am, too. And that’s another thing. What if we fall for each other, I get my sight, and we’re not soul mates? I don’t want to hurt you. Hell, I don’t want to be hurt. For the first time, I almost don’t want my sight back.”
“What, it’s better not to know? No, don’t say that. You need your sight to help your friends against these pestilents.”
“But what if we aren’t soul mates?”
“Are you saying you hope we are? Forever and all that?”
“I could fall for you so easily, Cort.” Grey slid his hands up Cort’s chest. “You’re such a wonderful man and what I already feel for you is so damn—” he broke off and stepped away. He cursed and started to pace again, stopping and facing Cort. “You’ve come to mean a lot to me in a very short time.”
“It’s the same for me. My heart is already involved.”
Grey closed his eyes. “Mine, too.” He took a deep breath. “It’s not just that. I heard something out there as we were leaving. Something that makes no sense.”
“What?”
“Clay thinks I’m going to betray them. His exact thought was ‘This spell will be for nothing if the Soul Weaver betrays us again.’ ”
Shock spiked through Cort’s chest. “You heard wrong.”
“No,” Grey said, shaking his head. “And that’s the thing. He said ‘again,’ like I’ve done it before. Or a past me, I guess. I can’t wrap my head around that. I can’t imagine in any universe ever betraying my friends. Hell, they’re like brothers to me. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I can’t see that either. Are you sure that’s what Clay was thinking? Would he remember from your past? Like a reincarnation? Why would he remember and not you?”
“Positive. He must have read something in one of the books and if that’s what happened, why not tell me about it? They found spell books in a chest in a storage unit, and while I haven’t been able to read any of them, I’ve heard a lot about what’s in them. It would have to be the journals they found as well.” He growled and raked his hands through his hair. “I can’t stand the thought of him thinking that about me, and do the others know? Am I the only one being kept in the dark?” He sighed. “Like I don’t have enough of that already.”
Cort shook his head. “You need to talk to him. Ask him outright what he meant.”
“I know. I just don’t know how to approach this. What if I did do something in the past? Something that maybe even got them killed? How would I live with that?”
“Hey.” Cort grabbed his hands and squeezed them. “This Grey hasn’t done a thing, and it’s not fair to hold something that might have happened in the past against you. You’re going to tear yourself to shreds trying to figure this out. Do what I said. Talk to Clay. Hell, talk to them all. The only way any of this is going to work is if you all communicate with each other.”
Grey’s shoulders relaxed. “You’re right. Again. How come you always know the right thing to say?”
“Lots of practice. I deal with stubborn people all the time, so I’ve got skills now.”
“You saying I’m stubborn?”
“One of my stubbornest. But I like that about you.” He tugged Grey closer and wrapped his arms around him, feeling the hard muscles of his chest against him. “Do what I said. Don’t bottle this inside and let the worry become too powerful. That won’t solve anything. It’ll just tear you up inside, and I’d hate to see you like that.”
Grey closed his eyes. “I just hate the thought of them thinking that of me. Makes me feel not a part of the group and I…need that. Especially right now.”
“You are a part of that group. An integral part, from the sound of it. All of you together are more powerful than apart. And as for the soul mate thing, who’s to say we aren’t? I feel a connection to you I’ve never felt with anyone else, and I want to explore that no matter what.” Cort ran his hands up to the back of Grey’s head and pulled him in for a kiss.
Grey returned the kiss, his lips soft now that they weren’t flattened into a tight line. Cort ran his tongue along Grey’s bottom lip, seeking entry into his mouth. When Grey opened for him, Cort groaned low in his throat as his