Chapter 6

Hailey finally exited her bathroom not even thirty minutes after, unsurprised to find him sitting back in the same spot waiting for her. The first thing out of his mouth was, "Are you okay?"

He was frustratingly patient with her, she discovered. She told him to leave and he stayed. She said they were too different, he said they belonged together. They were complete opposites.

"Opposites attract." He said quite suddenly.

"You said you can't read my mind!"

"I didn't say I couldn't read your face, its like an open book." He sighed. "Why are you so resistant? Has someone hurt you?"

She frowned and her hands automatically made their way to her indignant hips. "How on Earth can we be mates if you never listen to me?"

"I would listen to every and anything you had to say but leave. I will not leave until..."

"Until?"

"Until you are in my arms." He nodded decisively.

"You'll force me?" She turned her back slowly, not in fear he somehow sensed, and was grateful for that last reprieve.

Cullen grimaced. "I ... if I was sure you knew that you needed to, and you still would refuse me, then yes."

"Has that never happened before? Has no man on your world been refused by their supposed mates?"

"No! They didn't. They are all mated. You are the most stubborn of the lot, obviously. And I like it, it pains me terribly, but I would not change you."

"You want me to agree to be your mate, your wife, but not too soon? You sound completely ridiculous."

"I want you to be who you are because you are my mate, I would never want a docile mate. What fun would that be?" He rose and grinned wickedly. "Don't you think all the fighting we could do could lead to some nice making up?" He hinted.

"Oh!" She cried out. "You sound like someone from my romance novels, and you're making me sound just like the romantic heroine, but this isn't fiction. This is real. I am a ... a... boring nobody. This is all a mistake, I know it is."

"What about this?" He said quietly, and slid his hands over her wrists feeling the thunderous beat. His lips hovered achingly close to her neck, as his fingers slid along her arms. Her reaction was sudden and all consuming.

She sank against him, closing her eyes, silently begging for more. His fingers singeing a path along her sensitive skin, moaning when his lips finally touched her neck in a soft caress. The scrape of his chin sent a rush of heat through her veins. Her nipples hardened. And God, he knew. With one swipe of his thumb across the throbbing peak, she dissolved against him, taking the refuge in the solid strength of his chest and arms.

She sensed his urgency as he kissed her harder, his hot mouth climbing the length of her neck, savaging the tender skin with the force of his desire. His hunger for her had broken free, unleashing a fierce passion that she never would have imagined. Perversely, this dangerous, unpredictable, side of his excited her. Her body drenched with heat, savoring the press of his muscled body behind her. The thick column of his arousal pressed against her bottom gave hard proof of his desire.

She felt his tongue, his lips, and every scratch of his stubbled jaw, with a startling intensity. Her skin seemed so incredible sensitive, so alive. He drew her earlobe between his teeth, tugging gently as his tongue circled her ear, his ragged breath making her tremble and shiver. She wanted his mouth on hers, his arms around her, his hands covering her body. She wanted relief for the clawing need rising inside her. His mouth slid to her jaw, close to her mouth. Her heart raced, and nervous excitement pooled low in her stomach. Every nerve ending was set on edge in anticipation, as she stretched against him in unconscious surrender. Before she could even consider her actions, or his, for that matter, she heard the unmistakable sound of fabric ripping.

The trance ended, bubble popped, all desire faded away to a dull ache as thought came back to her. She pulled away and stared astonished at her ripped top. A long rip came from the middle up to just under her breasts, almost deliberate it seemed. She glanced up at him and saw him looking hungry and hurt, the different expressions fused in one confusing bunch.

"I..."

"Don't say anything. Don't ruin it." He groaned.

"But..."

"You have no clue of the joy I feel when I touch you, or kiss you, or look at you, do you? You're so completely oblivious!" He frustratingly gripped his hands in his hair tightly.

"How can I?" she whispered. "All you talk about is we're meant to be together, as if you're being ordered about by whoever gods you believe in, Cullen! No mention of joy or happiness, how do you expect me to know all of this?! I don't even know what I'm feeling myself."

"I've talked of how I feel." He growled.

"No! You haven't. You said how mates are happy with their mates and they're unhappy if not, you've talked of how we could be happy. Never have you mentioned any happiness you feel with me, not that I expect that. We've only met but..."

