Fate Succumbs(98)
Liam sat down across from me. I wanted to reach out and touch him to verify his existence, but I didn’t. A part of me knew he wouldn’t mind, that he would want me to. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the part of my brain controlling my motor functions. That part imagined how much it would hurt if he pulled away or looked uncomfortable at the contact. So, I sat there, hands in my lap, and tried to appease myself by looking at him.
“We could ask him.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” The urge to touch wasn’t fading, so I leaned back against the trunk, putting more distance between us. “I don’t know where you come up with these crazy ideas.”
It wasn’t like we hadn’t talked over the last few months. We sent emails (social networking sites weren’t really a great place for me to be, so we had to kick it old school), called, texted, and even had a weekly Skype check-in. Still, it was different to see him in person, to be able to see each of the folds in his cheeks when he smiled.
“Any new Challenges?” I asked to divert my attention.
“Just two since Wednesday; one backed down as soon as I walked into the room.”
“And the other?”
Liam plucked a blade of grass from the ground. “Dead.”
Which brought the total up to four. With each failed Challenge, I hoped it would be the last. It wasn’t that I doubted Liam’s ability to always prevail, but I worried about the scars it was leaving on his soul. We had already revoked the fight-to-the-death clause of Challenges, but there were some who refused to submit, no matter how badly they were beaten. I couldn’t decide if I found those men audacious or stupid.
“I had a Challenger from the Logsdon Pack show up this morning.”
Liam froze mid-pluck. “At your house?”
“Yeah, but he never got around to actually issuing the Challenge. Apparently he was one of Talley’s former suitors, so Jase answered the door with Joshua’s sword. I think the poor guy may have cried a little.”
Liam went back to ridding the earth of grass one blade at a time with a chuckle. I was about to ask him if he had heard any more about the pack of Siberian Husky Shifters someone was rumored to know when he looked up with a frown.
“Why are you wearing that face?” he asked.
I touched my cheek. Thanks to my mom and Gramma Hagan, I was starting to gain weight, but my cheekbone still stuck out a bit too far.
“This is the face God gave me,” I said, trying to hide the hurt in my voice. “I can’t exactly take it off and put it on a shelf.”
“I’m talking about this.” A finger brushed against my mouth. “And this.” He tapped the corner of each eye.
“Those came with the face. It was a package deal.”
“Did they come all scrunched up like that? Because, in my experience, you only look like that when you’re stressed or frustrated.” He huffed out a breath and rubbed the back of his head. “Is it because I’m here? I should have called you first. Sorry. I just wanted to surprise you.”
Something in my chest felt warm, probably the last little piece of my heart melting for him.
“I’m frustrated because I want to touch you so bad I’m literally hurting my hand to prevent it, and I’m stressed because I don’t know how you’ll react when I lose control.”
Liam looked at me like I was an alien for about half a second before crawling over me, one hand finding the back of my head to drag my lips to his. He was enthusiastic in his kiss, and I responded in kind. I didn’t realize how much I missed the taste and feel of him until he was in my arms.
Nearly two years had passed since Liam and I first met at this very spot. So much had happened; so much had changed. I wasn’t sure what brought us to this point - fate, destiny, or merely the choices we made - but I wasn’t sorry for it. I regretted the pain I caused others and mourned the lives lost, but I knew I was where I was supposed to be. It wasn’t a happily ever after. We had more than our fair share of challenges and Challenges ahead of us, but we were heading in the right direction. Liam and I are going to make the world a better place. Together. And for us, it’s enough.