Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Gravity

Rose

“It may take a few minutes for him to wake up,” Dante tells me, looking drained, his hair damp from the bit of sweat that formed at his hairline. I know he used a lot of energy to do this, and I’m grateful.

I stroke Asher’s hair out of his face, soaked with sweat. Dante helped me carry him to the couch so he could be a little more comfortable now that his back is healed.

“Thank you, Dante,” I say. “I appreciate you helping.”

“No problem,” he replies. “I hope you know what you’re doing. Whoever hurt him has a vendetta. I wouldn’t want you getting mixed up with that.”

I smirk. “Careful. You almost sound like you care.”

He chuckles, rolling his eyes. “I’ll see you later.”

“No, you won’t!” I fire back jokingly as he opens a portal. He only rolls his eyes before walking through, leaving Asher and me alone.

I release my breath, my shoulders relaxing as I keep stroking Asher’s hair. His eyes begin to flutter open, which makes me sit up a little straighter.

“Ash?”

He coughs, squinting as he comes to.

“Water?” He croaks.

“Here you go,” I tell him, grabbing a glass I set aside on the floor. “Do you need help?”

He shakes his head as he lifts his hand to take it. “I feel like shit, but not totally wiped out.”

“Asher, I can’t believe what happened.”

He takes a sip from his glass as he sits up, wincing a bit with each movement.

“Be careful, Ash. You need rest.”

“I need to get back to Black Opal,” he replies. “I need to make sure my family is okay. How much did Marg tell you?”

“She told me how you got those injuries. She didn’t say anything about what preceded that, though.”

He bites his lip, avoiding eye contact with me.

“Ash, please,” I beg. “Tell me what’s been going on. I want to be here for you.”

“It’s hard, Rose,” he whispers. “Especially since I know you won’t like it.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

“Of course, I’m going to worry about you,” he replies. “I…” He trails off. “Shit, I want to be honest with you, Rose. I don’t want to hide anything anymore. It’s just a lot.”

“You don’t have to go into detail if you don’t want to,” I comfort. “But I just need to know what’s going on.”

He gulps, nodding as he reaches for my hand, and I gladly take it.

“Our relationship was great at first. She was affectionate, complimentary, and made me feel like I was on top of the world. I was elated. But… Things changed after a few months. And I think it was in her all along, and she was only pretending to be the other person to get me to let my guard down. To make me fall in love with her. Then she showed her true colors and put me down, made me feel fucking awful about myself. Then it escalated to physical abuse.”

“Ash,” I moan, holding his knuckles to my lips. “I’m so sorry.”

“I allowed it for a long time,” he murmurs. “I thought it was my fault because she made it seem like it was, and I believed her. My wolf believed her. She tried to fucking kill me a couple weeks ago once I started wising up. Then, a few days ago…” He trails off, his lips trembling as he pinches his nose, his eyes screwed shut. “She forced me to do something I didn’t want to.”

“Did she force you to…” I don’t want to finish my sentence, my stomach churning for him. “To do something with her?”

“Yeah,” he whispers. “I woke up, mostly because you helped me wake up and realize what she was doing to me was wrong, and I didn’t deserve it. And she hated that. She could feel me slipping away and not taking her bullshit anymore, so she forced me to perform a…” He pauses, grimacing. “I don’t want to get into it, honestly. I’m still processing it all, and even though I know I shouldn’t, I feel ashamed. I feel like less of a man.”

“Asher, you’re not less of a man,” I promise. “You are the best man I know. You have done nothing to deserve what she’s doing to you, and the fact that you’ve been able to stay so kind to me and support me through all of what’s been going on with you shows the kind of man you are. You are selfless and so resilient.”

“It doesn’t feel that way right now,” he replies, his voice hoarse with tears. “I-I feel defeated, Rose. She has my family.”

“Margaery told me,” I sympathize. “I-I don’t know how to help you.”

“I don’t know how to help myself,” he admits, running his hand through his hair. “Because I want to leave her. I’m ready to leave her. I rejected her this morning.”

“What?” I gasp.

I glance at his neck and realize his mate mark is gone.

“That was already disappearing before I rejected her,” he says, noticing where my eyes trailed to. “It was just a formality. One I guess I should have ignored since it would have been smarter for me to disappear into the night with my family in tow.”

“Genevieve is insane, Asher. But she’s smart, and there’s no line she won’t cross. Getting away from her is going to be complicated,” I admit. “But we can figure it out. I’m here to help you.”

“Even after what happened earlier today?” He asks.

“Well, it’s clear that you were grappling with all of this that’s been going on, so I can’t blame you for not wanting to talk about it,” I reply. “I’m sorry for getting so angry at you.”

“That’s not what I wasn’t telling you earlier today,” he says, bowing his head. “It was something else.”

“Is there more that she’s done?” I ask, dumbfounded. “Did she do something this morning that prompted you to reject her?”

