Page 36 of Hart's Redemption

I felt for that all-consuming light that lived inside my chest. Only when it normally was so bright it was almost painful, it was… dim. I reached for the bond and it brightened marginally. The fierce cold in my heart gradually warmed.

“Elijah?”

He leaned back to look at me, but didn’t relinquish his hold. “There you are.”

Before I could ask him, “What the fuck he was talking about” and while he was at it, “what the fuck sort of tests did Dr. Lyons need from him?” he captured my mouth in an intense kiss. Ireflexively wrapped my arms around him, and something settled within me as I gave into the kiss.

He moved his hand from my waist to cup my jaw and separated just far enough to look me in the eye. “I love you, Joshua Hart. With everything I am. I willneverleave you. Where you go, I go.” He held my gaze another moment, then brushed his lips over mine.

I eagerly accepted the invitation, wrapping myself tighter around him and deepening the kiss. Need saturated my being as the heady scent of Elijah’s desire clouded my senses. I’d already buried my fingers in his hair and was practically dry-humping him when I noticed Dr. Lyons standing in the open doorway.

I quickly removed my arms from around Elijah and would have backed up if he hadn’t already sandwiched me against the wall. “Baby, we have company,” I whispered so only he could hear. Rather than step away, he tightened his embrace and released a low growl that vibrated against my chest.

“Oh dear. It’s worse than I thought. Dr. Bennett, if you could please release Detective Hart so that we might relocate to my office.” I couldfeelElijah’s reluctance as he untangled himself from around me and moved back, but not before he stole a sweet kiss.

We made an awkward train as we traversed the bland hallway. By the time we reached Dr. Lyons’ office, my agitation was spiking, but at least my mood felt stable. Probably had something to do with Elijah intertwining our fingers and refusing to let go of my hand. Not that I was complaining. Mostly. Though it would be nice ifsomeonewould tell me what in the seven hells was going on.

“What’s this about, Dr Lyons?” I asked the moment everyone had taken a seat in the small sitting area adjacent to her desk.

She finished smoothing her blouse and darted a glance at Elijah before redirecting her focus to me. “I want to start byapologizing. I never should have left you alone in the exam room for so long, especially when I was concerned you might be in a fragile state.”

“What makes you so sure I was fragile? Because I didn’t take the sedative before coming?” I asked, doing everything I could to keep my tone even instead of accusatory.

“Yes… and no. While your current fragile state is exasperated by your condition, Mein Zeke is not the cause.”

When she didn’t immediately elaborate, I looked at Elijah and was shocked to find guilt pinching his features. “What is going on?”

He held up my hand, which he’d yet to relinquish, and kissed the back. “I’m so sorry, moonbeam.”

“Dr. Lyons, could you please explain to me what the hell is going on?” I demanded in a clipped tone.

“Yes, of course. When Elijah first told me you were unwell, I had my theories—”

“Really?” I snapped at Elijah, and he winced as if I’d struck him.

“Please let me finish,” Dr. Lyons implored. “What happened earlier confirmed my theory and ties into what I’ve uncovered by comparing your most recent blood samples with those from your childhood. Detective Hart—Josh—you’ve been suffering not only from an extreme case of Mein Zeke but also… the side effects of a rejected mating bond.”

Cold trickled through me. I’d been right this whole time.

“Josh, please. I am so, so sorry. If I could go back and change things, I’d do it in a heartbeat,” Elijah said, gripping my hand tightly while his eyes pleaded with me.

“You knew?” I couldn’t decide if I wanted to fly into a Mein Zeke-fueled rage or slip into a bottomless well of depression. One thing I wasn’t was surprised. Of course Elijah would changethings if he could. He’d never said it outright before, but I’d always known.

“Before we get off track, there are things you need to understand. Yes, you are displaying classic signs of a rejected mate, but your symptoms are too advanced for it to have only begun since you completed the bond.”

I looked away from the supposed anguish crumpling Elijah’s beautiful face to address Dr. Lyons. “What do you mean?”

She wore a plaintive expression as she leaned forward. “Your symptoms don’t reflect a scant few weeks. They’re more in line with if you’d been experiencing rejection of the bond for months, almost six to be exact.”

“But… how? Humans can’t bond.”

“I am unbelievably sorry, Josh. I didn’t know. It was never my intention to hurt you,” Elijah said, his voice cracking.

I didn’t like that he was upset, but I also couldn’t bring myself to do anything about it. “Except you did. You wanted to punish me. First for my job, and that I had the gall to be your mate. Then for being a Harker.” I looked away from him, unable to bear witnessing how much my words affected him. “What I still don’t understand is how.”

“That’s where your medical records come in. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how you could have possibly turned when you said it shouldn’t be possible. So I did some digging. Josh, have you ever been bitten by a lycanthrope?”

“Yes, when I was very young.”