She had always wondered if he hated her for that, hated her for the waiting. She had certainly blamed her own failures on it, more than once.
“Course I fuckin’ looked for you. Shit, Violet. Soon as I saw the fuckin’ flames. I ran straight for you, but your house was empty. I saw enough missin’, saw the car missin’. I knew you weren’t in that fire. Knew you had ran. I ran and grabbed my truck and chased right after you, lookin’ for you. And when I went back, I found out what your Ma did.”
“What?”
“Yeah. The boundary line. So I couldn’t even go home. Not if I wanted to find you again. A few o’ the others, they could toss me some of my shit. Enough to get me by. I didn’t know where to look for you, but I looked, and I tried. Ended up goin’ to—“
“What are you talking about?” What boundary line? What had her mother done?
“Do you not know?” he questioned, his face falling slightly. She hadn’t even realized how worked up and tense he was until it had been replaced with shock. “‘Course I fuckin’ looked for you. You’re my other half. My soulmate. Been lookin’ for you for so long...”
“I have to call my mom,” she whispered, shaking her head. What had her mother done? What had her mom—
“Violet?”
She felt uneven on her feet and reached out to touch the wall, wanting to hold herself up. She could feel him coming closer, could feel the warmth of him, but she held a hand up, stopping him from touching her. He couldn’t touch her. There was no telling what would happen. No telling what it would do.
“You can’t touch me, remember?” she reminded him. “The binding spell.”
“Yeah, until you finished your trainin’, but—“
“I’m not a witch. I never finished.”
Henrik stared at her in shock, which was understandable. She had been training to be a witch for so long, destined to follow in her mother’s footsteps. It was in her blood. She had a connection to the earth and nature and elements. She could feel the movement of magic through her. She could never be anything but a witch.
Only, she had never managed to control it. Not the way she needed to.
“Fuck...”
“Yeah.”
Henrik was so close to her, so close she wanted to reach out and touch him, but she couldn’t. She had to talk to her mom, for more reasons than one. She needed answers. She needed... release.
“Was it really an accident?” she questioned as she looked up at him. “You finding the job?”
“It really was,” he said with a slight nod of his head. “But we can talk about that later.”
“Yeah.”
She wanted to kiss him. She had never done that before, not like she really wanted to. She had kissed him on the cheek a few times, a quick peck on the lips right before he shifted the first time, but after that... After that, there was no more touching. Not when her magic was becoming erratic. Not when she couldn’t control herself.
She was suddenly desperate to lose herself in him, lose herself in the taste of him.
“Where are you running tomorrow night?” she asked suddenly, remembering the Full Moon the next day. If he had only just gotten the job, he might be new to the area, which meant he might not have a safe space.
“Don’t shift anymore,” he said awkwardly, and rubbed a hand in his hair. “So uhh...”
“Oh.”
A witch without magic. A wolf shifter who didn’t shift.
“Henrik, I—“
“I’ll see you around, Violet, until you manage to... shit. I can’t stand lookin’ at ya, right now. You gotta know how badly I—“
His eyes started to glow, and she knew what he was saying. She knew what he meant. Knew what he wanted. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she knew his was as well.
He wanted her, badly, but with the binding between them, her touch would be agony for both of them.