A/N: So sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I started teaching in August and haven't had a moment since then to update. I remembered that I had two chapters written so I will be updating again quickly after I give a quick edit to the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it!
It had been so much to take in. The idea of letting herself be out in the open. Once upon a time she supposed that was just who she was; a girl whom never had to hide from herself or the world. But he had put an end to that.
More than a thousand years had passed and his magic still held her hostage. That was why she had wanted —but been unable—to stay away from Wyatt. The curse had been kept secret from all, known only to her family line. As a phoenix, Rhiannon was born from the ashes of fallen witches, but while many believed the phoenixes had come to be after the Salem witch trials, the phoenix clan had risen centuries before. They had remained hidden as a way to protect their once and future Queen, only surfacing under their current guise when Melinda Warren had prophecied the coming of the Charmed Ones. The line from which her King would spring forth, as well as their closest friends and family.
Why couldn't she have just stayed away from him?
He would be better off if I had never encountered him, she thought. What have I done but cause grief amongst his family? Maybe Mel is right and should just go to him. Explain why I have to stay away from him, even if we manage to undo what I've done by binding us to one another.
Opening the door to the Haunt, Rae gave her license to the bouncer and walked through the bar, noticing that the bar was busy and Wyatt was nowhere to be found.
Melinda had told her that her cousins had stepped in to help run the bar since Wyatt had dedicated himself to finding her and learning more about the curse. He would more than likely have caved himself in and could be found in the office.
The redhead made her way through the crowd and her heart was racing. An old Vance Joy song was playing, Georgia, and it had a melancholy ring to it.
Do I knock, she wondered as she smoothed her black strapless dress and pushed her long red hair over her shoulder. It cascaded in layers and exposed freckles along her collar bones, set against a milky white backdrop.
Stop it, she told herself. Just stop preening for him. You haven't decided what you're even going to do; whether you're coming or going.
Either way, Rae forced her conscience down, he needs to believe that I am here to stay. If only so we can break this damn curse once and for all.
She opened the door and saw him, his back to her as she closed the door gently behind her. You can still run, the coward inside her said, he hasn't seen you yet.
"Hello, Wyatt," Rae bit the bullet and had to force herself to look him in the eye when he turned, wide eyed to stare at her. "I've heard you've been looking for me."
Wyatt's gaze narrowed on her and before either one of them new what he was doing he was there, reaching out an arm to grab her and haul her towards him.
She didn't fight, even as she appeared bewildered at his rough handling of her. No, Rae just looked in his eyes, reflecting back exactly what she saw in his; questions.
They stood like that for the longest moment of her life before he kissed her—one of those epic, romance movie kisses that seemed to say everything you could possibly be thinking. Rae's eyes closed and she leaned in. God, is this what I've been missing all this time?
Her arms came up to wrap around Wyatt's neck as she allowed him to take up every spare inch of space around her, pushing her up against a wall and letting his hands hold her head still as he broke their kiss to stare in her eyes.
Wyatt looked, her lips turned up to meet his, eyes closed even as her lashes tried to bat their way open. I didn't imagine it, he thought as he often had these past months. This isn't fake, what's between us. I don't know why she wants to fight it but she can't or she wouldn't be here now. He leaned down and began kissing her again, losing himself in finding her.
Her arm stretched and her legs uncurled themselves from the throw blanket Wyatt had thrown over them earlier. Where are his legs, she wondered as her eyes finally opened and she turned to see he was no longer sleeping besides her. Without thinking she reached an arm over to his spot and felt that it was cool. He hadn't been lying with her for a while now it appeared.
"Looking for me," he asked and Rae turned to find his voice. He was leaning against the desk, shirtless and his sweats rested right under his hips.
Rae sat up, covering herself with the throw as she looked on either side of the couch for her clothes. They were no longer in the place she had thrown them.
"I thought you'd be less likely to run without them," Wyatt answered. He was watching her intent to notice whether or not she planned on running again.
