Heart of Stone - Book 2: Hearts Collide
Chapter 24 - Aubree (Part 1)

Aubree crawled out of the bed about half an hour after Stone fell asleep.

She considered everything he told her. The luna title sounded nice, but she wanted to know more about it before saying yes, even though she was fairly certain she would agree to it. She liked that he wasn’t forcing it on her. He seemed to think she’d make a great luna, even though she was human.

The whole training bit made her nervous. She’d never been particularly athletic and didn’t enjoy sports. However, she had to agree with Stone on one thing. If she ever found herself facing a threat on her own, she would like to know how to defend herself—at least well enough to get away. Vampires were faster and stronger than humans after all.

Then there was the Council and the strict laws they had in place. He was very concerned about that—for good reason.

One thing was for certain though.

He loved her, despite the laws put against them and biology set to destroy them. He wanted her to be happy, but he wanted her to be safe too.

Around mid-afternoon, her brain needed a break from thinking about everything he told her and opted to do a bit of mindless housework. She dusted the living room, swept the kitchen floor and the hardwood floor in the living room before mopping everywhere afterward. She sat in the sunroom for a little bit after that and picked up one of the books sitting on the wicker chair.

Hoping to get her mind off things, she delved into the book, called ′Hausfrau’ and before she knew it, Stone was wandering in an hour or two later with a perplexed look.

“Why are you reading Gunner’s book?”

She snapped it shut, her face hot with embarrassment when the book had taken a steamy twist. She blinked in confusion for a bit. “Huh, what? Gunner’s? I thought this was Gwen’s.”

Oh lord, this was embarrassing!

She tried to divert her embarrassment off of herself. “Um, has he read this book yet?”

He stepped toward her, the corners of his lips perking up. “Yes, he finished reading it in a few days. It’s psychological, right?”

Psychological? That’s part of it...

“I-I never would have suspected that he’d read a book like this,” she mumbled. Stone obviously hadn’t read it. “I found it sitting here and decided to give it a try.”

“Ah, Guinevere must be reading it now. She loves reading in here. Gets it from her mother. Reading was something the three of them shared in common,” he said as he sat down in the wicker loveseat next to her.

Aubree still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that the book belonged to Gunner. It was psychological, as Stone put it, but also very sexual—in an extramarital way.

She slipped the book under the chair, still feeling embarrassed to be caught reading it. “Do you like to read?”

He shrugged. “If I’m really bored, perhaps, but I’d much rather be outdoors, going for a run. Running relaxes me.”

“Oh.”

“Adelaide taught me to read, you know,” he said, turning his gaze out the window. “Well, to read Roman characters, that is. Amora taught me to read Lykostroya, which uses a different alphabet. Anyway, it was a good thing she did, otherwise, she would have been miserable during the second half of her pregnancies.”

Turning his attention back to her, he continued. “You remember I told you that lycans are unable to shift freely in the second half of their pregnancies? They remain in their stronger, natural form, their wolf, and Adelaide was miserable because she couldn’t read, so I read to her.”

She smiled back at him. “That was sweet of you.”

“I didn’t want her to be miserable during her pregnancies. She was as excited as I was to be having pups, but she was bored when she couldn’t read. She let me choose the book, thankfully,” he said.

“Oh? And which book was that?”

He grinned at her. “Isn’t it obvious? ′Le Morte D’Arthur,′ The Death of Arthur, or rather a more fitting title would have been The Tales of King Arthur.” He shook his head, his grin spreading wider. “She laughed at me when she was pregnant again with Gawain and Guinevere and I asked if we could read it again together.”

“Ah, and that’s why your kids all have Arthurian names,” Aubree mused with a small smile. “I think Gwen mentioned that to me before. It’s all makes sense now.”

“We still have the book. Upstairs, in my study,” he said before lowering his gaze and looking back out the window. His smile faded. “I haven’t been able to look at it since she passed.”

Aubree swallowed. She didn’t like seeing him like this, although she did notice that he seemed more comfortable talking about Adelaide now.

She couldn’t ask him to forget about her. How could she demand such a thing now that she was in his life? The least she could do was honor her memory rather than push him to move on from her.

How would she feel if he had asked her to forget Dan? Dan was the first guy she loved, and while she didn’t feel the same way about him now, it didn’t mean she wanted to forget him. She learned a lot from her relationship with Dan. She learned the patience required to maintain a long-distance relationship. She learned to compromise. She learned to trust him with her heart.

And now she had to do the same with Stone.

She looked away from him. He didn’t purposely try to hurt her, but he hadn’t been completely honest with her either. She needed to know she could trust him as she did with Dan.

Clearing her throat, she kept her gaze lowered and said, “I like the idea of being luna, but I’d like to know more about it.”

“Would you like Rosemary to teach you? She taught Guinevere, and she could tell you more about what it’s like to be a bonded luna than Gwen. Perhaps, you could observe how she and Hector run their pack after our trip to Arizona?” he suggested.

Her brows furrowed. “I thought you said we couldn’t complete the bond because of the risks?”

He reached for her hand and held it as his gaze ensnared hers. “Yes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to.”

A rush of desire surged over her, catching her breath and entrapping it in her lungs. His eyes flicked to her lips as he leaned in.

Then he swallowed and pulled away.

She held onto his hand tightly, drawing his gaze to fall on their entwined fingers.

His eyes flicked up as she released the air she’d been holding with a gust before replacing it with more. She opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say. Holding his gaze, she mirrored his movements as he leaned closer. Reaching up, she touched his cheek the same time he did, while continuing to hold his other hand.

He swallowed. “I’m going to speak with Rose and Hector before I speak privately with Gunner. I want to bounce some ideas off their heads’.”

“I thought you were going to include me in your meetings?”

He grinned. “I will when you agree to be luna. For now, I’m gathering thoughts, ideas, and opinions, so I can give you the most concise information. I don’t want to confuse you with too many contradicting details.”

She humphed. “Maybe I will declare myself luna. Then what will you do?”

Smirking, he lowered his hand from her cheek and added it to the one holding her hand. Together, he held her hand in both of his and lifted it up to his lips for a gentle kiss. “Wouldn’t you love to know?”

His cryptic tone made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Her heart skipped a beat before pounding against her chest.

She would, indeed. And she couldn’t tear her eyes away from his lips as he licked them.

Slipping her hand back from his cheek, she tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled him toward her as she leaned in. Even if she held reservations toward him, she still couldn’t get enough of his lips.

Shivering as her lips met his, he released her hand and brushed his palms over her arms. She wanted to be closer to him, but the arms of the wicker furniture were between them.

He broke away before the kiss could deepen. “I know, I made some mistakes,” he whispered, “but that doesn’t mean I can’t do everything in my power to correct them. I meant what I said the other day. I want you. And with each mistake I make, it makes me realize even more how much I need you.”

He kissed her chastely before rising from the loveseat. “Which is why I should get going before I can’t tear myself away from you.”

His sudden departure gripped her heart.

“Wait, what?” she gasped, as she tried to wrap her head around what he had said, what she felt, and the way he kissed her.

Moving to the doorway to the living room, he glanced over his shoulder with a flicker of a smirk playing on his lips. “We’ll finish this later.”

She stumbled to her feet after him as he walked away. “Finish what?” she called after him as she caught up to him and followed him into the kitchen.

He stopped next to the sliding door, turned, and clasped her face between his palms as he gave her a quick, though passionate kiss.

“If I can,” he said huskily as he drew away from her, “we will finish this later.”