II

Rosalie

“Rosalie, are you alright?” Somewhere in amongst the confusion, I must have fallen to the floor. Landon’s face coming back into view as he pulled me into an upright position.

“Just breathe Rosie. Everything is OK, you are home now.” He eyed me worriedly. His blue eyes darting around my face. Becoming increasingly aware of how close he was, and the fact I could feel every single inch of his body touching my skin, I try to pull away. But it was no use. It would seem Landon was in no hurry to let me go. My cheeks begin to warm under his scrutiny.

His worry soon began to harden into what looked like anger.

“Where the hell have you been Rosalie.” He spat out, not necessarily viciously, but close to it. “You disappear without a trace for eight years, and now you decide to come back. Do you have any idea how worried we have all been?” His words stung. Of course, I knew.

In fact, for weeks, months even, after I first fell through time, all I wanted to do was return home and comfort the ones that I had left behind. Knowing how worried they would be for me. That they would have assumed the worst, that I had been kidnapped or even dead, it broke me. And my only goal had been to return to them.

But then I fell in love. I fell in love with a man I shouldn’t have fallen in love with, because he did not belong to my time and I did not belong to his, yet despite this, the goddess had chosen him as my mate. And I couldn’t forsake that. So, I stayed, knowing the pain I was inflicting on my family and friends. And I know that made me selfish.

For the first time he seemed to take in my dress, and the bits of twig and leaves embedded into my hair. His nostrils flared taking in the tangy scent of fresh blood that strained my skirts and dripped down my legs. And finally, to the now bare spot that once held my mates mark. He looked momentarily relieved. But only fleetingly before it was masked back to careful anger.

Seemingly realising that he was not going to get any answers out of me on the spot, he breaks his gaze away from my face with a sigh.

“We need to get you home. Your injured.” He stated, doing his best to not look back in my direction. That was fine by me, the depth of his hazel eyes were beginning to make me feel very hot. And to be honest, I’m not sure how I would have even answered the question without being immitted to an asylum for the clinically ill.  

He lifted me into his arms gently, barely even flinching under my weight and began to walk in the direction of the village.

He walked in silence. His stony gaze set straight ahead. To start with I tried to resist the connection that was buzzing between us. Trying to fight away from it as much as I physically could without jumping completely out of his embrace. But after a while, I knew it was no use and decided instead to relax into it, taking comfort from it instead. Allowing my connection to Landon to ease the heartache of losing Alexander.

What could it mean? Why had my mark disappeared? Was Alex OK? The more I tried to make sense, the more confused I felt.

Eventually coming to a stop, Landon sets me down under a tree. We had not yet reached the village, but it had come into view.

A part of me had expected this. But I was in no way prepared to tell Landon what I had been through for all these years.

“Do you have any idea, how upset we all were when we found you gone?” He quizzed me. His voice was emotionless. He couldn’t even look in my direction as he spoke, yet just by the set of his jaw, I knew that he was upset.

“We sent out search parties for weeks. Scouring every inch of ground. Drake even sent people down into the old mine and caves. We found nothing. Just a pair of shoes. Your scent just disappeared as if you were never there.” He finally looked down towards me, his eyes swimming with the memories.

“Even after Drake called it off, I carried on looking. Me and Steph. We never gave up hope. Steph knew you wouldn’t just leave without saying something. Your brother even came over. He was fuming with you. But no one could find anything to say where you had gone…. Well, no one except Granny Lou.”

“Granny Lou?” I snapped my head up at this. Breaking out of the overwhelming guilt I was beginning to feel at what I had put my friends and family through.

“Yes. Granny Lou.” Landon seemed to roll his eyes at this, it was obviously he felt more than slightly irritated at Steph’s elderly grandmother.

“What did she say?”

“She told us that where you had gone, we could not follow. That you would be back. And that we should hold out hope. That you would come to realise...” Landon stopped short, setting me down onto my feet. And for a moment he looked uncomfortable.

“Come to realise what?” I prompt, moving forward eagerly.

“That you would come to realise our bond.” He said the words in a rush, that if I wasn’t listening carefully, I might not have understood them at all.

“She knew?” I said more to myself.

Landon looked confused for a moment, but brushed it off.

“Have you?” He asked expectantly.

“Have I what?” I broke out of my buzzing thoughts.

“Have you come to realise?” He shifted on the spot, picking at a non-existent thread on his cotton shorts.

It dawned on me what he was asking. He wanted to know if I could feel the mate bond growing between us. The truth was, yes. I could feel it tugging me towards him. But I also know that I was not ready to embark on another relationship. Certainly not one so intense as a mate bond. Not twelve hours previously, I was in the arms of Alexander. Loving him. Kissing him. Welcoming our daughter into the world. I couldn’t just forget my family and move on so quickly.

“I have always known.” He continues. His face dejected. “Ever since the moment I saw you. I knew that you were meant for me Rosalie. But when I realised you didn’t feel the connection, I knew I had to give you time. Time for you to see what I knew to be true. And then you disappeared without a trace.”

A sadness settles over my heart as I take in his words. Looking over his bare shoulder which was still missing the mark of being mated to someone.

“You never mated?” I ask softly.

He lets out a small guffaw, turning to look down towards the village.

“No.” He says simply. “But I am not a saint Rosalie. I am with someone.”

I could feel Nina rustle within me. Jealous that, what she saw as our mate, was in a relationship with someone else.

“That is good.” I manage to force from my lips with a tight smile. It didn’t matter how Nina felt about the situation, my heart was still with Alexander. “I’m happy for you.” The words almost strangled me as I spoke them.

Was I happy for him? No, of course not. But I wasn’t about to tell him that.

“And what about you Rosalie?” He asks, his head flopped forwards as if he was preparing himself for a heavy answer. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

I thought about this for a moment. I knew that eventually I had to tell someone of what I had been through. And now was as good a time as any. But the way Landon stood, so dejected and saddened, I had never seen a man look so fragile. But he deserved the truth. Regardless of how I felt in this moment, it would seem the goddess gave me two mates. Even if I wasn’t ready to admit it.

“That is a complicated question, Landon.”

“I thought it rather an easy one.” He shot back.

“Sit Landon, I had better start from the beginning….”