Bound Book 2

Chapter 46 - Christmas Eve

Dmitri

I can't keep my eyes off Sky. It's been two days since she dragged me into our room. Two days of non-stop lovemaking and connecting. It feels like the way it felt just before she lost her memory, if not better. While I should be focused on finding the traitor in my pack, I have been distracted by Sky, my days spent here a the house while we talk, sleep, laugh, and get wrapped up in each other's bodies. Kira and Ivan are equipped to handle things in my absence, which I allow. Part of me not wanting to step foot back into reality. Not wanting to deal with everything which I fear will just change things. I liked this calm. I wanted to keep it for as long as possible.

It has been easy enough with Blaise being gone and only arriving back this morning and Raina and Ally also only arriving back from their coven a couple of hours ago. Mira and Andrea seem to have the same idea as us and have been holed up in my old house, fresh bite marks all over Mira's body and her face wearing a similarly satisfied smile as Sky's. The bond between the two is a curiosity to me considering they haven't known each other for long. Mira flitters around Sky, like a mother hen around a young pup, while they hang decorations on the tree some of my pack members dropped off earlier. Considering Mira is a year or two younger than Sky it is odd. But as they laugh I cannot find a reason to mistrust it.

We are having a Christmas Eve celebration at our house tonight. What Sky doesn't know is that tonight I want to propose to her. My hand moves up to pat the small box containing the delicately designed ring that is sitting in my pocket. It is inspired by Skys shifting talisman, her face when she described the small vine and flower ring telling me how much she loved it. After dinner, I would take her out to a spot she hasn't yet seen nearby, one I had built three months ago before we started talking again.

When we first met, one of the nights I was stalking her at her home on the outskirts of Willow Falls, I watched her lying on the pine leaf-strewn floor outside her house. Her totally oblivious to her voyeur. It was late and I still remember wondering why she was out there. The next minute her hand was up in the air, her one eye closed while her finger hopped from one star to another, a small smile on her face. "To be but a star. To burn so bright everyone can see. I wonder what it feels like?" Her words spoken into the silence to no one in particular. I couldn't take my eyes off her. At that moment she shone brighter than any star that's ever graced my vision. Looking over at her, I still think that.

That's how I know she will love where I'm taking her tonight. A beautiful tree house spanning three trees wide, in the shape of a triangle, the entire ceiling made of glass. It has a large comfortable bed, some couches, and even a small deck. The perfect spot to create the perfect memory.

The thought makes me anxious as I wonder if she will say yes. As if sensing my anxiety, Andrea appears beside me, two whiskeys in his hand. Handing me one he smiles, a knowing smile.

"She will say yes," he says chuckling as I side-glance him.

"I've known you long enough to know what you're thinking," he says, clinking his glass against his skull to indicate that he is inside my head. Which he appeared to be.

"And if she doesn't?" I say, after some time passes, hating the way the uncertainty creeps in.

"She loves you. It's clear as day, even if she hasn't said it." Andrea's voice is confident, certain. I wish I was as sure. It was our past creeping in and distorting things. Just when we had been this happy before, something happened. It plagued me, making me wonder if a repeat is around the corner. I don't think I could bear losing Sky again. The last time nearly destroyed me. The next time would certainly finish me off.

Raina and Ally arrive, breaking me out of my melancholy mood but only slightly. Blaise is in tow, his gaze immediately on Sky. Raina scans the room, her eyes landing on me and remaining there. Her expression has the anxiety from minutes ago reappearing. Her one hand holds Ally's while the other holds a manilla envelope. Ally pulls her forward towards Sky, the initial smile on her face as she greets Sky being replaced with one I have seen many times before. Her healer's face. In her gentle voice, she is asking Sky how she is feeling, if she has still been plagued with nausea, or if she has experienced anything new.

Raina breaks off from the group, her gaze once again finding mine as she approaches me.

"We need to talk. Look something has come up-" she is cut off by Sky's loud voice as she approaches us.

"No work. Tonight is about happiness and spending time together with friends. With family," Sky says, grabbing Raina's hand and squeezing it. "Whatever it is can wait. I don't want it spoiling tonight."

"But-" Raina is cut off again as Ally approaches. "Later. It can wait until later," Ally says in a soothing tone, silent communication going on between the two of them before Raina sighs.

"Fine," she says, forcing a smile, her eyes catching mine briefly before she turns and walks toward the tree.

"Don't worry. She is just stressed. We had a lot of work to catch up on at our coven," Ally says as she tries to ease the tension she no doubt feels from me. She retreats, leaving Sky and me standing in silence.

She sidles up to me, her hands running up my arms before she embraces me, her head on my chest comforting. I wrap my arms around her, stroking her hair as I try and chase this feeling of impending doom that seems to be closing in on me.

"Let's just for tonight forget about everything. Tomorrow we can tackle life again," she whispers, making sure only I can hear it. There is a tremor in her voice. Fear. She too feels what I am feeling.

"Okay. Tomorrow," I say, pulling back as I lift her chin, sad eyes looking back at me. My finger grazes the small blue oval pendant she found in the lockbox from her parents, the glow in the center of the gem evident the longer you stare at it. I lean down, capturing her lips with mine, hoping that I can kiss her sadness away. I just want her to be happy. Determined, I deepen the kiss, my hands traveling along her body as I pull her closer. As we break apart I see that I have been successful, her eyes now hooded with desire.

"Phewweee, you're making me hot," Sky says pulling away, her hand fanning her face as she flushes with lust, her eyes darting around as if to check if anyone was watching us.

"I know what you mean," I say, pulling my jacket off as I swing it over the back of the couch close by. I could easily carry Sky off and get lost in her body, in her touch, in the sounds she makes when she is writhing in pleasure. Instead, I take a step toward the rest of the group, determined to make tonight a happy one. Later I would propose to her, officially making her mine. That thought has my heart blooming, but only momentarily as it nearly stops at her next words.

"What is this?" I hear her say, curiosity in her voice. I turn around, just as she bends down to pick something up off the floor.

Fuck. She has found it. The ring. I forgot it was in my pocket when I draped my jacket carelessly over the couch.

But when she turns around, the relief that washes over me is immense. In her hands is not a little black box but instead, the picture of the necklace and pendant the hunter had drawn just before he took the cyanide pill. I found it lying on the floor in our bedroom the other day when Sky had fallen asleep after our lovemaking. I had shoved it back in the pocket, lumping it in with the rest of the puzzle pieces that needed to be solved. Tomorrow, I repeat in my head, just as Sky had said earlier.

That sentiment however is shot to shit as her eyes dart up. But not to meet mine. She is focused behind me, a questioning look in her eyes.

"Your pendant...?"

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