ARABELLA'S P.O.V
After years, I’ve discovered that my cryptic, nightmarish dreams are really repressed memories. And Caden is in those memories.
“I did know you when we were kids, Arabella. I took you away from that place. From your father.” Even in the freezing rain, Caden’s eyes burn into mine. He pulls me closer, rain clinging to his hair his full mouth…
“And you kept this from me? Honestly, I don’t what to believe anymore.”
“To protect you. Like I always have. I saved your life, and I’d do it again. Consequences be damned.”
“But why? Why did you do it? Why did you---” Instead of answering, Caden takes my face in his hands and he kisses me.
The rain beating down, the pain, the confusion, it all disappears beneath his lips. He holds me fast, his kiss passionate and all-consuming. A kiss like I’ve never experienced before. I push against his chest, creating space. If he thinks this issue is gonna be swept under the rug by a tantalizing kiss, he’s barking the wrong tree.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“No, I’m sorry. I just can’t do this.”
“I see.”
“I mean I want to. But I just don’t know what to believe.”
“Believe this.” Caden gently raises my chin so I meet his eyes. Even through the storm, they are steady.
“Everything I’ve done has been for you, Arabella.” I stare at him, unblinking, through sheets of rain. I can tell he’s telling the truth. I lean in again, my eyes flicking to his lips…but a massive crack of lightning flashes, making the both of us both jump.
“Come on.” Caden takes my hand and leads me back into the dojo, just as the worst of the storm passes overhead. As soon as the door is shut, Caden looks down at my hand in his.
“You’re trembling.”
“I can’t believe you’re NOT shaking.” A small laugh escapes him as he caresses my cheek. When he feels my skin, he grows serious.
“Arabella, you’re freezing.” I shudder, feeling my drenched clothes cling to my skin.
“We need to get these off of you.”
“We?”
“A little help never hurt anyone.” Caden finds a stack of towels next to the water cooler. He pulls a fluffy, dry one from the pile. He moves closer to me, taking the hem of my shirt, tugging it up to expose an inch of skin.
“Caden--”
“Shh.” Carefully, Caden drags the towel over my midriff, followed by a shower of tingling goose bumps.
“I’ll warm you up.” The heat from his chest is nearly irresistible as he moves the towel higher, pulling my clothes along with it. As he drags the towel over the sliver of my exposed flesh, he dips down and kisses me there.
“Come here.”
“Okay.” And that’s all the word is all he needs.
Inch after inch, Caden peels the soaked fabric from my body, dragging the towel gently over my navel, my ribcage. With each stroke of the towel, he follows with a kiss. His lips leave a splash of warmth wherever they go.
“Better?”
“Yeah.” He pulls my shirt higher, over my bra, working the towel to dry every drop from my cleavage. I feel his hot breath on my skin as he works. I can feel the soft brush of his hair.
“What you said before. That everything you’ve done has been for me.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Everything?”
“Everything since we met. And long before that.” Caden lingers near my chest, rubbing the towel softly between my breasts and my heart beats fast.
“Arms up.” I raise my arms and he pulls my top clean off. He towels off my neck, my arm and he kisses my shoulder.
“What about you? You must be cold.”
“Me?” Caden tugs at the hem of his own shirt, his muscles clear through the soaked cotton making me look away.
“You can look if you want to.”
“That’s okay. I respect your privacy.” I turn away just as a wave of heat travels up my face as I hear him pull his shirt off.
“Arabella, don’t hide from me. Turn around.”
Biting my lip, I turn back around to meet Caden’s long, cut body radiating an intoxicating warmth as he steps closer to me.
“You still look a little cold. There’s only so much a towel can do.” He opens his long, sculpted arms to me, pulling me closer.
“I’ll finish the job.”
I step into Caden’s warm embrace, allowing him to fold his arms across my bare back. The heat from his body seeps into me like a warm bath after a winter’s day, spreading to the tips of my toes.
“Better than a towel?”
“Much better.” I press my cheek to his chest as I feel him nuzzle my hair. His heartbeat quickens.
“Thank you.” He starts.
“Isn’t that my line?” His hands slide lower, to the base of my spine.
