Whose Bed Have Your Claws Been Under: Chapter 26

I was right to leave her with her parents. If I’d stayed with her, I would’ve begged. There was nothing wrong with begging, but I wanted her to make the decision to leave with them or stay here with me on her own.

Doing what they did would be wrong. I’d never force her to be with me.

So why, then, was I sitting on a bench in the middle of the maze, freezing my ass off while she called my name, trying to find her way to the center?

Eh, I was chickenshit, still stuck in the past, a teenage kid who thought he had everything, only to have it stolen away.

“Darrow? Darrow!” she cried.

I remained on the bench.

Yup, definitely chickenshit.

“I’m not giving up,” she said. “I told my parents off and as far as I know, they’re leaving. Without me. You hear that? Without me! I’m staying here even if that means I’ll freeze to death in the maze without you, though I hope you’ll warm me back up. Jeez, where are you? Why won’t you speak with me?”

Her voice faded to nothing, and when I didn’t hear her moving or her calling out again, I began to believe she’d left.

That was when she launched herself up over a hedge.

Gulping, I leapt from the bench and flung myself toward her, catching her before she hit the ground.

I strode back to the bench, sitting with her in my arms. If I was wise, I’d put her down. Let her decide if she wanted to be held by me or not.

She looked up at me. “Hey.”

“Hey.” I blinked, unsure what to say.

“I know your life has been rough for the past ten years,” she said. “I wish I could go back in time and run away from my parents and find you. I’d hold you and tell you everything was going to be okay. I’m sorry. I should’ve questioned everything when they told me you were dead.”

It was time I told her everything. Only then could she truly decide what she wanted to do. If she chose to walk away, I’d let her go. At least she’d do so with all the information.

“After I was kidnapped, the scientist put me inside a machine. I felt the waves across my skin. Then I was rescued. I thought it was over, but the day after that, I woke up with silver skin and this hair.” I flicked one of the thick strands, and it snaked toward her before settling back on my shoulder. “I thought, okay, cool, I can live with this. But then a neighbor came to visit Dad. One look from me, and he turned to stone.”

“Darrow,” she said softly, her arms going around my shoulders.

“Mom took off, not saying goodbye. Dad stayed, but I don’t think he ever looked at me in the same way again.” I spoke stoically, having come to a feeling of peace about what happened after that. Back then, though, I’d been as horrified as everyone else. “As soon as I realized what I’d done, I ran. But I’m human even if only on the inside, and I need to be around people as much as anyone else. I crept back to my home, telling myself I could control it, that I’d make sure my eyes didn’t do it again. But they did. Soon there was another statue standing on my lawn, both of their faces locked in fear. I did that to them.”

“You don’t do it any longer.”

“Oh, I do,” I said, my rueful laugh slipping out. “Only now, when it happens, it’s because I want it to. Anyone I change nowadays is done on purpose.”

“How did two people turn into seventeen?” she asked.

“You heard that, huh?”

“Was it an accident?” Only sympathy and understanding came through in her voice, and it hurt so much to hear it. I ached to be with her. Loved by her. I wanted to show her that her faith in me mattered.

“I changed the last group to help someone else.” I explained about my friend, a wolf shifter, and his mate, and how her mafia family tracked her down and attacked them. That I’d gone to the battle to support them with our other friends, and I changed all the mafia lord’s henchmen into stone and hauled them to Petrified Woods.

“Now you have a bunch of statues on your front lawn?” Even now, she didn’t sound horrified. I swore laughter tinkled in her voice.

Did we stand a chance of a future together?

“I can control it now,” I said. “I figured that out before I turned seventeen. And even better, I know how to reverse it. Those neighbors? They’re no longer statues, and while they don’t easily meet my eye, we’re still friends. They know I didn’t mean to do it and they forgave me.”

“What about the mafia henchmen?”

“Oh, I’ve returned most of them to their human form. They agreed to find new careers and leave my friends alone.”

“Most.”

“One of them still isn’t ready to cooperate.”

“I see. Seems like he needs more time inside stone, then.” She grinned up at me and tightened her arms around my shoulders. That’s when I realized she wasn’t frightened of what I could do. She wasn’t running away. The joy of it hit me like a stone block in the forehead, waking me up.

“You’re not leaving,” I said in wonder.

“Do you want me to?”

I shook my head. And I kissed her.

She moaned when our mouths met, turning to press herself against me, to link her legs around me. Her warmth infused me with flames, and I took in her heady scent and the taste of her passion.

My eyes closed as I savored the feeling of her caressing my shoulders, arms, and back.

When we finally pulled apart, a wave of love washed over me. My heart pounded. Looking into her eyes, I saw the love I felt reflected at me.

“I love you, Darrow,” she said. “I’m not going anywhere unless you push me away.”

“You don’t need to worry about that, because I’m never pushing. I love you too, Paige. Always have, and nothing is ever going to change that.”

A feeling of completeness filled me.

“Why don’t we go up to your room or mine, fill the tub, and climb into it?” she said. “Oh, and chocolate sauce. I think there might be some left in the bottle.”

“There’s no other way I want to spend my afternoon,” I said, standing with her still in my arms.

“Then take me back to the castle, Darrow, so I can have my way with you, and you can do the same with me,” she said with a grin.

And we did.