Heart of Stone - Book 2: Hearts Collide
Chapter 14 - Stone (Part 2)

Stone closed his eyes and dipped his head back in the water, not wanting to argue with Aubree anymore about apologies. He merely wanted her forgiveness for losing control. He was the one who was immortal. He was the one superior in strength. He was the one who could slip up and hurt her, or worse, kill her.

His heart clenched as his thoughts drifted back to that day in 1848.

When he came home, his paws had been muddied by the earth, but the stench of blood and smoke clung to his fur.

Adelaide, always in her human form, ran to him and dug her fingers into the thick fur around his wide neck. He whimpered as she buried her face into his fur, her fingers brushing soothingly through it.

“Sten? You’re trembling... What happened?” she whispered in Lykostroya. “Why is there human blood on you?”

[It was an accident, mein Herz,] he replied through the mind-link as whimpers continued to rumble through his huge form. [I swear on it. I would never...]

A low whine howled from him as he drew away from her, shifting into his human form.

Adelaide hurried into the den during his transformation and returned as he was finishing with a folded cloth and a bar of soap. He was staring at his mud-caked hands when she reached his side.

“It was an accident...”

“I know, mein Lieber, I know,” she said, putting the cloth and soap in his hands. “Please, hurry to the river and wash up before—”

He threw the items she handed to him on the ground and pulled her roughly against him, wrapping her in his arms and burying his face in her hair.

“He already knows. He’s on his way here,” he murmured as he choked back the emotion bubbling up his throat.

Adelaide clung to him, burying her face into his shoulder as tears began to stream down her cheeks. “It was an accident,” she repeated his words. “Surely, it can be forgiven?”

“You know the Council doesn’t give third chances,” he said. “Not even second chances. Amora’s not here to redeem me this time.”

She sobbed into him loudly.

Brushing her hair behind her face, he cupped her cheeks in his palms as he tilted her face up and pressed his forehead to hers.

“Give Arthur, Guinevere, and Gawain my love,” he whispered.

She heaved a shuddering breath as her body trembled in his hands. “Always.”

A howl cut through the distance, making them both shudder in fear.

“I love you, Sten,” she whispered.

He grasped her lips in desperation, kissing her with all the love he had in his heart, knowing that it would be his last.

“Von ganzem Herzen, Adelaide, ich werde dich immer lieben.”

With all my heart, Adelaide, I will always love you.

Those words filled him as a furious voice cut through the forest and brought both of them to their knees.

A large man with thick, bulging muscles, long dark hair, and blazing dark eyes broke through the treeline around their den, accompanied by four warriors.

"Sten!" he roared, his fury rolling off him and crashing into all of them. ”Komm her!"

He shuddered. Come here, had never felt so terrifying.

Bowing his head, he rose to his feet and stepped forward, unable to bear the weight of his shame and the heartache as Adelaide screamed behind him.

"Please, Alpha! Have mercy!"

Pushing out the memory as Adelaide’s pleas faded to the back of his mind, Stone squeezed his eyes shut, swallowed, and cleared his throat.

“Accidents happen, yes.” His voice was gravelly. “But my strength is far superior to yours, and that is exactly why I must be careful with you. I can’t afford to lose control if it means hurting you. This is why I am upset. No matter how hard I try, there’s always a possibility of slipping up.”

Like I did back then... he thought with an ache in his heart.

His body began to shiver as his temperature dropped and the coolness of the water sank in. He wanted to be held like a pup and reassured that everything would be okay, but neither Adelaide nor Amora could do that for him. All he had was Aubree and he couldn’t even trust himself not to hurt her.

Aubree swallowed and looked away. Her shoulders hunched forward and she stared at her feet. “I’m sorry,” she apologized again.

“Stop apologizing,” he ordered with a hint of exasperation in his tone. She didn’t need to apologize.

“Would it be easier if I were a lycan?” she asked tentatively.

He growled, not wanting to admit that it would be, both physically and legally.

What would the Council do if they found out?

“So, that would be a yes?” she prodded.

