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But Lauren’s lips quirked. “Yeah, you were never good at relaxing.”
He narrowed his gaze at her. “It’s never the pupil’s fault.”
She only chuckled at his reprimand. “Okay. Okay. Maybe I’m enjoying this a bit too much, but you hurt me, Cole. No, that’s not accurate. You broke my heart.”
There was nothing manipulative in her tone. She’d stated a fact, which indicated how far past their relationship she’d moved. He couldn’t apologize, though. He doubted he’d ever be able to forgive her for wrecking his knee as she had.
“Maybe you don’t understand what that was like for me. The first crime scene I ever witnessed was the aftermath of a dark coven sacrifice. They’d burned three wolves alive that night and I knew one of the wolves. He was a fellow Border Patrol officer, a good man, not on the take.
“Later, I learned the witches had tortured the wolves for hours before they lit them up like human torches. I have a deep distrust of your kind that I’ll never be able to get past. When you used your killing power to destroy my knee, I woke up. I’d been in stupor for the three months we dated. I’ve even wondered if you’d used a spell on me to make me fall in love with you.”
He saw a streak of horror cross her features. “You actually thought that? Do you still think I spelled you?”
He once more crossed his arms over his chest. “Isn’t that the point, here, Lauren? How would I ever know?”
Yet even as he spoke the words, he did know. Some part of him that had connected with her witchness told him she had never spelled him. What he’d felt for her was a profound lust then later a growing love. He’d even had thoughts he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, witch or not. But that night, he’d faced the truth about the situation. He couldn’t remain connected to a witch.
She huffed a sigh. “I suppose I failed to see it from your point of view before. But I would never put that kind of spell on you or anyone. What’s done is done, however, and now we have a job to do. How about we try something else to get you less painfully inside the invisibility shield.”
“Fine.”
“This time, try closing your eyes and think about what it’s like to fall asleep in your burrow at night. You’re safe, your shift is over, you can rest.”
For whatever reason, as Cole closed his eyes and gave himself to these thoughts, he finally completely relaxed. She’d chosen the right subject. He always felt safe in his burrow.
When she activated her spell, she tugged on his arm then pulled him behind her shield.
When he opened his eyes, “What do you know, it didn’t hurt.”
She smiled. “I guess you’ve got it.”
“Looks like I do.”
But there it was again, her beautiful smile and the sparkle in her eyes. She was different in this way from every other woman he knew. An insight hit his mind about her, why he’d been so drawn to her. Lauren was full of life. Despite being consigned to the cordoned-off world of Five Bridges as an alter witch, she could always see the good in her life, even in him.
He’d loved the way she saw him, as a man of worth and honor. She’d told him often and he’d savored every word of praise. His life since joining the Border Patrol had been one not just of facing death every night but of taking lives as well. So many of the people of Five Bridges had given into despair that they’d turned to the flame drugs for relief. But drugs made people do dangerous, terrible things, usually with weapons in hand.
Defending himself with a drawn gun had become standard operating procedure.
She brought him out of his reverie by suggesting they practice a couple more times then head to the Strip. When he successfully moved in and out of the shield with no pain he said he was good to go.
“I’ll drive back to Savage, but we shouldn’t be seen together. How about you meet me back at Broken Bridge?”
“Given its proximity to Savage Strip, it’s a good plan. See you there.”
As he put his gun-belt back on then headed to his SUV, he wished like hell he could get past his severe dislike of the witch and warlock alters of Elegance Territory. Maybe then he could see his way to forgiving Lauren.
For now, though, he couldn’t. There was too much water under the bridge.
~ ~ ~
For a split second, Lauren had watched Cole’s heart open toward her then close. Hope had soared for that same brief pocket of time, then clamped down hard once more.
She sighed once more as his SUV left her driveway. She doubted she would ever stop loving the wolf, but she’d resigned herself to the terrible chasm that lay between them. Each had a reason not to trust the other. In that sense, they were caught in a feud that had begun thirty years ago when the first alter humans had arrived in Five Bridges. Chaos, fear and hatred had erupted so fast that killing had become the order of the day.
Kill or be killed.
The US government had stepped in and divided up the territories. Five main bridges had been built to separate the five alter species. A Border Patrol had followed to keep the peace. Vampires lived in Crescent, spellcasters like herself in Elegance, wolves in Savage, fae in Revel and the deadtalkers in Shadow. Five separate territories.
