Heart of Stone - Book 1: Fighting Fate

Stone couldn’t sleep that night.

He tossed and turned, thinking about those few minutes he had with Aubree in the car. She seemed more agitated than usual, and he chalked it up to her boyfriend being ill. He barely got out of there without losing himself in the moment.

She almost touched Adelaide’s mark. Normally humans never noticed it because it was so faint like the rest of the scars that covered his body. It surprised him that she did notice it because his clothing usually covered it up.

And the moment he touched her hand, he couldn’t help but draw her closer to him. Anyone else and he would have brushed them off, but she was different. He struggled to maintain control with her.

All the more reason to let her go.

He would only break her.

Lycans and humans didn’t mix for a reason. The balance of power was completely one-sided and humans broke so easily. They bruised like fruit, their flesh cut and bled from the slightest puncture, and their bones snapped with little effort. How could he and Aubree ever be together when he was a risk to her life even?

She’s leaving, he reminded himself.

He had to keep reminding himself that. As much as it pleased him that she was leaving, it hurt too. A part of him didn’t want to give her up, but there was some consolation in knowing that she’ll be leaving with her life secure and intact. He couldn’t guarantee that if she stayed with him.

He didn’t miss the look on her face when he touched her hand. Bewildered, she sat frozen in her seat, staring at him with wide hazel eyes.

He couldn’t help himself. The pull toward her intensified when he grasped her hand and her eyes looked up to meet his. He wanted to kiss her. To hold her face in the palms of his hands, draw her close, and caress her lips with his. Pulling himself away from her was like pulling apart two magnets.

He hated how much he wanted her. She was a human. It was unheard of, and completely illegal—forbidden even. He could hurt her, kill her even if he wasn’t careful.

He hated, even more, the guilt of betrayal that wracked his heart at the thought of Adelaide.

How could he ever love anyone else?

Yet, the pull was the same. The quickening of his heartbeat, the need to protect her, the jealousy towards other males, and the mounting desire to be physically intimate with her was identical to when he met Adelaide.

You can’t have both, and you can’t be with Aubree.

After staring up at the ceiling for hours, he closed his eyes with a sigh.

It was nearly dawn. He wasn’t going to get any sleep that night, he knew.

Pulling himself up, he decided to patrol the border for a bit before having a bite to eat, shower, and head out the door to attend to his business.

He had money to collect and bills to pay, even if the bills were minimal, the government had to have its share.

After that, he needed to have a meeting with Hector. If Aubree was to return to Chicago, he would make sure that she got there in one piece.

The week carried on as it normally would have.

He refrained from seeing Aubree, unable to face her now. Seeing her again would have awakened his desire and hindered his resolve to let her go.

He even changed his sleeping schedule to avoid their souls meeting together in their dreams because the matebond would continue to persist in pulling them together until it was secured. It should, over time through lack of exposure, decline in strength, but he didn’t know how much time it would take before it would weaken enough to disable their souls from seeking each other as they slept.

Even though it was painful to endure, he had to be firm.

He still had his duties as Alpha of the Blauwald Pack to attend to. Aubree’s arrival had posed a distraction and trying to secure her safety had eaten up half of the pack’s attention and energies. Everyone was feeling the strain, especially by the end of the week.

‎Gwen and Gavin continued to take turns watching over Aubree and patrolling her neighborhood. There had been instances where the twins had approached him about Aubree, but he avoided the topic and the confrontation altogether. He told them both, especially Gwen, not to intervene or interfere with Aubree’s life. They were strictly supposed to guard her and that was it.

Gwen opposed, of course, fighting against her father’s wishes, but he was more relentless and she finally gave in to his wishes.

“I really think this decision is a mistake and I hope you change your mind,” Gwen told him. “Human or not, I never would have given up on my soulmate if I found him.”

He narrowed his eyes at her, straightening his back in a domineering stance over her.

Even though he was eight inches taller than her, she wasn’t one to back down.

He loved Gwen’s strength and courage, loved how she stepped up to fill her mother’s place as luna of their pack, but he needed her to see where he was coming from.

He couldn’t endure another heartbreak. Not only that but accepting her as his mate would give the vampires a reason to kill her. If she left and went someplace safe, no one would be any wiser to her and her importance to him.

Accepting her as his mate would be selfish. He couldn’t afford to be selfish with her. There was too much at risk and he couldn’t live with himself another thousand years knowing that he was the one responsible for Aubree’s murder.

“Accepting her would be a mistake,” he said. “I can’t afford to have her blood on my hands.”

Gwen looked away, and he knew she saw the image that flashed in his mind.

The slaughter. Bodies everywhere. The putrid stench of decay and metallic blood seeping through his fingers and staining the earth under his feet. The small, lifeless body in his hands whose death he couldn’t prevent.

And whose death he could never forget.

“It won’t be like that with her,” Gwen murmured to the floor.

“I won’t take that chance,” he responded.

Heavy with sorrow, her brown eyes looked up into his. “Not everyone is given a second chance, Papa. Take it.”

He shook his head, stepping around her and out the front door of the pack house.

The moment he walked away from Aubree at her apartment was the moment he knew, in his heart, that they could never be together.