Page 19 of Winter Unleashed
“One, you know guardians are hard to kill since they take on our immortality. And Two, the owl is my guardian, Walter.”
“You have a guardian too?” Guardians are kind of like watch dogs. They keep an eye on their chosen ward and alert them of any danger. They are a rarity among shifters, so if we both had one, it meant something… right? Our guardians were clearly friends, which had to be a sign. Possibly.
Nibbling on my lip, I shifted my gaze to him. “Tell me more. What else should I know?” I asked.
When his jaw twitched, I repositioned myself, so I was facing him. “Liam, I know this must be hard for you. If we are mates and we’ve lost that bond somehow, it must be hell for you seeing me, knowing I can’t rememberus. So, tell me everything, anything you think may help me get back to you.”
He clenched his hands into fists and turned away from me. “Right now, it’s taking all the strength I have not to touch you, hold you. I miss you so much it hurts,” he said, lifting one fist to rub the center of his chest. He bowed his head and his hair fell forward to hide his face.
I wasn’t sure what to believe yet, but I knew the pain in his eyes when he looked at me was real. Fairy spells or not, the man clearly cared for me, and he was suffering. The compassion I felt toward him was a sign I couldn’t possibly hate him like I’d thought.
I reached out to brush his hair away from his face, tucking it behind his ear. Then I placed my hand on his arm to draw his fist from his chest. “Talk to me. Help me remember.”
He sighed but looked at me. “I hadn’t planned on telling you everything tonight. I don’t want to overwhelm you, but maybe I should. You always hated not knowing everything.”
“Well, it definitely sounds like you know me. I’ll give you that.” I let out a soft laugh. “Overwhelm me. Give me all you got. Let’s see what happens.”
“If you want me to stop, just tell me,” he said, and I nodded. “Okay…”
Chapter Six
By the time he was done, the sun was low in the sky. I sat staring at the lake for a long while after he’d finished. Some things he’d told me were outrageous, like his age for one. I knew it was possible for shifters to be thousands of years old. I just never expected to meet one.
“Look at me, Ember,” he whispered.
When my eyes met his, I jumped to my feet. “What in the holy fuck? You— You’re— Why do you look like that?”
“This is the real me. This is how I look without the Fae spell to make me look like an Autumn shifter.”
His dark brown hair was now black with a white streak running down the center. My hands went to my red hair and the matching streak as I stared at him. Black and red were not hair colors shifters ever had. And a streak was unheard of. It was why the other shifters had always thought the supposed moon goddess Artemis had cursed me.
I’d never seen anyone else with a streak in their hair. It was freaky and comforting at the same time. Then I noticed his eyes. One had stayed light brown, but the other had changed to bright blue… just like mine.
He rose to stand but stayed a good distance away from me, making me realize he knew enough about me to know I could freak out at any second.
“I don’t know what’s going on.” I wrapped my arms around my middle, hugging myself while trying to figure out what the fuck was happening. “You’ve been in my nightmares, but they’re so real I’ve wondered if they’re repressed memories. You look like that in them.”
His face fell and the hurt in his eyes was unmistakable. “Nightmares?”
I told him about the dreams I’d been having. How much he hated me in them. How scared I was of him. And how much he loved the woman.
“The woman. It was Celeste. Her hair was brown instead of gray, but it was her. I see that now.” I furrowed my brow and nibbled my lips as I replayed the awful dreams. In every one of them the man tried to scare me, and the woman tried to kill me.
He heaved out a breath. “I don’t understand what’s going on, but I can assure you I’ve never tried to hurt you. I would never hurt you.”
“That’s great. I just wish I could believe you. All I have are these crazy visions or nightmares or whatever they are.” A part of me wanted to believe him. He seemed sincere, but I couldn’t help the feeling of dread I got when I looked at him now that I’d seen him the way he was in my dreams. The nightmares were too real. “I assume you and Celeste have a history, one that didn’t end well?”
His jaw twitched and his eyes hardened. He was upset, but something told me I wasn’t the problem. “Something like that, yes.”
“Were you lovers?”
He shook his head. The movement was stiff, but clear.
“And why do you have the mark? Did Artemis curse you too?” I caught myself, pulling my hand back before I touched his hair.
“It’s not a curse. It never was. The mark is a symbol of honor given to you by the Fae. I am the Vinur, and you are the Vinura. Astrid created you to be my mate, my partner. We are meant to oversee all supernatural beings.”
“This is all too much. Too unbelievable. As far as I know, we barely know each other. All I know about you is your name, that you’re an Alpha, you’re wealthy, but that’s really it.” I started pacing while trying to sort it all out. “I need time to figure this out.”