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“I love you, too.”
She kissed my hand again. “I know. I feel it, same as you feel me.”
My dick pressed against her lower back. Gods, I wanted to take her, to claim her in the most primal way.
“I want it too,” she said, wriggling against me, which didn’t help one iota.
“Not until we get Olivia’s okay.” I kissed the side of her mouth. “Now go to sleep.”
“Are you always going to be this bossy?”
“Yes.”
I waited until she dozed off, then reluctantly left the bed to lock myself in my vault so that Olivia would be free to come and go. It felt like I was tearing myself away from my own soul.
But it was okay. No, better than okay.
Because when I woke up tonight, Eden would still be here.
43
Eden
That first day Olivia watched over me like a mother hawk, urging me to eat and drink, monitoring my vital signs and those of the baby.
She encouraged me to rest but I woke as soon as Talon left the bed. When I finally dropped off again, I landed back in that damn cellar. I jerked awake, heart pounding.
In the vault off the bedroom, I could swear Talon turned over, restless because I was. He must’ve sensed it through our mate bond.
Talon loves you. He claimed you as his mate.
A wave of happiness hit me, washing away the unpleasant, scratchy residue of the nightmare. I curled up again, and this time, when my eyes drifted shut, my dreams were nightmare-free.
I woke up a few hours later, ready to eat. I ate a good meal and called my mom and dad with the new phone Rio had arranged for me, then flipped through copies of Vogue and Elle.
Olivia had said no visitors for now, but Rio must’ve made a pest of himself because she let him in around noon. He stomped into the bedroom, skinny body tense, dark eyes wild. “What the hell’s wrong with this place?”
“Oh, Rio.” I held out my arms.
He looked at Olivia. “Is it okay to hug her?”
“Gently,” she replied, adding with a maternal look that encompassed both of us, “Thirty minutes, that’s all,” before returning to the living room.
Rio pulled the leather chair closer to the bed. “Jesus Murphy,” he said, making me smile because I knew he’d picked that up from me. “I can’t leave you for more than a couple of hours without you getting yourself attacked. Again.”
“It’s not me, it’s them.”
He rolled his eyes, fighting a grin.
“I owe you,” I said. “If it hadn’t been for that switchblade you gave me, that guy might’ve gotten away with it.”
“Yeah?” He sat taller. “Well, what about you? Mrs. Park says you stabbed the guy, that the asshole had a knife to Twilight’s throat.”
“He did.” I shuddered, recalling how Smythe had kept pricking Twilight with it, trying to poison her, to weaken her enough for him to kill. “Although I think she might’ve fought back harder if I hadn’t been there. She was trying to protect me. She wanted me to lock myself in the bedroom, but I couldn’t.”
“There you go,” Rio said. “You know, Twilight says the first time she saw you she thought you were a Valkyrie. You have that whole tall, curvy blonde thing going on.”
“Yeah?” I kind of liked the sound of that. “Wait, do Valkyries save people or kill them?”
