Reviving Bloom (15 page)

Leaning my hea
d back against the seat I close
my eyes and let out the breath I hadn’t even rea
lized I was holding in. I could’
ve
lost
her tonight without her ever knowing what she means to me. As soon as she’s awake I’m spilling everything. No more hiding myself from the one person who can lo
ve me no matter what I am. I ta
k
e
one more deep br
eath and let it out, then look down at the woman who ho
ld
s
my future. He
r hazel eyes,
now more green than brown, are
staring up at me. Not able to
stop myself I brush
my hand down her cheek
and whisper
, “
Bloom
, you
’
r
e
safe now.
I’m here.
”

She’s
scanning my face, I
can
hear her thinking I
look
familiar to her
;
the mate connection
causes that reaction. Her gaze
fa
ll
s
to
my lips and she wets
her own
,
then she dr
a
w
s
her
eyes
to mine
and
we both ge
t
lost looking at each other
. Finally she hesitantly
asks
,
“Who are you? Your eyes
…
th-
they look so familiar.”

My wolf
’s
screaming
for me to answer,
t
o spill everything and I want to but I don’t
want to send her into shock.
She’s
already been through too much tonight. I need to wait till she’s had time to heal and rest before I throw my news on her.
Before I can
come up with a response
Bonnie takes
over the conversation, “
Blu
, I’m taking you to my
Dad
and Billy. Do you remember being attacked?”

She tries to sit up but I ho
ld her in my lap
not yet
ready to release her so she gi
ve
s up and turns
her head to Bonnie’s gaze in the rear view mirror and with
panic in her voice demands
, “You didn’t tell them what happened did you? B
onnie you can’t tell them they’ll
freak out.”

“Bloom they need to know.”

“No they don’t! Bonnie you got to promise you won’t tell them what really happe
ned. Please, for me?” She begs
.

“Fine, I promise but just so you know I think they should be told.”

“Thanks Bon,” she sighs then turns
snuggling closer into my chest
and passes
back out.

Wrapping my
arms tighter around her I ask
Bonnie, “What are we going to say happened, if we’re not telling the truth?”

“We’ll tell them she had a wreck, it’s not really a lie we’ll just be omitting what really caused the wreck and what happened after the wreck, but if she doesn’t want them to know the truth I’ll stand by her.”

“That’s an awful lot of omitting for it not being a lie.”

Eyeing me from
the rear view mirror Bonnie snaps
, “
You wanna know what wolf boy
,
you have a lot m
ore to worry about than my
creative story telling.
You’re gonna have to
confess everything to her soon or she’ll figure it out on her own. Her hair may be blonde but she’s no ditz.”

L
ooking down at Bloom’s face I ru
n my fingers along her hair line admiring the softness on my finger tips, “Bonnie, I almost lost her tonight and
I want nothing more than to confess everything to her. I’d even get down on my knees and grovel for forgiveness for not telling her sooner
.
I just want her to be ok
ay
with it all
.” I catch the confused look she’s giving me and realize she misunderstands what I’m saying so I clarify
, “Not with what happened to her tonight. The physical signs are already
fading;
by tomorrow you won’t even know he touched her.
The emotional scars are going to take longer but with all of us who love her there to help her
,
she’ll be able to heal those as well. I’m just worried that she’ll reject our mating and who she truly is.
”

“She’s already healing? I thought she wasn’t a
shifter
!” Bonnie practically screams
at my reflection in her mirror.
“And is it even possible for her to reject the mating?”

“She hasn’t
changed
like a normal
shifter
but she carries
shifter
blood in her and
it
’
s
thankfully speeding up the healing process
,
”
I explain
ignoring her last question.

“Well that’s good I guess.”

“Yeah it is.”

“Don’t think I didn’t catch you ignoring the last question. So spill wolf! Can a person reject their mate?”

“It’s not unheard of but it’s very rare. B
onnie you have to realize that
mates
complement
each other and if you reject your mate you’re resigning yourself to a life of never feeling complete. You’d be rejecting the one pe
rson who would always love you the exact way you are, the person who was put on this earth for you and you alone. So to answer your question, yes a person could reject their mate but most don’t because there’s not a downside to being mated.”

