AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She won’t meet my eyes.
“I’m her, aren’t I?”
I swallow, finding myself looking out toward the prairie as well. I haven’t had to do this in such a long time—not since high school, when I told my teenage sweetheart I was going to seminary.
I’m great at hard conversations, but not when they come to matters of the heart. Not when it comes to letting down my own defenses.
“You are,” I say.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Tilda’s eyelashes flutter, her teeth biting into her lower lip. I zero in on the way she fiddles with a loose thread on her green dress, and all I can think about is how well the color compliments her emerald eyes.
“I don’t believe in fate,” she says.
“But you believe in God.”
“I believe that angels came to Earth and God doesn’t matter anymore,” Tilda says. Only now does she meet my eyes, fire blazing in hers. “This isn’t a fairy tale, Reyes. It’s a horror story. I killed your people, and you were experimented on by…fuck, by creatures I thought were thegood guys.How is it that you still believe in God?”
“If God isn’t real—if fate isn’t real—then how do you explain this?” I ask.
I reach for her, taking her hand in mine, and sensation erupts from where we touch. I haven’t laid a hand on her in five days, and I didn’t realize how much it pained me until I feel her bare skin against mine once again. And it’s just our hands, but…
…it’s almost too much.
She hisses out a breath, her eyes squeezing shut, but she doesn’t pull away. Instead, she takes a step closer, pulling my hand to her hip—to my bite mark. Through the thin fabric of her dress, I can feel the jagged edges of that mark, though her bullet wound has healed completely.
Only a mate’s bite could provide that level of healing power.
OnlyGod—only fate—could do that.
“If you really think all this, then what’s stopping you?” she asks. She won’t look at me, but she doesn’t need to when we’re standing so close. I can feel everything she feels, the desire coursing between us. This is dangerous. I’m already on the brink. “You could tell me what to do anytime you want.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” I bite out.
She drags her eyes up to mine. “What if I wanted you to?”
I’ve never faced temptation like this. As I become convinced that this is God’s will, though, what am I supposed to do? Is it all a test of my faith, or is He trying to to send me a sign that it’s time for me to break my vows?
No. I made a promise.
“I’m a priest, Tilda,” I murmur. I close my eyes; I can’t look at her. “If God put us in each other’s lives for a reason, this isn’t it.”
“But wouldn’t it be simpler that way?” She steps so close that I can scent her hair, blackberries and leather. “Reyes—tell me to kiss you.”
I won’t do that.
Iwon’tgive her orders.
So I kiss her instead.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
?
TILDA
I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. I’ve kissed boys I shouldn’t have, and joined causes that were unjust, and one time, I went on avery stupidmission to try and kill avery powerfulman.
This isn’t a mistake.
