Charm (Crave #5)

by Tracy Wolff

If dancing with me gives him even a little of the joy it brings me—I’ll dance with him forever, if he’ll have me.

The man just gave you a promise ring, of course he'll have you 😒

I glance at Hudson, who gives me a “you’ve got this” nod. It’s all I need to remind myself that yeah, I really do have this.

BDSM: Bondage, Dragons, Stone, and Magic —Grace—

...

But Polo the chupacabra is on his arse, determined to bring the time wizard down before he can get there.

As a mexican I can say by the stories ive been told chupacabras are no joke...

But before I fly more than a few feet myself, Hudson goes careening right past me—which is of particular concern because I am flying, and this vampire can’t fly.

Who the bloody hell knew a spider—especially a fucking shadow spider—could do that to a man?

If this is what he calls sanctuary, I’d rather take my chances in hell.

Foreshadowing?...

I don’t love Grace because she’s perfect all the time. Hell, no one can make me want to pull my hair out faster than her sometimes. I love Grace because she wants to be better, always strives to be the best she can. That doesn’t mean she never has a bad day. It means her bad days are not what define her. It’s her stubbornness, her willingness to learn from her mistakes, and her strength to pick herself up and always do better. She makes me want to be a better man—someone worthy of her. She’s more than I ever hoped for in a mate. And definitely more than I ever deserved.

I have one second to admire his body in all its perfection before he’s reaching into his dresser and pulling out—big surprise—a pair of Versace boxer briefs, sans mustaches, devil horns, and peace signs.

Warmth spreads through me and I pull it into my chest. I pull Hudson’s smile and his kindness and his sarcasm and his love into me right along with it, and then…the world goes black.

After everything we’d shared and been through, if Hudson had treated me the way I treated him when we “first met” in my head, I’m pretty sure I’d be devastated. I don’t know how I would ever recover. I sure as shit would have set something of his on fire—maybe the Versace boxer briefs and maybe his whole freaking world. But he never treated me like that. No matter how much I hurt him—and looking back I know that I really did hurt him a lot—he never made me feel like that. And he always, always had my back, even when I didn’t have his.

“Hey.” Hudson puts a finger under my chin when I look down, tilts my face back up to his. “I didn’t want you to remember so that you would feel bad, Grace. I wanted you to remember so that you could tease me about my underwear and remember our first time and…” He shakes his head. “I just wanted you to remember. But I never want you to be upset or ashamed about what happened between us or how it played out.”

“Hey, how many guys get to say their woman fell head over heels in love with them twice? It’s not so bad to be me.” “By that logic, how many girls get to say their guy is so great they fell in love with him twice?” I counter. “Exactly my point.” He grins with satisfaction. “Not so bad to be me.” Except it was. It really freaking was, and he’s giving me a pass anyway. Because he’s Hudson.

Because he's Hudson😭😭😭🤧🤧

He takes my hand, runs his thumb over the promise ring he gave me when we were in Giant City. I’ve always loved this ring, even before I knew what he’d promised me, but now I find myself longing for my other ring, as well. The purple metal and shadow script that he gave me when he first made the promise to love me until the sun grew cold and the stars grew old.

Instead of the silver ring with the delicate runic etchings Hudson bought me at the Giant market—or the purple band with markings from the Shadow Realm—this ring is a combination of both. The two rings, one of which I thought was lost forever, have braided themselves into a beautiful new ring that I want to wear forever.

“Nothing will ever make me feel anything but bound to you forever. It’s nice to have the ring, and it’s nice to have the mating bond. It’s definitely nice to have the promise ring, since repeating the words triggered the shadow promise and somehow gave you back your memories. But I loved you without all of it once, and I’ll love you without all of it forever.”

Too much😭😭😭🤧🤧🤧

“Binding myself to you didn’t do anything except give a physical manifestation of what I already knew. I belong to you, Grace. Heart, soul, body. I have since before we left the lair the first time. I’ll be yours until the day I die, and if there’s some kind of afterlife, I’ll be yours then, too. Nothing will ever change that, so why wouldn’t I make a promise to you?”

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, willing the hummingbirds having a party in my stomach to calm the fuck down.

This is Hudson, my Hudson, and there’s no need for me to be nervous with him of all people. But I am. I really am, because it’s Hudson. The love of my life. And no one deserves a flawless declaration of love more than he does. I just don’t know if I’m going to be able to give it to him. Not when tears are still streaming down my face and panic is beating wild wings inside my rib cage. And not when the perfect words are all jumbled in my head.

Ahhhhh 😭😭😭🤧🤧 TOO MUCH FOR ME!! 😭😭

Love isn’t always easy. And it isn’t always pretty. Sometimes it’s messy and painful and completely fucked up. But maybe that’s okay. Maybe love doesn’t have to be perfect. Maybe it just has to be real.

Damn.. 😭😭😭

“What are you doing?” he asks, and yeah. Those are definitely tears in his eyes, definitely tears running down the cheeks of this boy who hasn’t let himself cry in a century.

“I love you because you can pull a dozen birdcalls out of your ass at a moment’s notice. I love you because you let me sometimes cry and drip snot all over

🤣🤣😍😅😭😭🤧

The bracelet made of giant chains knotted together at first glance, but they’re really hearts when you look more closely.

“Grace.” This time when he says my name, it’s filled with everything he’s ever felt for me—everything he will ever feel for me. It’s messy and wonderful and in its own imperfect way, absolutely perfect.

“Slow your roll, hot jets.” “Hot jets?”