Shelter Me From Darkness

Chapter 5

Piper

Dean.

My breath caught in the back of my throat. He was the last person I expected to see as I pulled my car to a stop.

And here he fucking was.

Welcome to Stonehill. Here's a blast from your past. I'd barely passed the welcome sign. What were the fucking chances of that? The fates must really hate me.

I bit down on the thought, not wanting to tempt the gods any further. The last thing I needed was open season raining down on me because I pissed off the fates. I already had enough shit to deal with.

Forcing the breath that had caught in my throat out, I stared at Dean. Neither of us said a word. Had it really been ten years since I'd last seen him? Since I'd last set foot in Stonehill? My bond flickered to life, stirring for the first time since I'd left. For years, it had felt like an empty black hole in my soul. It still felt empty now, but there was a spark of life to it. Waking from a deep sleep, with a hope it could heal and reforge with its other half.

No.

My chest tightened, pulse quickening beneath my skin. I couldn't afford to open myself back up to that kind of pain again. I wouldn't.

Edmund may have been the final nail in my coffin, but Dean had built it a decade ago. I'd lost my naivety and assurance in the world when he'd ripped our bond apart. I couldn't blame him for every decision I made that led me to Edmund, but I wouldn't have left Stonehill if he hadn't torn my soul apart.

Hot bile rose in my throat, and I shoved the memories that threatened to overwhelm me as far down as they would go.

Keep it together. You've got this. He's an ex. Nothing more.

The lie didn't convince me, nor did it ease the tension that coiled around me. We weren't kids anymore. Weren't teenagers being swept away by the fact we were mates and we would survive everything together? Nothing lasted forever, not even a fated mate.

The last decade had changed him. Gone was the youthful boy I'd loved since I was sixteen. He'd matured. There was still a ruggedness to his looks, but it wasn't the same. Before his hazel-coloured eyes had been full of dark sinful promises, now I could see his wolf staring back at me. Hardened and sharpened into a deadly beast that wouldn't have a problem ripping out their enemy's throat.

My instincts told me that Dean was a predator, even though I knew he wouldn't physically harm me. It didn't stop me from reacting like a prey animal would. Keep it together, keep it fucking together.

I shifted my attention, taking in every detail about him. Strong shoulders strained against the grey t-shirt he was wearing. Revealing defined muscles that only came after a decade of wielding swords and axes and fighting for your life. Tattoos decorated what skin I could see, and a neatly trimmed beard covered a sharp jawline.

He'd tied his hair up, and a guilty part of me couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to run my fingers through it now that it was longer. Dangerous thought don't go there, I shut the thought down quickly.

He'd always been a big bad wolf, but the leather cut off he wore that marked him as an Iron Wolf MC member made that even more glaringly obvious than it had ten years ago. Especially as it didn't say Prospect anymore instead it marked him as the Vice President of the club. I wanted to ask when that had happened, but I kept my mouth clamped together. He wasn't my business anymore.

I wasn't opening that door back open. He is a wolf, and he made it clear that a witch mate wasn't good enough ten years ago. That won't have changed.