Repercussions (Evie Cortez Book 2.5)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Ethan Reid wasn’t someone Caleb would consider a friend. He was sure no one called Ethan a friend. He was however an asset worth knowing, just in case, and now was one of those exact moments. Ethan was a fallen angel from the east side of the Underworld. Demons controlled the west. From what Caleb heard, the Underworld was in a constant battle between the demons and the dark fallen angels.

Ethan wasn’t the type of creature you could be too careful around either. Thomas was human and Evangeline didn’t have a strong grasp on her powers. Caleb called his second and close friend, Jake Thompson.

It would be better to leave Jake out of the mix just in case the pack needed him to take leadership in the event of Caleb getting hurt, but right now there was no one he trusted more to have his back. Deep in his heart Jake was a warrior. When he was attacked by the wolf that infected him he should’ve died, his body was a battered mess of bones and ripped muscle and in spite of that, he lived and climbed the ranks quicker than any wolf Caleb had the pleasure of meeting. There was no threat too big to make Jake shy away. He didn’t let fear stand in his way and that made him the perfect beta an alpha could have.

Caleb was back at the cabin with Evangeline. Thomas had other work to catch up on at his motel.

Evangeline was pacing the living room. “Demons. It almost sounds like a joke, a very demented joke. I was kind of hoping this would all turn out to be a new witch that let a spell get away from her and I was just in the way. No harm no foul. When will Jake be getting here?” her words rambled closely together, a sure sign her nerves were getting the best of her.

“It should be another half hour, he has to finish up with his shift at the medical examiner’s office. Is there anything I can get you?”

With a shake of her head, she sat next to him on the long couch. Everything in the cabin ran larger to accommodate the pack and the large gatherings they would have. “You’re a great cook but I’d rather talk to you about something else.”

Caleb knew what the something else was. If she wasn’t trying to solve her own attack, her focus was on the mystery of their relationship. She wanted answers he didn’t have and others he couldn’t admit. “What is it?”

“There’s a memory I’m wrestling with. We were in the hallway outside my bedroom and I was upset about something. I was in a towel and you didn’t have much more on either. I was crying in your arms. What I can’t figure out is why that took place.”

The memory replayed vividly across his eyes. It was that day everything started to change for them. She let him in and confided to him about her deepest fears. She had just killed a coven witch in self defense and didn’t know how to cope. For every tear she cried, he was there to help her wipe them dry. He didn’t care how long it took, he refused to leave her until her anguish ended.

“Caleb? Tell me.”

“Remember how I told you about the coven warlock who came after you?”

“Yes. You said I killed him.”

“What you’re remembering came after that.”

“You’ve been helping me with the conflict with the coven from the beginning.” There wasn’t a question there but he answered anyway.

“You hid for years and never let your true identity show. You were safe from them and risked that to save me and Jamie.”

“It was just you repaying a debt, nothing more?” She was good, effortlessly she maneuvered them back to that conversation she’d been wanting to have this whole time.

 “If I said differently it wouldn’t matter. You’re suffering from amnesia and don’t have your own memories and thoughts. You’re trying to figure out mine when they don’t account for much.” Again it all came down to the bitter truth that’s been staring him down for the last several months, the harsh words that Evangeline herself used on him. “You don’t want me.”

“That’s funny because everything I do feel, says differently.” In a flash of super speed, she cupped her hands around his face and stared deep into the dark blue hue of his eyes. “I don’t know if its being here alone with you or the way you’re helping me, but the only person I remember is you and what I remember is feeling safe and feeling something bigger than words can describe.” Her rushed words told the story of her conflict, the ache she carried to fill in the blanks and sort through her own feelings.

His heart raced to finally hear the words the connection he felt deep in his chest wasn’t one sided. Whatever was there between them, she felt it too. “Evangeline—”

“I remembered you telling me we had sex and you didn’t want me to forget it, well guess what? I haven’t forgotten it. Every time I look at you, I remember it all over again.”

“You weren’t in your right state of mind—”

And just like that she shut him up with a kiss. Her hand slid down his neck and over his shoulders where she gripped him tight, her mouth was soft yet demanding across his own. The kiss was a frenzy of desire and curiosity.

The last time they gave into something this pulsating neither of them were of sound mind. Caleb couldn’t say that now, he knew right from wrong, and this was wrong.

Her kiss tasted like heaven and her body wrapping around him was an image pulled right from his dreams. Yet, it was still wrong.

Caleb gripped her shoulders, using all his fragile will power he pushed her away. “We can’t do this. You’re not yourself.” He couldn’t take advantage. He wanted all of her, not some version without the full story.

“I don’t have all my memories but I can make my own decisions about what I want.” She ran her delicate hand down his chest. He growled low in his throat. “I know you want this. I realized that the first night in your house.”

Caleb let his eyes drink her in, the pout of her mouth swollen from their kiss, the blush in her cheeks from the same reason, her bluish stormy eyes were open and honest. She wasn’t telling him anything she didn’t believe right now in the moment. But he knew that would change. She wasn’t his. When her memories returned, she’d go back to the life she wanted, the life she fought to keep, the one with no room for him.

Memories of what could’ve been and the stolen moments they shared were all he was destined to have to keep him warm during those lonely nights he lay full of regret. Of all the women in the world, he had to want the one that would always be just out of reach.

He knew he owed her some shred of honesty after this. “When you have all the pieces back and if you still want me, I’m all yours. It can’t be now.” Everything inside of him, man and wolf, protested the words like a sharp knife between his ribs.

Beyond the door into the driveway he heard a car pulling up. With a slight nod, Evangeline stood from the couch. “I’ll get it.”