2. Sleep Now.

Caspian

She was asleep, asleep in my arms and I could never have guessed just how good holding her would make me feel.

I had infused her with enough of my leftover mating serum to allow her to rest for a few hours. Normally it is only used in the rites where we take our mates, but I don't have enough to make her sleep through it this time anyway.

Not after last time.

I carried her perfect frame out of the tideline, and I find my face has blossomed into a smile as I cradle my beautiful mate in my arms. How I have longed for her, craved to know her, and now after all this time, I have finally found her again; yet for her sake I must leave again. All I want to do is complete our tethering and swim off with her, to take her home and shower her with everything she has been denied, everything that is rightfully hers, and yet I cannot.

Not yet anyway.

First I must prepare, bringing her home now will have more consequences than before, her age and my previous failed attempt could cause difficulties, and I simply cannot risk her. Silently I curse my uncle and his over protectiveness, he was the one who interfered in our first joining. Albeit because in my frenzied swim he saw Catherine becoming tangled in a fishing net. He cut our joining short to save me by severing our tether, meaning we were prematurely separated, and I at twelve blacked out from the trauma.

I didn't even know she had survived for definite, until today.

But, I scold myself for such negative thoughts, because in four days she will be mine, as she always was meant to be. My Catherine, my mate. Finally after everyone's denials of my claims, I can bring her home.

Smiling I glance at her beautiful face, her long lashes flutter softly as she dreams, her nose has a small sprinkling of freckles, that fan out across her cheeks. I do everything to memorise her face, the slant of her cheek bones, the curve of her lips and then I silently pledge to never lose her again.

With an annoyed sigh, because I know I must part with her for now, I look for somewhere to place her while she sleeps off my influence, then I spot the small wooden boat. It's the one she was on the water in. However, I fail to hide my scowl as I survey the vessel. It's barely hanging on to life, and looks more than worn in many places. It's a miracle in itself she hasn't drowned in the contraption, especially with those cumbersome skirts she is wearing, they would hold her beneath the waves without fail.

How many times have I come close to losing her? I contemplate as my grip involuntarily tightens.

I shake away the thoughts, aware I am running out of time and then I place her softly in the boat, before I move them both to what seems to look like their original mooring spot. I study her lying there, when I notice the rod beside her. I quickly tidy it away to prevent the hooks catching on her, then I spot the frayed rope with a sigh.

When I first sensed her blood and came to investigate, my beast got the better of me, he took over, determined to sink her vessel and take her then and there. She must have cut the rope, I realise, and I can’t help but admire her quick thinking.

It doesn’t take me long to transform, my beast thrashing with the need to collect her. To have her sit upon my back as we carry her into the fathoms of the deep, taking her home forever. But, instead, I rein him in and go in search of her anchor. The sea here in this bay is calmer than the open ocean, yet still it manages to remain murkier than the waters of home. But still, I manage to find the weight regardless, grasping the rope within my teeth and raising it higher.

All too soon I have set up her little vessel again, reassuring myself that it is only for four days. In truth I could have left her sooner, there was no real need to fix it all up; but it gave me the opportunity to glance upon her one last time. She was still settled, exactly where I left her as I affixed the anchor back in place, taking with me the shorter left over rope length; purely for nostalgia’s sake.

It takes all that I have to walk away a second time, and I dare not shift yet. My beast is wild at me, he would surely take over and try to force the issue prematurely. Instead, I swim in the form of a man, far enough across the surface that I cannot be seen, yet close enough to watch over her while she sleeps.

In all good conscience, I cannot leave until I know she is well and awake. Yet my heart calls out to her even now, and I am filled with guilt at the pain she will feel when she wakes. Her tether will burn more than ever now that it has come close to being completed again. But, it is only for four days, four days and she will be coming home.