“Yes.” He heaved a sigh.

She looked like she was about to say something else when he spoke up first. “Would you mind returning to the motorcycle and bringing back the spare T-shirt from the storage compartment? I think it’s in the left one.”

She looked up, her brows knitting together. “What about this one?” She held up his shirt in her hands.

“I’ll use that to clean the algae from my body.”

She grimaced. “Good idea. Okay, I’ll be back soon.” She got up and left his clothes on the log.

He closed his eyes and sent up a silent prayer to the Goddess before he climbed out of the water.

Everything would have been easier if Aubree had been born a lycan. The reality was different and he needed to focus on what was real to keep her safe from harm. While their bodies yearned for each other’s more fiercely with each passing moment to complete the matebond, he had to put her safety above those physical desires.

The consequences weren’t worth the risk. Not until he figured out a safer method to complete the matebond without putting her life in jeopardy. No matter how he looked at it, he either turned her into a cursed, bloodthirsty monster, or got her pregnant, or both.

He couldn’t do that to her. He had to figure out a way to make this bond work.

He picked up his T-shirt and wiped the ring of dirt from around his face before cleaning up his legs and pulling his pants and shoes on. He turned the shirt inside-out to wipe his chest. Working carefully around his now hyper-sensitive mark, he studied the discolored flesh as it slowly began to turn green like a healing bruise.

He still couldn’t wrap his head around it. Only Adelaide’s touch should have triggered such a strong response. How was it that Aubree could when she didn’t give him the mark? Was it because of Adelaide’s soul?

He wanted to test out that theory but was afraid of the repercussions.

The mere thought of her tongue gliding over it made him reach out and grip a sapling for support. His nostrils flared as heat enveloped him and his mark began to tingle with electricity.

He could hear and smell Aubree returning. He needed to get himself calmed down again.

Goddess, have mercy on my soul, he pleaded as he dragged in a lungful of air.

His back was to her, but he heard her stop in her tracks four or five yards behind. A tingling sensation traveled over every muscle and scar that etched across his back as her eyes traced over each one slowly with wanting.

He stiffened as a growl rumbled up his throat. “Aubree, don’t look at me like that.”

That seemed to do the trick as the tingles vanished almost immediately. He looked over his shoulder and saw her head lowered and her cheeks inflamed. A stab of guilt struck him.

He really was screwing everything up.

Goddess, if he could take her now and make it all go away...

The inch-thick sapling snapped in half in his grip and he cursed. Pressing the palms of his hands to his face, he gathered air into his lungs, praying over and over in his head to the Goddess to have mercy, when Aubree closed the distance between them.

She reached up for his wrists and pulled his hands from his face and entwined their fingers together. Instinctively, he bent down and pressed his forehead to hers and closed his eyes.

How like Adelaide to reach out to him like that.

She’s Aubree, not Adelaide, he chided himself.

He took in a deep breath, her warm scent filling his senses and calming his muscles.

Aubree.

Her heartbeat, which had been racing before like his own, began to slow and they fell into sync as they inhaled and exhaled together.

Aubree.

In his mind, he opened his eyes and saw warm brown ones looking back at him.

′Let me go, Sten,′ they said.

His breath caught in his throat as pain seized his heart.

“Stone?” came Aubree’s soft voice.

Opening his eyes, those beautiful hazel ones gazed back at him with worry. He released a choked breath. “Aubree?”

“Are you okay?”

He was panting again, trying to get air into his aching lungs. He grimaced as pain twisted through him and he closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers once more.

“I’m sorry.” He swallowed the emotion building in his throat.

He tilted his head and pressed his lips to hers. It was simple and chaste, and he pulled away before it could grow deeper. Pulling her small body to his, he closed his eyes as he rested his nose on her head and let her heavenly scent pacify him. Her arms slipped around his waist and he began to relax.

Goddess, have mercy on me.

Forgive me, Adelaide.

“Aubree,” he whispered, “please, be patient with me.”

— Mein Herz: “my heart” in German

— Mein Lieber: “my love” in German