"I told you how much I want you." He interrupted.

"Sexually. Lust. You feel lust for me, and I don't even understand that alone!"

He looked completely bewildered. "I didn't realize I hadn't made some sign of how I feel. But you're wrong. What I feel for you is more than lust, much more than just that. I desire you in my bed, but in my life also, every part of it."

"You think you do. Everyone is telling you to. Your gods, your priest or priestess, I don't remember. And your family. How do you even know I am what you want. That you really want any woman at all right now? For forever?" She demanded.

"Because all of my life I knew, not because someone told me, that I was incomplete. That there was something missing. When I was told of mates and love when I was older, I assumed like everyone else that was it. But, Hailey, never ever have I ever known that meeting you would ever make me feel more than just complete. You make me feel ... everything, alive and full."

He saw tears in her eyes and felt his heart clench. Helplessly, he stared. "Stop. Don't ... oh gods, I'm making you cry! This was never supposed to happen this way, you were supposed to be hesitant, but not angry, and hurt by me. I hurt you and, damn it, I can't take it."

"Wait. I'm not hurt by what you said ... or did." Hailey said softly.

"Then why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying." She said in an irritated tone. At his raised eyebrow she corrected herself, "Yet."

"Why?" He stared at her.

"What you said is sweet, I don't know what else to say about it though." She rubbed her arms up and down nervously.

"Do you believe me?"

"I'd have to be a jackass not to." she grumbled.

"Then..."

"I don't know. I still don't believe we belong together, and I don't know how I make you so goddamn happy, if all I do is argue with you."

"Its just you, only you. I see how I could love you, I see that you're the perfect girl for me."

She gazed at him silently for a few more moment. "You keep saying could, all the freaking time. Do you love me? Because I happen to think in real life only men in love and stalkers say that kind of stuff."

"I don't love you, Hailey. I don't know all of you, and I don't mean your body." He hastened to add when he saw her look. "I don't know what your favorite color is, or why you smile when you do, I can't truly love you until I do, but ... when I look at you I see my future. A happy one."

She looked peeved. "If you had said yes, I would have known for sure you were completely insane, you know. You're being very inconsiderate to my sanity. I do feel something for you. Something I don't know is real or imaginary. If I'm just ... maybe this whole situation is influencing me, you taking me away and taking me to your palace. Romance fades quickly with no real depth behind it. I know I can't see any other man saying what you're saying to me now. How do I know if its real, though?"

She took a step back when a smile lit on his face suddenly. "I have an idea. I could show you what I mean when I say we could have a great future together."

"Uh huh." she said clearly, holding her hands out in a stop gesture. "No way. No more kissing or seducing, I need a clear head."

He grinned, amused. "Not that way, but if you change your mind..."

"What did you have on mind then, Prince Charming?" She rolled her eyes.

"You know how my home is magical?"

"Faeries and panthers." she nodded.

He smiled at that. "I have certain abilities."

Her eyes narrowed. "Not including telepathy."

"Yes. I can literally show you a future where we are together happily."

"You've seen this?" She frowned.

"Actually, no."

"Then how do you know we're together happily?"

"Because I know." He waved away her question. "If you don't like what you see, which I know you will, you can give me the boot."

"How would you do this?" She asked hesitantly.

"Come sit down across from me." He moved back and sat on the couch, facing the empty space before the arm of the couch. She sat in the space hesitantly. He lifted his hands, palms up. "Place your palms on mine."

"Will this hurt?" She asked as she did as he asked.

"It'll tingle, then you'll see the vision."

"But its not a ... vision of the future."

"It's a vision of the natural occurrence that would happen if we were to mate."

She closed her eyes and breathed out loudly. "Alright, magic man, do your thing."

Hailey felt the beginnings of a slight tingle, as warmth shocked through her whole body. She gasped as his power seemed to flow into her, too. She shivered, and then a picture came clear in her mind like a movie. She saw herself and Cullen laughing and kissing, enjoying a dinner. The smile on her own lips seemed so foreign it surprised her. She looked as if she glowed. She felt his happiness too, their love, and it shocked her even more than what happened next. Her other self pulled Cullen into a passionate kiss, making her blush as if she were watching strangers.

