Carve My Pumpkin (The Night Realm: Halloween Marked #3)

Chapter 24

TWENTY-FOUR

COLETTE

How dare he kiss me.

How DARE he kiss me.

God why did I pull away? It was my one shot to kiss him and I blew it.

But what was he thinking?

My mind was tornado of thoughts and my heart was in ruins.

Anger, desire, and annoyance all warred within me. I wanted him more than I wanted to breathe. I didn’t want to hand him over, possibly literally, to a woman who’d been hiding from him for almost a year. Doesn’t she know how lucky she is to be HIS? I didn’t understand how a woman could know he was her soulmate and just hide from him. And there was no way she was on Megelle Island and didn’t know it was him. I’d secretly sent postcards to every woman’s address on the island with the image of it like I did with the parade. If an adult woman lived at a residence they got the postcard. I hadn’t told Mateo that part but he didn’t need to know.

The important part was she had to have known and she was hiding.

And it wasn’t fair.

If he had been mine I never would’ve let him out of my sight.

But he wasn’t mine, so I desperately needed him out of my sight. My wings popped from my back with more gusto than I’d ever felt in First Realm but no matter how hard I pushed they just barely fluttered. I needed far away from Mateo, yet all I could manage was to lift myself a few feet off the ground for a few seconds before I fell back onto the ground and tripped to catch myself. The tips of my toes caught on the crystal roots and I tumbled down to my hands and knees. Little pink and yellow flowers sprouted from beneath my hands. Vines of bright green leaves spread out like rivers in every direction. I cursed and jumped to my feet, staring at the ground like it might attack me. But everything had stopped. It must have been some type of reactive forest. I didn’t know a thing about the magic of this realm or how it worked. Or what would kill me.

Maybe running away by myself was really stupid.

My wings felt heavy on my back, being in Third Realm was doing something to them and I didn’t understand it. I just stood there with my hands on my knees breathing in the crisp air. In this moment I hated being a fae failure more than any other moment in my life. If I could fly like every other fae then I would’ve been home by now, burying myself in blankets and comfort snacks.

“ Dammit, Mateo, ” I cursed and stomped my foot.

Thick red roots popped out from the dirt going left and right for several feet before little red trees grew in with the rest of the forest. What is this place? I was probably in imminent danger. It was all Mateo’s fault. How dare he? How could he let this happen? He had a soulmate and he’d kissed me. He knew there was someone out there for him but his lips ended up on mine. For one fleeting second it was Heaven.

“Dammit, Colette. Why did you run? Now you’re lost. What’s your big strategy now?”

I tried to stumble my way back but nothing looked familiar to me. The trees all swayed around me and the leaves seemed to turn colors as I walked by them. It wasn’t that they were turning purple or blue but yellow leaves turned to burgundy, brown turned back to green. They rustled with the breeze and moved in waves away from me. The ground around me turned rainbow colors every time I took a step.

There was a light song in the air I couldn’t quite hear but I felt like if I listened hard enough it might’ve been speaking to me. But I didn’t have the patience or energy to try. I was too much of a mess. My heart was hurting too loud to hear anything else. Normally I’d have been taken with this world but right now, in this moment, I wanted out and I wanted out immediately. So I just kept moving in what I prayed was a direction that would help me find someone. I passed by a stream and the fish leapt from the water next to me as though they were dolphins celebrating something. But I couldn’t share their excitement. Maybe thinking back on it would be exciting but right now all I could think was I needed to get away from him, away from here as fast as possible.I was also trying not to panic about being lost in another realm.

“Colette!” My name echoed all around me.

I froze. I knew the sound of that voice.

I pushed my wings once more and my feet lifted up for a second. Butterflies fluttered around my arms and landed on my hair. I didn’t dare swat them away yet when I started to move a bit slower I heard my name once more. My heart hammered in my chest. The sound of trees crashing came from behind me and when I looked back my breath left me in a rush.

Mateo was riding on top of Bart, Collins’ pet crystal bull thing. It was bigger than I’d realized before and charging right in my direction. Mateo had a hold of its horns as it ran toward me. I wanted to run, to move faster but outrunning Bart was unlikely. Outrunning a vampire would never happen. I just stood there with flowers blooming all around me. Bart skidded to a stop and the ground around his hooves shot up into the air and dust spread out from him. Mateo leapt off of him and headed right for me.

His hair was swept back from his face from riding Bart and his lips were slightly swollen from our kiss. When he marched up to me I was so tempted to just give into this moment, to give into him. He was so close and I wanted him too much. I knew I couldn’t have him but the desire to taste him one last time was nearly overwhelming. Just one last time.

