Page 16 of Winter Unleashed
“Miss Steele,” Philip said as he rose from his seat, “whatever Celeste has done to you has severed the mate bond. It makes sense for you to be confused, but I assure you Liam Fraser is your mate.”
“Em, let me show you something.” Stella took out her phone before I could respond to Philip. “I took it the night of your birthday. Liam threw you a party.” She glanced up at me to see if I’d react, but I shook my head to let her know I didn’t remember. “Okay, here it is.”
I gasped and tore the phone from her hand. “What the fuck?” I whispered as I stared down at the picture of me and Liam. He had one hand on the small of my back, the other cradled the back of my head as we stared into each other’s eyes as though we were the only people in the world.
The room spun, and I dropped the phone. I suddenly couldn’t breathe. I needed to be outside, in the fresh air. Without a word I rose and stumbled to the back door, throwing it open and stepping out of the house. Panic overwhelmed me as the confusion of what I’d seen and what I knew warred with each other in my mind.
That niggle still hid from me, but a flash of Celeste in my living room hit at the same time as the pain. I tried focusing on that flicker of memory but doubled over as the pain intensified. Strong hands caught me before I crashed onto the deck floor.
“Relax,” Philip said. He’d been the one to catch me, and he still had me cradled in his arms when the pain disappeared. “Breathe. Stop fighting the memory. Let it lie where it is. Whatever spell she put on you will cause that pain when you’re close to revealing what she covered up.”
“I don’t understand what’s going on. This is so confusing.”
He carried me into the house to set me down on the couch. Then he lowered himself onto the coffee table in front of me while holding my hands. “I know you’re confused and scared, but you will have to trust us.”
“We’ve already established that I trust you.” I glanced at Isaac and Stella. They stared at me with tight expressions. “Stop worrying you two. It’s making me nervous.”
“You’ll need to date Liam,” Philip said, bringing my attention back to him.
“Uh… I don’t know about that,” I said with a shake of my head.
He smiled and for once it wasn’t creepy. “If you date him, get to know him all over again, it may reignite the bond. Your memories may return.”
“Isaac, what do you think?” I asked him because he’d never liked Liam Fraser. And because Isaac had been the one person I could count on since I’d been born.
“I agree with Philip.” He lowered himself to sit beside me again. “Do you remember anything about the Vin—”
“Let’s take this slow,” Philip interrupted. “Let’s start with getting to know Liam and we can go from there.
Isaac glared at him and reluctantly nodded. “Okay, one step at a time.”
“Uh, so how does Fraser feel about all this?” I asked. “If this is all true, does he remember me?”
Stella frowned. “Yes, he does. You’re the mate I told you he lost. It’s why he was so upset when you acted the way you did. He suffered for hours when Celeste severed your connection. All his memories of you remained.”
“Why would Celeste want to take my memories of Liam? What’s in it for her?” I tried touching that faded memory again but at the first hint of pain I pulled back.
“We don’t know,” Stella said. “We know she wants your help with something, but we aren’t sure exactly what. Astrid thinks she will try to befriend you to turn you against us, so you’ll agree to whatever it is she wants.”
“Astrid?” I muttered. When she’d said the name, the niggle shivered again. “I think I’m supposed to know who that is, but I got nothing.”
“For all intents and purposes, Astrid is Liam’s fairy godmother,” Isaac explained.
I snorted out a laugh. “All righty, I think I’ll let that one go for now.”
“All you need to know right now is she’s another fairy. A powerful one,” Isaac continued. “She’s going to figure out what Celeste did and try to reverse it. For now, she thinks you should spend time with Fraser. She believes the bond can never be fully severed, and therefore, your wolf will recognize him.”
That vision of Celeste standing in my living room flickered in my mind again. This time I was looking up at her, rubbing my head. I rose from my seat to look at the spot from the vision.
“What’s wrong?” Isaac asked.
“I got a flash of me on the floor over there with Celeste looking down at me.” I shrugged. “It’s blurry like the rest of them.”
“Can you tell how you felt looking up at her?” Philip asked.
“Angry. Huh… I didn’t even need to think about that answer.” I shook my head. “Why did Celeste leave my memories of you guys? Why didn’t she take them away? And why didn’t she make my memories of her stronger?”
Stella shrugged. “We don’t have any actual answers, only theories. Astrid insists Celeste will try to sour your view of us. Which you said she’s already started. We’re not sure why or how she’s doing this, but we know Celeste is bad news and you need to be wary of her. It’d be better if you moved back in with Liam—”