“Not unless you count that your “mate” turns furry at will.”

“Well, yes, there is th
at little stipulation.” I wait
for her to ask more question
s
or give me another smart aleck rep
ly but after a few minutes she seems finished and is focused
on driving.

Then she asks
, “Pike, what happe
ns if one of the non-furry mate
s
is
allergic to dogs?”

“We’re not dogs,” I growl
.
 

Chapter
20
–
Bloom

~
One of a kind
~

Ocean blue
…
the clearest water with
its warm sun and its rainstorm scent. Rainstorm? That can’t be right there’s not a cloud in the sky, bu
t still my ocean smells
like home after a good summer storm has moved through, all fresh and woods
y. My ocean smells like Pike. Heck my ocean’s
even the same color as my furry best
friends’
eyes
. I wonder why he isn’t here with me, he wouldn’t leave me
alone. I call
for him, “Pike! Where are you?”

I expect
hi
m to come to me but instead I ge
t a reply, “Bloom, I’m right here.”

Spinning around in the water looking for the person w
ho’s answering and finding no-one
,
I scream
for Pike again.

Once a
gain that voice replies
, “Bloom, I’m right here. Open your eyes and you’ll see I’m right here with you.”

I do
as
the voice demands
and f
in
d my ocean reflecting back at me from the
strangers’
eyes
and just like in my dream I feel safe. I force
my eyes
away from his so I can
take in the rest of him.
The top of his head is covered in jet black hair that’s shaggy and falling into his eyes. His nose is
narrow and a little crooked at the bridge, it’
s
pr
obably been broken before. I have
to grip the sheets under my hand to stop myself from reaching out and running my
fingers
over the crooked se
c
tion. Forcing my eyes on I find his lips, the bottom is
a tad fuller, the kind that begs to be kissed and ni
bbled on. As the thought crosses my mind his cheeks ta
k
e on a soft blush. Did
I sa
y
that out loud? No
…
no, I didn’t. But why is he looking at me like he knows exactly what I’m thinking.

Pushing that silly thought f
rom my mind I continue perusing. He has
a strong jaw with a five o’clock shadow.
H
is
shoulders ar
e broad and connected to muscular
arms. Gosh those arms. I want
nothing more than for those arms to be wrapped around my body holding me to his well toned chest. Then my eyes trave
l
further down his arms
and
I f
i
nd his hands gripping my
free
hand. The one
that isn’t
attached to the sheet; keeping me from making a fool of myself by caressing every clothes free section of skin of a c
omplete stranger. Yet, he doesn’t
feel like a stranger.
Why do I feel like I know
him? Why do I feel like I can
trust him with my life? And why the hell does he smell so darn good? Just like a summer storm
….

“Pike?!”
I whisper.

Those unbelievably tempting lips spread into a wide smile revealing pearly white teeth and a dimple in each cheek. Th
en he speaks
in
a gravelly voice that melts
me from the inside out
, “Yes darlin’, I’m Pike. And
we
have a lot to explain to you.”

“We?” I ask
looking around the room and finding that Pike and
I
aren’t
alone,
though if he hadn’t mentioned them
I would’ve thoroughly enjoyed eat
ing him up with my eyes for several more hours. But to my dismay
Bonnie and
her father are sitting
at the foot of the bed
, and Billy’s
standing across
the room
looking out the w
indow. As if sensing my eyes  on him
,
he turns
a
nd g
i
ve
s
me a
half-hearted smile and then says
, “
Blu
,
I have a story
you need to hear.”

I look
back to the dimpled dark hair
ed
angel still holding my hand hoping that he can get me
out of whatever “talk” Billy has
for me, because the lord knows with the look he has on his face it won’t be an enjoyable one and right now I want nothing more than to admire this man cal
ling himself Pike. Yes
,
he has
the same piercing eyes as my dog and apparently they share that unique name, but I’m not ready to hear the story yet, can’t they see I just want to enjoy my ignorant bliss.

He squeezes
my hand and prac
tically reading m
y thoughts says
, “I promise if you listen to what Billy has to say it will answer those questions that are floating around in your beautiful mind. And when he’s done we can talk alone, if that’s what you still want.”