“No, it’s mine. I’m grateful. I get warmer the closer you get. I guess I have ever since you came back into my life.” The work back echoes in my mind. Exactly how long have we really known each other? We find each other’s eyes again, feeling the pull from our bond and something more, something that feels almost scary. I step back.
“Um, I’ll hang our clothes to dry.”
“Okay. Sounds good.”
Once our clothes are dry, we dress and look at the sun peeking through the dojo windows.
“It’s nearly morning. I think the rain has stopped.” Caden doesn’t answer. Looking past me through the window, his eyes harden.
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
“Damon will be back soon. With reinforcements from your father’s pack.”
“Should we go back to the estate? I can pack my things quickly.”
“We can’t. They’ll be watching for us on all the mountain paths. Now that they know you can shift, they’re not going to waste any time in coming for you. You’re a threat to them now.”
“A threat to them? Why is that? If anything, they are a threat to me.”
“You still don’t understand the weight your bloodline carries? As a powerful shifter, my true mate, and Raphael’s daughter, you’re someone they need to use. Or kill.” Caden runs his hand over the sill gripping it with white knuckles.
“There’s no in-between. And on top of that…” He turns back to me, his eyes glinting gold.
“What you did with the nature around you…weaponizing it against Damon…I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“I thought that was normal for shifters.”
“No. It isn’t normal for any shifter to control an element like that. And your eyes…” He walks to me, reaching out to touch the corner of my eye.
“Green…there hasn’t been a wolf in living memory with green eyes.”
“Really?”
“Really. You’re special, Arabella. Special in ways your father can’t predict. That’s why you’re dangerous to them.”
“I’m just one shifter, powers or not.”
“They don’t see it that way.” Caden grips my arms tight.
“Make no mistake, they’re coming for you. And I don’t want us anywhere near here when that happens.” He looks over my shoulder at the door.
“I just don’t know where to go where they won’t find us.”
“We can try Sarah’s apartment. She’s in the process of moving in with her girlfriend. I crash at her place in Boulder all the time.”
“Boulder? That big city down below?”
“You’ve never been?”
“No. I’ve never been past this town. The mountains are my home.”
“Well, there’s a first time for everything.”
We head out at first light and make it safely to Sarah’s apartment. Sure enough, it’s empty.
“See? We should be good to wait here for a day at least.”
“Good thinking. They won’t sniff us out around all these people. I’ve never seen so many.” Caden walks to the window, looking out at the busy street. A silence settles between us.
“Caden…about my dream…about what you said before…” Caden turns around, his sleek, athletic form sharp against the bright window.
“You said that you knew me back when we were young. That you’ve always known me.”
“I did. And I have.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know. It must be confusing.”
“Then explain it to me. Please. I need to understand.” A long silence sinks over the room before he finally walks over to me, his footsteps echoing in the quiet.
“It would be a lot easier if I show you instead.”
“Show me?”
“I think I can break through whatever is keeping your memories blocked. But in order to do that, I’ll have to mark you.” Caden’s words spread through my body, slowly sinking in.
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“It’s a bite. A bite shared between Alpha and mate. An act of bonding and…” Caden is in front of me now, tall and powerful as he looks down at me.
“…and an act of devotion.”
I swallow hard, staring up at his angular jaw, his full mouth. The memory of his kiss still lingers on my lips.
“If I mark you, Arabella, I can pull your memories to the surface like a command. I can show you your past.” The promise of questions answered is more than I can resist.
“If it’s necessary, then okay. Mark me.”
“Okay.” Caden echoes my words, his hands skating slowly up my arms. His voice growling low.
“Where do you want me to mark you?” He leans close, his mouth open and inviting as he traces my neckline. His eyes trained on the dip of my chest.
“Tell me where, Arabella. Tell me where to take you.”
“Mark me on my chest. Right above my heart, Caden.” I don’t know why I chose where I chose, but it felt right.
Caden’s eyes widen a fraction at my bold choice and I swear I think I catch a hint of a smile on his mouth.
“Okay then. Come here.” He steps closer, hooking an arm around my back and drawing me closer. I go to him willingly.
