Chapter 39

Rowena

The cool night air blew across my face as I stepped out into the backyard. As I made my way toward the lone figure sitting by the pond, the sounds of the party began to fade and were soon replaced by the chirping crickets and the wind rustling through the trees.

As I approached, the figure didn’t look up. But I knew it was Eric, not just from his familiar head of blond hair, but from his broad shoulders in the darkness.

He was sitting in the grass by the edge of the pond that was situated at the center of all of the warrior cottages. It was a serene place here, with the sounds of the bullfrogs croaking just offshore.

Without saying anything, I walked up to Eric and stood beside him. We both stayed like that for a while, neither of us speaking, just enjoying the view.

Across the pond, the golden lights of the other cottages twinkled and mingled with the light of the moon rippling on the surface of the calm water. With each passing breeze, another ripple would blow across the surface and send the lights whirling and moving, like they were dancing.

Finally, with a sigh, I leaned down next to Eric and began to tie his talisman back around his neck.

“You forgot—” I began, but was quickly cut off when a gasp escaped from my lips as Eric, in a sudden jerk of his hand, knocked me off balance.

For a few long moments, the world tilted. My arms windmilled at my sides, my earlier beers making it more difficult to keep my balance. Soon, I would hit the water—at the very least I would soak my shoes, and at the worst I would fall fully in.

But before that could happen, Eric leapt to his feet like a cat and looped one arm around me, pulling me close.

We stood there breathlessly for a few moments, just blinking at each other. His arm was warm and strong around me, holding me with ease just inches before I would have toppled off of the surface of the embankment and into the cold water.

It was then, as we stood there, that it hit me.

This arm around my waist… It was familiar, of course, seeing as how he had wrapped it around me countless times before. But he had done it recently, too—I had felt this same sensation not long ago.

No, not long ago at all. In fact, I had felt this very sensation, this very heat and these very muscles…

Tonight.

All at once, it seemed to rush in and click together like puzzle pieces. The heated minutes in the closet, the familiarity of thos warm lips against mine, the sudden end of it all when I had said Adrian’s name.

And then, after that, the way that Eric had suddenly stormed up to Adrian as though infuriated by him out of nowhere, coupled with Eric’s unfounded—and once again, sudden—jealousy.

Not to mention the confusion in Adrian’s eyes when my lipgloss had been smudged, as though our rendezvous in the closet had never happened.

Because it hadn’t happened. That hadn’t been Adrian. It had been…

“It was you,” I whispered, my eyes widening.

Eric’s brow furrowed, although I knew now that it was all an act. “What?” he asked.

I gasped and straightened in his arms, my heart pounding like a drum against the inside of my ribcage. “It was you,” I echoed. “You’re the one who kissed me in the closet. Not Adrian.”

For several long moments, Eric just blinked at me as a million different emotions flitted through his eyes. Surprise, recognition, guilt, shame, maybe more that I couldn’t even begin to read.

That was all the answer I needed.

“Ugh!” I quickly shoved him away and stumbled backwards, instinctively wiping my mouth with my sleeve as though I had swallowed hot acid by kissing him. “Eric, what the hell?!”

“I can explain,” he said, taking a step forward and reaching for me. “Rowena, I’ve been meaning to tell you—”

“Tell me what?” I growled, taking another step back to put some more distance between us again. “First the homecoming dance, and now this? What has gotten into you lately?! You’re acting like a sneak, and a… a… creep!”

Eric froze, his eyes widening momentarily before he dropped his arm back to his side. “You think I’m a creep?” he asked, as though he hadn’t been expecting me—the sister who he had made out with—to be upset by him kissing me.

“Yes!” I practically shouted, but then lowered my voice so as not to be overheard. “Eric, this isn’t funny anymore. I already told you not to do it again, and this? This was just too far.”

“Rowena, I’m not trying to be ‘funny’,” he said. His voice was barely more than a low growl at this point. “Besides, what’s so wrong with kissing me?”

I scoffed in disbelief. “You’re joking,” I said with a wry, mirthless laugh. “I’m your sister, Eric. This is fucked up on so many levels.”

As I spoke, I turned to head back into the party. I intended to have Adrian drive me home, although I wasn’t sure what would happen after that. All I knew was that right now, I couldn’t bear to be anywhere near Eric. And maybe never again.

“And what if you weren’t?” he called after me.

I froze in my tracks. With my hands curled up into tight fists at my sides, I slowly turned, eyeing Eric suspiciously.

“What?” I asked. “What are you saying, Eric?”

He swallowed and was silent for a moment before he spoke haltingly, slowly. “What if you weren’t my sister?” he asked. “What then? Would you want to kiss me then?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing; his words just made my blood boil even harder, bubbling beneath the surface until I felt as if it was about to explode. With a low growl rumbling in the back of my throat, I stormed up to him, my hair billowing in the wind behind me.

“You?” I snarled, punching my index finger into the center of his chest. “Even if we somehow weren’t related, I would never be interested in someone like you! Never! You’re… You’re nothing more than an indiscriminate playboy!”

“Rowena, you don’t know what you’re saying,” Eric said, his bright blue eyes blinking at me with shock and anger in the darkness. “I’m not… like that anymore! Not since—”

“Oh, please. You’re sick!” I continued, unperturbed by his words and unwilling to hear his lame excuses. “All you ever care about is whose panties you can get inside of, which girl you can add to your ever-growing list! You complain about Adrian’s history, but you…”

I shook my head, gritting my teeth. “You’re ten times worse than him! You’re so bad, in fact, that you can’t even distinguish your own sister from your list of potential sexual conquests!”

When I was finished, my chest heaved with anger and breathlessness. We both stood there for several long moments in the now-silent yard, my words echoing between us over and over again before I finally spoke just one last time.

“You’ll never find your mate,” I said, taking a shaky step backwards. “Not unless you—”

“Rowena,” Eric suddenly blurted out, “you are my mate!”