“No, it has nothing to do with her,” he replies. “It has everything to do with us.”

“Us?” I ask.

“My mark was disappearing,” he says, but I don’t see the connection.

“Is that what you were hiding?”

“No.”

“I… I’m confused,” I mutter.

“I am, too,” he replies. “That’s why I didn’t want to tell you about it. But it doesn’t matter if I don’t understand it. I know it’s true. I can feel it in my soul, and it’s why I couldn’t spend another second putting up with Genevieve, as foolish as my attempt to exit was.”

“Asher, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He takes my hands, holding eye contact with me as he leans forward.

“Rose,” he murmurs, my name slipping off his lips like it belongs there. “You’re my mate.”

Blank.

My expression, my thoughts, my feelings.

Blank.

What the hell did he just say?

“I-I-” I stutter, speechless. “H-How can that be?”

“I don’t know,” he replies with a shrug. “Cato only told me this morning when I saw you. That’s why I was freaking out and acting strange. I couldn’t believe it either and was caught off guard. But it makes sense.”

“What do you mean?”

“It explains why I have always been drawn to you,” he answers. “You’re stunning and an amazing person; I would’ve been attracted to you no matter what. But it explains why I felt… Fuck, I can’t describe it as anything other than gravity.”

Gravity.

The mysterious force that’s been pulling us together with an invisible string all this time.

It’s been gravity. The way he answers the question I’ve been mulling over for months so easily, so simply, makes me admire his mind in a way he’ll never know.

“But I’m a vampire,” I rationalize, the part of my brain that loves to self-sabotage kicking in. “There’s no way that can be true.”

He touches my face, stroking my cheek with his thumb. “I don’t care if it’s impossible. I feel it in my heart. In my soul. I’m meant to be with you, Rose. I always have. It just took me a while to fight my way out of Genevieve’s clutches. But I see it now. I see who has been in front of me all along. Not that I didn’t care for you then, because I always have. I always will.”

“There’s no way this can be true, Ash,” I sputter, shaking my head. “I-I can’t believe it. I don’t understand. You’re just in a vulnerable spot right now and-”

He grabs my face and places his lips on mine, interrupting me as my eyes shoot open, surprised and exhilarated all at the same time.

He kisses me softly, the gentle touch of his lips on mine like a sip of the finest red wine while lying on silk sheets. He is the personification of warmth and tenderness, a feeling I’ve been craving for so long.

And gravity brought it to me.

Brought him to me.

My mate.

He deepens the kiss, slipping his tongue into my mouth as he combs his hand through my hair, the other on my waist. His kiss is divine, like I’m receiving it from a God rather than a mortal. There’s no way he’s a mere werewolf when his lips feel so other-worldly—the fire of hell and the softness of heaven.

The moonlit calm of the Goddess and the midnight passion of the God.

“I love you, Asher.”

The confession slips from my lips and onto his with the quickness of a hummingbird’s wings, yet it carries the weight I fear he can’t bear right now.

“You love me?” He asks, kissing the corner of my smile as he pulls me into a hug.

“Yes,” I reply. “I’ve loved you for some time now.”

“You never told me.”

I pull away and send him a disapproving look, to which he laughs.

“Alright, I guess I can’t fault you for that,” he admits. “I’m glad you’re telling me now.”

He strokes my face with the back of his knuckles, a gesture I thought I’d only receive from him in my dreams. “I can’t say the same to you yet because my life is…” He puffs out his cheeks, letting the air out slowly. “For lack of a better term: A complete cluster fuck.”

I giggle. “Yeah, that sums it up.”

“So I need more time to be with you now that I’m not holding back,” he says, and it’s hard to hide my disappointment. “But, I am falling in love with you. I’ve been falling in love with you since we first met. It sounds wrong to even use the word ‘fall’ because that makes it sound accidental. Which, I mean, to an extent, it was since this is horrible timing. I know that. You deserve a lot better.”

“Don’t say stuff like that about yourself,” I chastise.

He ignores my comment and continues, “My point is, it’s felt more like blooming after a frost. You’ve revived me.”

“I understand that this road is going to be hard, and we’re facing an uphill battle,” I tell him, speaking with the conviction of a vow. “But I’m not going anywhere. I know you need more time, and I understand that. I’m okay with it. I love you, and we’ll get through this, okay?”

“We are,” he replies, gripping my hands. “I promise I will find a way to escape Genevive.”

I rest my forehead against his, reveling in the bliss of the truth we’ve let off our chests.

“Can we forget about all of that for a bit?” He asks. “Can I kiss you like I don’t have to go back to that psycho in a few hours?”

“Please do,” I beg, grabbing his face and crashing my lips against his, wanting to take away all his pain. I want him to forget and let go of his responsibilities for just a little while.

I need to forget, too.

I need to forget that the man I love’s life is in danger.

And there’s very little I can do about it.