“Try to relax and trust me.”
“I do. I trust you Caden.” He nods, shifting my shirt down to expose my bra, and the swell of my breasts.
“Hold onto me if you need to.” I grip his shoulders, swallowing as he breathes in my scent, his eyes closing. There is something intoxicating and heady about his nearness, his lips tracing patterns over my heartbeat.
“Ready?” That’s all the warning I get before his teeth sink down over the curve of my left breast. I gasp, surprised. There is no pain, just light pressure, heat and an almost dizzying pleasure.
“That feel so good.”
“Good. Now—Cuimhnigh ormsa.” Caden speaks the words against my het, marked flesh, and the strange command sinks deep, far beyond my flesh. I spreads through me, making my eyelids heavy, my knees weak…
“Caden--”
“It’s all right. I’ve got you.” Caden’s arms come around me as my body goes limp and my mind slips away.
Slowly, an image gathers itself together, puzzle pieces slotting into place from different corners of my mind.
11 YEARS AGO.
How long ago was it? Years. Years and…
Jolting, I stare at my hands. They’re small. Everything about me is small and everything around me is taller.
I was a child.
I stand in a hallway, barely peeking through a familiar cracked door. Inside, Raphael is speaking to a beautiful blonde woman. My mother.
‘It can’t be true, can it?’
‘Prophesy is never wrong Elisabeth. And if she’s prophesied to bring down our entire pack, the answer is clear: We kill Arabella. Before she can destroy us all.’
I back away, panic and fear coursing through my veins. Quickly I turn on my feet and run. As I stumble into the encampment, I rush towards the tent that feels like my second home. I need him. I need my best friend. I don’t have time. I hastily unzip the tent’s opening, almost running into someone as I burst inside. I jolt, looking up into familiar eyes.
Caden’s young face is before me as calm and kind as I’ve ever seen him. His eyebrows furrows.
‘Arabella? What’s wrong?’
‘My father…He—he said he wants to kill me.’
‘What?’ Caden’s face twists with worry as he takes my hands in his.
‘I won’t let the Alpha hurt you. No matter what. You’re my best friend, Arabella. And we’re going to be married one day.’ I smile at his words as I feel the surge of comfort his touch always brings.
‘Arabella? Where are you, darling? Mommy wants to talk.’ My mother pushes aside the tent door, coming inside. Caden shoves me behind his back. Elisabeth’s smile when she sees me puts an icy sensation in the pit of my stomach.
‘I just want to talk, my love.’
‘No. I don’t believe you.’
‘Why? Did you—did you overhear your father? I nod. My mother bends down, holding her hand out to me.
‘Listen. He didn’t mean that. And even if he did, he’d have to get past me first.’
‘Really?’
‘Really. Come here, baby.’
Slowly, tentatively, I step out from behind Caden and take my mother’s hand. She pulls me into a soft hug.
‘That’s right. No one is going to hurt you.’ I bury my face in my mother’s hair as she strokes my back, my neck…
‘After all, that’s my duty. As your mother.’
‘What!?’
With a low snarl, my mother’s hands curl tight around my neck, her eyes glowing and teeth bared as she chokes me.
‘Let her go!’ Caden tries to pull her off, but Elisabeth knocks him back with a swipe of her hand.
‘And now for you.’ Her hands close around my throat, blocking off my airway. I scrabble against her, searching frantically for a way to escape and my eyes fall on a nearby oil lamp. Struggling to kick with all my might, my footing hitting the lamp making it crash on the floor as fire leaps up along the spilled oil.
My mother roars with fury as the flames begin to lick higher, but she doesn’t relax her grip.
‘I’ll kill you myself and let you burn, you cursed child.’ Darkness creeps along the edges of my vision and it’s getting impossible for me to breathe but suddenly, the pain dims and the grip around my throat goes slack.
‘Wh—what?’ Gasping for breath, I look up and see Caden standing over the both of us holding a hunting knife over my mother.
‘I won’t let you kill her.’ His expression is wild, his teeth bared with primal rage as he raises the knife high and stabs my mother in the back.
‘I won’t!’ He stabs her again, again, again.
