Page 26 of Brave Spirit (Bound Spirit #6)

Connor sweeps me up into his arms and carries me out onto the balcony. Unbeknownst to me, it’s not as private as I originally thought. Around the far corner, it leads to a second set of French doors—doors that open to my personal suite.

Briskly crossing the threshold, he strides to my bed, one that’s gloriously creepy flashbacks free since it’s brand-new and custom made as a welcome gift from the pack. With one hand, he pulls back the thick, white comforter and drags us both underneath it.

Lying on his back, he holds me tightly against his chest. Into the quiet of the room, he whispers, “I should have killed him long before you had to.”

I run my fingers down his side, the ribbed texture of his tank top soft from several washes. “I don’t regret killing him and leaving nothing left. Hell was too good for him. Even knowing what the consequences are, I’d still do it.”

He reaches under my T-shirt and starts massaging the tight muscles of my lower back. “Is it all the time while you’re here?”

I shake my head. “You would have known much sooner if it was all the time. Some rooms hold more memories of him. Sometimes it’s just a feeling, an echo, of the ugliness that lived inside him. Occasionally, I get the full vision.”

His soft, low voice shakes when he asks, “What did you see in the other room?”

Wrapping my arms up and under his shoulder blades, I hug him with all the strength I possess. “He was sitting with his mate during her final days. Your mother was her hospice nurse.”

Connor nods, his chin bumping the top of my head. He’s quiet, but his silence feels like a cacophony of unspoken words.

“Why were you sitting in that room when it caused you so much pain?” I ask, the depth of his feelings still radiating through me.

“I’m the alpha. Those are my rooms,” he states, releasing a pent-up breath. “He’s dead, and I’m stronger than the memories of what he did to me.”

I push myself up far enough so I can properly frown at him.

“You decided the best way to face your past was to stew in your trauma alone in that bastard’s old room until you eventually just, what?

Got over it?” Pulling my hand out from under him, I give him a small punch to the shoulder.

“Why didn’t you wait for me? You knew I was coming tonight. ”

He gazes up at me sheepishly, his eyes giving away the simple truth.

“You thought it was something you needed to do alone,” I state with pursed lips.

“Goddess save me from stubborn boys.” To soften my words, I lean down to kiss him, pouring love and tenderness through the bond and the gentle brush of lips.

“You aren’t alone. Don’t feel like you have to protect me from the wounded parts of yourself.

Let me help you.” A teasing smirk tugs on one side of my mouth.

“It isn’t too late for me to burn this whole place to the ground and start from scratch. ”

A rusty laugh rumbles in his chest. “Part of me wants to let you.” He smiles up at me. “But I like this room. It’s full of you. Sometimes when you’re gone, I’ll come in here to breathe in your scent.”

“Then why not just sleep in here?” I question, lying on his chest.

He brushes his fingers through the waves of my long hair. “They are your rooms.”

“I’m a big girl, I can share,” I tease, my eyelids drifting closed under the pleasure of his gentle ministrations. “They can be our rooms.”

Connor’s free hand spreads wide on the base of my spine, the heat of his skin seeping through the thin fabric of my shirt. “I want you to have a space here that’s yours, a space you can choose to invite me into or not.”

Considering how our mate bond started, I appreciate his desire to make our time together my active choice.

“Okay, so how can I help with the alpha suite?” I return his gentle caresses with soothing touches over his chest. “Do you want to talk about what happened? Or I can sit with you while you face the rooms.”

His hands still for a moment, and a hint of apprehension floats through the bond. “Can you…”

The unfinished question hangs in the air. While following the lines of his upper body with my fingers, I ask softly, “What is it?”

He shivers, kisses the top of my head, and then releases a deep breath. “I like this space. I can feel you in it. Can you do the same to the other rooms? Enchant them so I can feel you there even when you’re gone?”

“Yeah,” I answer, a wobbly, tender smile curving my lips. “I can do that.”

“Thank you, mi reina ,” he murmurs, and it feels like a mountain of tension drains out of his body.

“It’s early. I can do it now,” I offer, trying to force my contented eyelids open.

He shakes his head and holds me close, and then his jaw cracks with a wide yawn. “Let’s stay here for now.”

It’s then that I sense a bone-deep weariness under the weight of his earlier distress. The stress of the pack and his mother still continue to drain him.

With the last remnants of the setting sun casting orange shadows over our safe haven, I let my body grow heavy, transfer all the peace within me into him, and drift off to sleep in the comfort of Connor’s loving arms.