He knelt by her but she rolled on her side, giving him her back.
“Please, don’t do this,” he said.
I could feel her pain as if it were my own. She didn’t want to say that. She didn’t want to hurt him, but she didn’t have a choice.
“It’s what’s best,” she continued. Donovan couldn’t see her face, but I could. Tears fell freely down her cheeks, but her voice was steady. “You don’t really want me. Not like this. And I can’t…I won’t…” She took a breath. “I won’t be a burden to you.”
“You’re not a burden. I’ll not have you say that.” He rolled her on her back. “Ach. No. Please, don’t cry.” His Irish accent thickened with his emotion.
God. This was not something I wanted to see. This was such an invasion of privacy.
“So you do have feelings for me.”
My heart was breaking for these two. They should be together. It didn’t have to be this way.
Meredith squeezed her eyes shut. “It doesn’t matter what I feel. You’re one of the Seven, and I’m broken.”
He sat down beside her, cupping her face in his hand, wiping her tears away with his thumbs. “You’re not broken.”
“Yes, I am. My wolf…she’s gone. That means I’m broken.”
“She’s not broken. She’s right there.” He tapped her sternum. “I can feel her for myself.”
Meredith’s eyes opened, and hope filled her face.
“If broken’s how you feel, then we’ll get it sorted.”
A car honked in the distance.
“I have to go, but I’ll be back as soon as I can. It isn’t over. You’re mine, and I’ve waited too long for you to give up over something silly.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Goodbye for now, a ghrá.”
Meredith didn’t say anything as he left. When he was gone, she started crying. Gut-wrenching sobs.
That’s what I’d been hearing.
Still in the vision, I knelt by her. “Meredith.”
She didn’t make a move.
I moved forward to shake her, but my hands went right through her.
Damn it.
“Meredith!” I’d never tried to see something other than what someone wanted to show me. I needed her subconscious to wake up enough to show me what I needed to see. “Meredith! Listen to me!” I backed power in the command. “I need to see what happened. I need to know how you got cursed! Show me!”
Instead of seeing the light, the vision rewound. Everything happened in reverse until Donovan stood over her again. Then it replayed. The same heartbreaking scene.
Meredith was torturing herself.
“No! Meredith! Stop this!” I pulled more power through Dastien. “I need to know how to help you. Please, show me what Luciana did so that I can try to fix it.”
She turned, just a little, and looked at me.
“Focus, Meredith. What happened with the curse, Meredith? What did she do to you?”
The scene rewound.
Christ. This wasn’t working.