Page 126 of Inked in Bloom
“That makes two of us.” Her words are harsh, but she clears her throat, softening her tone. “You pushed my brother away for almost a year. He won’t say it because he doesn’t want to send you runningagain, but I’ll say it on hisbehalf. You hurt him. Still are. And I don’t want him hurt again, or the girls, if you change your mind.”
The words cut despite the calm manner in which she delivers them. I hate that she’s right.
“He doesn’t have to say it. I hear his feelings loud and clear.” There was a time my anger toward Briar and the bond was valid, but too much has happened since then. The anger’s fizzled, but the fears dredged up by it persist. Briar deserves someone who’s as sure of him as he is of the bond. Every time I think I’m ready to be that person for him, there’s a voice in my head telling me it’s too good to be true, waiting for the roots I’ve planted to be pulled out from beneath me. Would he choose differently if this weren’t his world? Am I ready to commit myself to four sprouts who’ll rely on me?
“I could say the same about Skylar, until recently that is.” She grinds her jaw. “I was a Radix, a leader in this community. She was a new Bloom. It wasn’t appropriate. What if people believed I was giving her special treatment because of my position? No matter how much I told myself I wanted the bond, that Fate had tethered us for a reason, something wasn’t right…”
“So you didn’t send her away this season?” Cherri asks, glancing over at me before returning her focus to Corrigan.
“Of course not. It is physically painful to be so far from her. I’m assuming you have felt it too—that draw to be near them? It only gets stronger the more you fight it.” She huffs out her frustration. “She said she needed to get away. Told me not to come after her… Now I have no idea where she is.”
Neither does Briar or Dani, based on every emotion that’s filtered through the bond since they left.
“They’re going to find her, Corrigan,” Cherri reassures, though there’s a catch to her tone and I wonder if she trulybelieves it. “And when they do, you can tell her exactly what you told us.”
Corrigan purses her lips, her shoulders slumping in defeat. “I don’t know what difference it will make.”
And then I do something I never thought I would. I take her hand.
It startles her as well because her eyes are wide when they reach mine.
“You won’t know until you say the words,” I say, certain they won’t return without Skylar. Not with how much she means to their sister. I hope they find her soon. Dani can’t miss their claiming ceremony with Cherri, and Briar’s girls need him, and…there are important things we’ve left unsaid.
It’s only now I realize just how much they need saying.
50
BRIAR
We’ve pressed our luck, continuing our search for Skylar up to the last minute. It’s the final day to get through the veil, and Dani has already mentioned it multiple times today as we zoom across the mountains of Patagonia. We’ve seen glaciers, volcanic landscapes, stunning coastlines—there’s far too much area for Skylar to get lost in.
“I’ll let you drag me around for another hour, but after that I’m going back,” Dani warns, revving their hunter-green floracycle. “Fate didn’t give the order to stay and miss my claiming ceremony. I won’t do that to Cherri.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to,” I call back to them over the breeze whipping between us.
“Is it weird knowing Monroe will be there without you?”
“No. Not really.” I keep my gaze trained on the road ahead, searching for a good spot to park and scout from. “I never planned on being there.”
“You didn’t hope she’d change her mind?”
“Of course I hope she will someday,” I shout, really wishing they would change the topic. “I’m just glad she’s considering it.”
The bond tightens with every bit of Monroe’s stress as she prepares for the ceremony. But it’s stress that makessense, given what she’s been working on. Nothing to be alarmed about.
“I’d say it’s more than considering if she offered to stay with the girls.”
“She wanted to help me out.” And it was the best solution. With the bond, I can instantly sense how things are going even if I can’t be there. Aside from a few short stints of frustration and worry, I know they’re safe. “I’m not reading into it.”
I can’t.
Part of me wants to believe Monroe now sees how she fits into our future and wants it. But I’m not naïve. Monroe’s been cornered by this bond, so I’m giving her the space to choose it of her own accord, not out of obligation or pressure. If these weeks apart have solidified her choice not to have a mate, not to be with me, then so be it.
I suspect Dani thinks I’ve extended our rescue mission to avoid finding out.
I also suspect they’re right.
Out of the corner of my eye, a hulking dark-brown mass sprints through the forest. “Did you see that?”
