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She was sure that the look on her face was one of horror. Because she wasn’t some thing to be gotten.
She tucked her fingers into her bag. She slipped her fingers around the artifact. She had not practiced with it for obvious reasons. She did not want to paralyze one of her pack mates. But Linden had said it was easy to use. She said it took very little effort.
There was a spell that went along with it, and Violet had practiced the words over and over while she was far away from the artifact. She had to be touching it and speaking directly to the supernatural being intended for its use.
A wave of guilt hit her. She wanted Tristan to go away. She wanted him to leave her alone. But in his own mind he probably wasn't doing anything wrong. He wanted a relationship with her, and she wasn't interested. It sucked for him that he had imprinted on her. The one female who wouldn't fall prey to his charms.
In another life, she would've loved to be with him. He was handsome and strong and had a hot body. He was a hero, and she could see how much his career meant to him. She knew what he'd lost. She knew he had to have a lot of courage to walk into those burning buildings and save the humans who could not save themselves. In fact, she probably owed him her own life.
Yes, she could have easily gotten out of the boarding house. But she would not have left without the owners. She could've easily died in there, trying to pull them out. Or she would've had to make a choice. Save herself so she could raise her daughter, or let the owners burn. She was grateful to Tristan. He had shown up just in time to save her from making a decision, whether to let two humans die, or let her daughter grow up without a mother.
She loved her pack mates, but she didn't want them raising Arabella. Not even the two that had children of their own.
She needed to be facing him for this artifact to work. She stopped and abruptly sat down on a fallen log. As she expected, he followed her without question. Sitting right across from her on the stone.
"I understand all of that. I'm not making any demands on you or your time. I guess I want some answers."
“What do you want to know?" she asked. She could be friendly for a moment.
"How is it so easy for you to walk away from your mate?"
Mate? Oh fuck no. No no no. She did not want him using that word. “Why do you say that we are mates?"
"We are. It's the reason that I found you so easily and that boarding house. I felt you. Even now I have a connection to you.”
Oh, this was bad. This was much worse than she thought. He thought they were mates. She'd like to think that he was delusional. That he was just full of shit and had no idea what he was talking about. But, unfortunately, she thought he might be right.
She'd conceivedArabella right away. Right after sleeping with him. She had felt his absence in every cell of her body. Which meant one thing – mates.
He was still talking. “I know you don't want commitments. And you don't want to be bogged down with a family or a pack. I understand all that, and I would never try to force that on you.”
Thank heavens. He had no idea about Arabella. Now she just had to keep it that way. If he felt that strongly about her after she had dumped him so unceremoniously, he would be absolutely over the moon to have a daughter. But he'd be furious that she had kept Arabella from him.
He would want Arabella to live with him. Violet just knew it. She would never be free. Arabella would never be free. She had a small pack, but he had a pack of hundreds of shifters. He might not be the Alpha, but the Alpha was like a brother to him. She would never prevail.
"Listen to me carefully. We are not mates. It doesn't matter if you think we are. We cannot be together. I am not the one for you." She stared into his eyes and even lifted her left hand to his cheek. She kept her right hand curled around the artifact as she spoke the Latin words.
His skin was warm, with a little bit of stubble on his cheek. He looked really good. His eyes were kind and not suspicious at all.
So here came the guilt again. She started the spell.
He looked at her, puzzled as she spoke the Latin words. But he didn't try to get away. Within seconds, the artifact was working. She could feel the magic buzz through her body.
He slumped over and hit the ground. She made sure that his neck was at a comfortable position, as comfortable as it could be on the forest floor. He couldn't move at all. She hated to leave him, but she had no choice. She would say a protection spell for him so that no one would find him until the paralysis wore off.
She put her hand on his chest; his heart was beating wildly.
"See? I'm bad for you. I have magic and I'm bad for you. You don't want me. If you keep looking for me, I'll use this spell on everyone in your pack. This time I went easy on you. You will be back to normal in a few hours. Don't make me wish I'd used something stronger. I really am sorry. I wouldn't have done this if you left me alone. You left me no other choice.
“Goodbye,” she said.
She could see the betrayal in his eyes, along with the panic. There was nothing she could do about it. She walked away from him, and she did not allow herself to look back.
* * *
Once she was backat their camp, she fell to the ground. What had she done? She had hurt a male that she once cared about. She’d left him paralyzed.
She could go back. She could wait nearby until he woke up.
