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“I’ve never forgiven myself. He loved me and I killed him.”
“You said you were young.” Riaz frowned, unable to stand the thought of her perpetual blame. “We don’t blame pups for their ignorance, nor their youth. The trials of their adolescence build them into who they’re meant to be. You can’t blame yourself for things that happened when your nature was not yet under control and your experience limited.”
He propped his thumb under her chin, his wolf peeking out at her through his eyes. “Aeneas wouldn’t want you to, either.”
Genuine truth flooded his statements, making her tears spill even faster. As she cried, Riaz picked her up, carrying her bridal style into the bedroom.
Knowing her exhaustion played some part in her breakdown, he tucked her into his bed, settling into the sheets behind her and pulling her into the safety and security of his own body. Brushing a kiss against her teary cheek, he sighed in content.
“Sleep, Pet. When we wake, things will seem clearer.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Peace lived in the quiet moments. The smell of coffee filling a kitchen nook, or a babbling brook accompanying the latest novel of a favorite author. It was sand in your shoes, seagulls overhead, and the crash of salty waves on a hidden beach.
Peace was the contentedness of sleeping next to the woman Riaz loved most in the world, her soft breath tickling his skin.
Except when the sounds of an intruder broached that perfect bubble.
A single key fitted into the lock, opening the door silently. Odd, Riaz thought. Those hinges were purposefully creaky to warn him of anyone entering without his permission.
Fury rose unabashed in his blood. Someone who knew the intention behind those hinges had intentionally dampened the warning sound, which meant this was someone he trusted, who was now entering his quarters while he slept without his express permission.
The scent of the intruder hit him just as realization dawned.
Renata.
Light breathing punctuated calculated steps, the she-wolf purposefully stepping around the known creaks in the wood flooring. Even from this distance, Riaz could hear the wild fluttering of her heartbeat, smell the anxious sweat that sheened on her skin.
It would never be more apparent: Renata approached with the intention to do harm. Not to him, but to Cortana.
His skin shuddered with the need to withhold his wolf, writhing just beneath the surface from the compounding need to protect his mate. Riaz stiffened, eyes flashing. The trick to this was keeping his wolf from making it too messy.
Ideally, it could be settled with words, and a chance for Renata to prove her intentions weren’t as dark as Riaz anticipated them to be.
Mere steps separated them now. Moving silently, Riaz shifted so that Cortana’s sleeping form was tucked behind him, his body a protective barrier. Everything now was focused on his mate’s wellbeing—and his all-encompassing drive to keep her safe.
Lithe, feminine, and shaking with adrenaline, Renata’s shadowed form appeared in the open doorway. In her hand, she held a black handgun. Narrowing his gaze, he realized it was the one that’d been reported missing from the armory. She staggered back when Riaz stood from the foot of the bed, his imposing silhouette entirely blocking out her view of the sleeping vampire.
“Renata.”
Every ounce of loathing, every scrap of wrath, every scrap of feral protectiveness was concentrated on that single word, a guttural growl of a name that sounded only vaguely human.
Her responding whimper did nothing to dispel his fury. “She’s not good enough for you, alpha. She doesn’t know you like I know you.”
“She’s my mate, Renata.”
Ren’s hand trembled as she held up the gun, waving it about wildly. “That vampire has used suggestion on you, alpha. You’re not actually her mate—she’s just poisoned your mind!”
The snarl in his throat wouldn’t be silenced, and the she-wolf in from of him cowered as it roared through the dark bedroom. “You’re in denial, Renata. I love her.”
“You can’t love her.” Tears dripped down Renata’s face. “You love me.”
In that instant, Riaz knew how to diffuse the situation and protect his mate. If he could convince her and play the part well enough, he could spin this into something that wouldn’t end in bloodshed.
Riaz adopted his façade and took a step forward, loosening his shoulders to appear like he was giving in, just realizing the ‘truth’ of the words Renata spewed.
“You’re right, Ren. I do love you—I always have.” Another step forward, and away from Cortana. “Why don’t you give me the gun and we can go talk about this? Where’d you get that gun, Sweet?”
