asked, staring up at the sky.

“What?”

“Someday you’re going to want to bite me like the bears do.”

“Oh, yeah? You have the sight now, too?”

“No, I just know in my bones that you will. I’m gonna make you fall in love with me.”

You already have. He didn’t say that last part, but she could see it there, in his dancing eyes. He liked her in the way she liked him, and someday, someway, he was going to choose her completely.

“I was made for you, Weston, remember? I was supposed to betray you, but I failed. I adored you instead. Before I even laid eyes on you, before I knew the man you would become, I started growing a bond just from words you wrote on a paper. We’re fated, you and I, and you said it yourself.”

Weston cocked his head in a very raven-like gesture and brushed a strand of hair from her face. “Said what?”

She leaned her cheek into his palm and whispered, “You can’t stop someone’s destiny.”





Chapter Fourteen


You can’t stop someone’s destiny. Weston had replayed her words over and over in his head. Was that what this feeling was? Was destiny to credit for the heat in his chest that pulled him toward Avery just to get relief? Was fate the reason she felt so right in his life now?

He’d never given a single thought to destiny before the visions, but how could he see the future and not believe? He’d tried to stop events from happening, but they always found a way. Fate was a stubborn bitch, but maybe she was finally working in his favor with Avery.

The chair creaked under him as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. Thank God for good night vision. He could see every beautiful angle of Avery’s face as she slept in the bed of 1010.

She’d asked him to stay the night and sleep beside her, but he was too smart for that. He woke up from visions violently sometimes, and he wouldn’t risk hurting her. He wouldn’t risk showing her the dark side of his life. Telling her about it was one thing, but if she saw how f*cked up he was, she would change her mind. She would break her promise to make him fall in love with her, and he didn’t want her to do that. He wanted her to try. He wanted her to come into her own and break him apart. He wanted her to force his heart open and claim him. It had already been tempting to let her bite him tonight, even if she was just teasing. So tempting to bind her to him like the bears did. So tempting to secure a mate and make sure he didn’t wander through his life alone. But Avery had just found out her life was full of lies, and she was on the tail end of hard times.