Druidess Found (Druidess Trilogy Book 1) by Machelle Hanleigh (interesting novels to read txt) 📕

the strength to leave her. It was the best thing he could do for her. He picked up the bag he brought with him and walked to the door. He stopped and glanced back at her. She still slept. "Be well, my Kaily." He whispered and stepped out of the room. If seeing her with the Fergusons hadn't been enough to convince him she belonged on her home world, not his, it was this, the fact she slept so soundly on her world when she had been so restless on his. She wasn't troubled by night terrors or any other unease that he felt from her. He still could not get inside her mind, which frustrated him to no end. If he could only have reached her in her mind, maybe, just maybe he would have been able to teach her what she needed to know about her abilities and how to control them, but he couldn't. He knew that she was having night terrors since that day in the training room, but he could not penetrate the night terrors or her mind enough to see the images to know what plagued her.

Determinedly, Moto forced himself to walk to the front door and walk through it. He forced himself shut the door behind him. His leaving was the best thing for Kaily. He nodded in greeting to Mrs. Ferguson who was already out, working in the garden. She smiled and waved at him in return. He returned her smile, and then decisively turned his back on the cottage and Kaily. He made his way back to the Gateway. He ignored the tears burning the back of his eyes. He fought the urge to return to her several times on his way to the Gateway. It felt like an eternity passed with each step he took, and still he didn't reach the Gateway. He didn't remember it being so far way, but perhaps that was his reluctance to leave that made it seem so. With each step away from Kaily he felt a piece of his heart break off. When had she become so much a part of him? He knew he hadn't completed the bonding ritual, but it felt like he was walking away from his bonded mate or at least what he would imagine it felt like. He was leaving a huge chunk of himself behind on her world. He continued to put one foot in front of the other until he finally reached the Gateway. He needed to find the strength to leave her. She was better off without him.

He rested his forehead against the cold stone arch. How could he just walk away from her? Somehow, she captured his heart and become his center. He swallowed the lump in his throat and left the tears that fell unchecked. He let go of the rest of the pieces to his heart as they fell at his feet with each tear he shed. When he gathered enough strength, he wiped the moisture from his eyes and checks, and squared his shoulders. Without a backwards glance, he placed his hand over the rune that would take him back to Ki and gathered energy near the Gateway in preparation to open it. He closed his eyes and took several calming breathes. He could do this. He must do this. She was better off without him.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Kaily shouted at him.

Moto spun around just in time to catch her fists flying at his chest. He gathered her hands in his. "CEASE!"

"ANSWER ME, DAMMIT!" She kicked him with both her feet.

"STOP!" He said. She was beyond reasoning with. She was still dressed in her t-shirt and shorts that she wore to bed the previous night. She put on a jacket and shoes, but that was it. Tears streamed down her face and she was on fire with so much anger beating at him, that he found it difficult to control his own temper in response to hers. She was the one person that could push his control beyond its limits. He spun her around and pushed her hard against the stone arch. He pressed his body against hers, spread her legs with his knees to keep her from kicking him, and held her hands above her head against the stone arch. "Stop!" He said. He didn't yell it, but not by much.

"NO!" She screamed at him. She tried to head butt him.

He let go of her hands, spun her around, and swatted her butt hard until he felt the fight drain from her. He was angry and frustrated, and a part of him knew that he probably shouldn't have spanked her like that, but he was at the end of his control and she just wouldn't stop. At least, he left her shorts pulled up, he consoled himself. She slumped against his arm that was wrapped around her waist. He felt the sobs emanating from her. He didn't think any part of his heart was left intact. He was wrong, because her sobs were tearing what was left of it to shreds. "Kaily." He said it low and with resignation. He gathered her into his arms and sat on the ground right there by the Gateway.

She turned her tear streaked face towards him so that her eyes locked with his. "Why are you leaving me?"

He tried to wipe away the tears from her eyes that just wouldn't stop. He was fighting to keep his own tears from falling as the moisture gathered in his eyes "Kaily, please." What could he say? She was hurting, he was hurting.

"No, dammit, tell me why. What is wrong with you? Finally, when it feels like we are getting over some obstacles, why would you leave me? Why would you make me love you, if you had no intention of staying? Why?"

He shook his head and looked at her helplessly.

She raised her hand as if she were going to slap him.

He grabbed