"I came to you, " Rae said and stood, crossing the floor to stand before him. For once she could look him in the eye without straining since his seated position placed him at eye level for the petite witch.
"You did the last time as well and look where that got us."
He's still angry with me, she thought. It might not be as easy as Mel thinks it is to get Wyatt to trust me.
"I couldn't stop myself," Rae told him, reminding herself that the best way to lie was to stick as close to the truth as possible. "I saw you and I lost control."
Wyatt smirked and looked down at the blanket she was wearing. "And you were in complete control this time?" he asked, knowing that despite spending months running from him Rae had given up all control several hours earlier when she walked into his office.
It was still early morning but the bar had been closed for sometime now. His cousin had locked up behind herself and hadn't bothered to ask questions when he texted her to leave the till in the machine for him to count later.
Rae blushed and thought back to the several times she had offered up complete control to him and peered behind him to see if she could find her clothes. "The choice to come here was all mine," she reminded him and reached across him to grab her bra, only to find herself standing between his legs.
"Leave it. You don't need it yet."
"And why is that?" He was enjoying seeing her squirm, she just knew it and that helped to remind her that she couldn't give in to him too much or she'd suffer the consequences.
Wyatt grabbed it from her hands and stood to his full height before walking towards her. With each step he took Rae took one back until she had no place to go but the couch again. "Because this is the first time I've had you in months," the twice blessed answered, "and I'm not done with you yet."
Wyatt had orbed them to his apartment as the sun began to rise. It wouldn't do for his cousins to find him and Rae still at the bar. He was handling breakfast when he heard begin to rise and he cast his senses out.
Rae was calm and for the first time in months she wasn't exhausted from the lengths she and Melinda had taken to hide her from Wyatt's magic. She picked up her clothes from the floor and zipped her dress up before pulling her thick red hair into a ponytail. Making her way into the bathroom she grabbed his toothbrush and dealt with what she could only assume was what one would refer to as morning breath before heading out to find Wyatt.
He began plating the eggs and ham steaks, seasoned with salt and pepper. Without asking for permission or pleading for forgiveness Rae opened his fridge and took out the ketchup. It oozed over her eggs and ham as Wyatt looked down his nose at the plate she held.
"Remind me never to take you anyplace nice," the blond said, closing the fridge and heading to the table.
"A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do," she told him and cut into her ham steak. She eyed him as she chewed and began cutting another piece.
"What's on the agenda today?"
Wyatt leaned back in his chair and took a swig of his orange juice. "You tell me. You're the one that came to me. We still haven't talked about why."
Her utensils clattered on her plate as she looked across the table at him. "You know why. You interfered in something you shouldn't have and now the curse has you too. What am I supposed to do? Birdie's already caved and without both of them it's only a matter of time before you do something so completely stupid there's no saving you. If I had stayed away to begin with this wouldn't even be an issue, but then you had to start calling for me. Why is it you can never seem to leave things to themselves?"
"How was I supposed to leave you," he asked as he leaned over the table, "once we bound ourselves to one another? You had a choice and you chose me. You don't get to just walk away from that."
"It's the 21st century," Rae reminded him. "We're not talking betrothals and marriage contracts or virgin sacrifices. I get caught up in a moment and that means I'm never supposed to leave your side? Get real," she said and picked up her plate to clear it.
"No, you don't get to do that. You don't get to dismiss us as if we were average people doing mundane things. I feel our bond and I know you do to," Wyatt grabbed her hand and began rubbing her tattoo. "You're just afraid but you don't have to be. I'm going to put an end to this curse once and for all."
"How? I sure as hell don't know how to break it and you know less than I do," Rae cried.
"Then tell me. But don't leave again," Wyatt pressed himself against her and raised a hand to brush her hair back. "We can do this together."
And Rae, both believing him and knowing that they would fail, had a choice. She could pretend to agree with his terms in order to break the curse or she could trust him to keep his word and find a way to be together, a fate they never seemed to realize.