‘You will not take her away from me!’ With a final groan, Elisabeth slumps to the ground, bleeding out. The silence that falls over the burning tent is stunned, laced with poisonous dread.
‘I…I killed her.’ Caden says as I stare in shock at her lifeless body but part of me knows deep inside my heart that it could have been me laying there.
‘Caden, we have to run.’
‘I know. Hang on to me.’
‘But where are we going?’
‘I don’t know yet.’ Caden grabs my hand and pulls me out of the burning tent. Just as we step outside, the fire bursts up and open like spitting venom. The fire catches on the nearby tents, and I realize the whole camp is in danger but Caden pulls my arm, forcing me to keep pace with him as he guides me out of the camp.
‘Arabella!’ My father screams my name. But it isn’t out of worry, it isn’t out of love or fear.
‘Arabella!’ He screams in rage.
I keep running until I hear Caden’s mother screaming.
‘Caden! Where are you?’ I turn and see several of my father’s guards holding her down.
‘Let me go, Caden!’ I can’t have her mother to be at the end of my father’s rage.
‘I can’t!’
‘You have to. You need to save your mother. You need to save yourself’. I insist.
‘Arabella…’
‘Caden, please. Please, you have to let me go.’ My eyes well up with tears as I break down, sobbing and Caden stops.
‘Arabella, I—‘He starts but I cut him off.
‘Please. I’ll never forgive myself if…if…’ Caden’s mother screams from a distance and my stomach lurches with pain. Caden’s eyes widen as he looks from me to the encampment, then back at me again.
‘Arabella…’ He swallows, then gives me a slow nod.
‘Okay, but first…’ He digs into his red bag pack.
‘I was waiting for your birthday, but here.’ He takes my wrist and rolls a small bracelet onto it.
‘I made this for you. Take it and remember me.’
‘Caden, I love it. Thank you.’
‘Yeah? Well, I…’ We stare at one another, unnamed and unfamiliar emotions stirring inside me but the moment is short lived as the distant shouting starts growing closer. Caden looks back in the direction of the angry pack, his expression pained.
‘Go. Get out of here while you can.’ Nodding shakily, I step away from Caden.
Soon, I leave him behind, running through the thick forest. I sprint as fast as I can, batting aside branches.
‘Ah!’ My foot catches on a stray root that sends me tumbling down a steep, rocky hill. When I come to a few minutes later, my head is pounding and my leg feels twisted at an odd angle. A soft voice sounds nearby, familiar and quiet.
‘Try not to move, Arabella. You nearly died with that fall.’
‘Dr. James? What are you doing here?’
‘I followed you here. I was worried.’ He smiles sweetly, his hand passing over my eyes.
‘There’re after you, Arabella. They’re going to catch up any moment.’
‘Dr. James, what should I do?’
‘Just breathe. I can help you, okay?’ The doctor’s hand comes over my forehead gently.
‘I’ll make it all go away’. With my heart pounding, confusion and fear fogging my mind, I nod.
‘O-okay.’ His hand passes over my eyes.
‘Dean dearmad ar.’ I hear him chant and the next thing I remember is standing in front of a foster group home, utterly alone, remembering nothing.
But I remember now.
My eyes shoot open and I take in Sarah’s apartment once more. Caden is standing over me, his face uncertain.
“You okay?”
“Caden, my memory was altered.”
“I know. It’s because--” He stops short. His breath ceases and his eyes grow wide. His body shaking, wracked with tremors.
“Caden? Caden, are you okay? What--” Suddenly, Caden springs to his feet, his legs bent, his expression wild. Then before I can breathe, he bolts from the apartment.
“Caden! Where are you going?” I run after him, sprinting through the hallway until I make it onto the street and there in the middle of the crowded road is Caden. He’s bent over, clutching his head as if he’s in terrible pain. His skin ripples, his body twitching as he groans.
“Caden! What’s wrong?”
“The mark. It opened up more power between us than I was expecting.”
“What? What do you mean? What’s going on?” I hear murmurs of confusion nearby as civilians stare openly at the two of us.
“I can’t control it Arabella. I…I’m shifting.”