The same scenarios played over a few more times, the courtship it seemed. Movies, dinners, walks and dancing together. The regular happiness she knew she hadn't felt since ... ever, she realized. She had never felt this happy, this peaceful, but with him. Before she could contemplate this further, another event appeared and she gasped aloud.

It was them, wrapped in each other arms nude in a bed. Her face grew hot seeing this intimate look. They looked so hungry and aggressive, she kept reminding herself it was her. She watched as Cullen, so strong and manly, handled her so gently as if she were liable to break any second. Surprised still, she saw the other her grip his naked back hard. Then a first, she spoke.

"Stop! I need you, stop holding back." The other her growled, rolling him over and straddling him and visibly startling him.

Hailey felt the same desire coarse through her veins at this intimate act, before it slipped away disappointing her, although she would never admit it. She watched curiously as the next part came in view. They stood across from each other in the beautiful garden at his home, she saw his family, and there was an older woman in front of them. She watched herself pledge her heart to him, and she hardly felt the tears that ran down her real face.

Everyone was smiling and laughing, affected by this show of true love. As her own heart seemed to pulse in her chest, the picture faded away to another.

Cullen lay between her legs on his bed, kissing and caressing her swollen belly in awe. Hailey felt the life inside of her kick, and her hands flew to her stomach, breaking the vision. She looked down at her not so pregnant belly in dismay.

"Wow." Cullen breathed out.

She brought her knees up against her chest and pressed her face into them. "It wasn't real."

"It can be. It can, Hailey. All you have to do is believe." He grabbed her hands tightly. "You saw, you felt..."

"I always thought..." She took a hand back to wipe at her tears.

"You thought what?"

"Happy endings are for books, and for lucky people. I've never been lucky. I'm less than average. I'm boring and plain, I always thought ... I would settle for someone I liked. Not someone I really loved, not a soul mate or anything."

"You are beautiful and wonderful, you're meant for better things. You're mine, and I would never settle for less than average." He kissed her tears away.

"I was pregnant ... I saw it."

"Yes. I saw, I loved it. You carrying our child."

"Stop." She pulled his hands away, and looked into his face, finally. "I swore to myself a long time ago I would never bring a baby into the world like I was. My family was never secure, never. Money or otherwise. My father loved my mother and she felt trapped. She got pregnant at 18 with my brother, she married him only because of that, and ... they stayed together until I was born and after, but they weren't happy, truly. She cheated on him, she cheated on us. She gave up on me when I wasn't the doll she wanted.

"I won't do that. I won't have a baby when I'm not ready, I won't do that to my baby." She wept.

"Hailey, Hailey" He kissed her mouth lightly. "You're not pregnant."

"I saw it. I felt it ... in me."

"Yes. We mated, you saw that, too, didn't you? You wouldn't marry someone you didn't love, I know that. I feel that about you. You were ready."

"What if you change your mind? What if it doesn't work like we saw? I was rejected by my mother, I can't do that to my child. Have it rejected by you."

He took her hands tightly and laid them on his chest, his eyes glowing. "Feel me, I feel pride because of what we saw. All of it. I would never do that."

She felt it as he said. He was letting her feel what he felt, and it was true. "I've always wanted to be a mother, but I made myself forget it because of my life. They were never able to properly care for me. Bills unpaid, unemployed. I knew I would never be able to do that. I barely live myself."

"I'm a duke, baby. I have a pretty secure salary. You shall never worry."

"No." She shook her head. "That's not what I mean. I had resigned myself not to be a mother and to see that ... I want it." She smiled slightly. "God I want it so much, it hurts."

"I can give it to you, Hailey. I could give you everything you want. If you'll only have me."

She closed her eyes a moment, her smile fading. "Could you show me how my life would be without you?"

"No. My magic extends to me and what influences me."

"But it could be happy, right?"

"Not as happy as with me, there would be no one who would go to the ends of the universe to make you happy. I will."

"Can I ... I don't want my want of a child make my decision. It's a big one. Can I think about it for a while?"

He frowned but nodded. "I know what I want, and I want you Hailey. What I saw only confirms it, keep that in mind."

She glanced at the clock, and was surprised to see it was nighttime and she was exhausted. "The vision was a long time, you just don't realize it until its over." He explained.

"I'm gonna go to bed." She rose slowly and began to walk away but turned back. "Cullen?" She fidgeted slightly.