I smelled his cologne sweep across my face and my resolve snapped. I grabbed his face with my hands and took his lips with mine. His arms coiled around me instantly, squeezing my body against his so I felt our hearts pounding against each other. Bliss shot through my body and for the second that our bodies were this close, and while his flavor was warm on my tongue. I needed this, needed him. The desire was so acute it was almost painful. I poured everything I felt into that kiss as our tongues twisted together. His fingers dug into my hips and pulled me closer to him.

It was too much, too intense, too right . I was going to melt on the spot for him and that wasn’t the stupidest thing I could possibly do. I need to stop this. Now.

I pushed him away and pressed my hands over my mouth. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

His eyes were grave, and his chest heaved when he looked down at me. “Colette, I?—”

“You what ?” I raised my voice. “You have a soulmate, Mateo.”

“I know.” He hung his head. “But I just can’t?—”

“No, Mateo. No. ” I felt all the things and nothing at the same time. “This cannot happen.”

"You need to hear me out.” His voice was insistent, almost pleading.

“Soul. Mate.” I punctuated each of my words. “Once you find her?—”

“I wouldn’t do that to you.” He sounded so sincere. “I wouldn’t just leave you for someone else. Colette this thing between us is real. I can feel it. I know it.”

I shook my head and tears pooled in my eyes. “You can’t make that promise. Soulmates can’t be denied.”

“Yet you’re denying this thing between us.” He motioned between the two of us.

“This thing.” I pointed from him to me and back. “It’s doomed to fail before it even starts.”

“How can you say that without so much as trying?” He shifted from one foot to the other. “My soulmate may not even exist. She may not want to meet me and that’s why she’s been avoiding me this whole time. Whatever the case maybe it’s too little too late.”

“Do you know how ridiculous you sound right now?” I hated that I had to point this out because deep down I wished his words were true. I wished we could try to find a way to turn this into something.

He shook his head. “It’s not ridiculous. We could be?—”

“Nothing.” I threw my arms out to my sides and let them fall onto my thighs with a slap. “We could be nothing. Because the second your soulmate shows up I would be nothing to you. And the only person who would get hurt is me. You’d have me until you had her and then I would disappear into the darkness with a shattered heart. No matter how great I think you are I know better than to put myself in that position.”

His shoulders shagged and he looked deflated. “You’re always such a planner, you’re planning for events that haven’t even happened.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I’m only telling you what will happen. It’s a sure thing. And if I was the one with a soulmate you’d feel exactly like I do.”

“You don’t know that?—”

“Don’t I?” I laughed but it wasn’t funny. “You told me yourself that you have never dated because you knew one day your soulmate would show up and do exactly this. You’re just being blinded by how you feel and I need you to think about it.”

“Colette—"

“Tell me I’m wrong, Mateo.”

He sucked in a deep breath then blew it out.

I stood there staring at his perfect face. “You can’t tell me I’m wrong and that right there is why this can never and will never happen. That kiss is the last one you will ever get from me.”

“Colette—”

“No.” I turned away from him and spun in a circle. “I want to go home. Now.”

I had no idea where I was or how I was going to get home but I’d be damned if I stood here for one more minute. I marched away from him and there were more butterflies swarming around me.

“Whoa.” Mateo said from right behind me.“There’s butterflies?—"

“Yeah, they do that.” I tried to keep walking but I felt him behind me still. “Don’t follow me.”

“You’re lost.” He snapped.“In another realm. Let me help you get home. I won’t touch you again.”

I spun around to face him. “I don’t care, you need to go your way and I need to go mine.”

I whipped around about to keep walking away from him when I nearly smashed right into Bash. I jumped back and my back slammed into Mateo’s chest. I felt his arms go up to wrap around me and I twisted out of his grip and staggered to the side.

“How the hell did you two wind up all the way out here?” Bash looked from Mateo to me. “Hi, Bart.”

Suddenly I felt like Bash knew everything that happened and embarrassment overcame me. I didn’t want him or anyone else to see this. The desire to flee overtook me yet I stood still hoping he didn’t know. Hoping he didn’t know my heart was breaking in this exact second.

I took a deep breath. “I was trying to get back to the portal. I want to go home.”

He tilted his head to the side studying me. “Yes, I can see that.”

I waited for him to say something else when he didn’t my patience grew thin. “Can you help me get out of here?”

“Can I help?” Bash flew to my side. “I will take you both.”

I offered him my arm and he took it in one hand. Mateo stepped up on his other side but he didn’t look at me and I knew it was for the best. I didn’t want him to look at me with that longing in his eyes or the desire I also knew I felt. I needed it all to stop because I was the only one who was going to have a broken heart when this was all said and done.

“I’m ready.”

Bash’s grip tightened on my arm a second before he shot into the purple sky. “C’mon, let’s get you two home.”