CHAPTER 35
RAFE
Guilt gnawsat my insides like a festering sore, and I scrub my palms down my face, blowing out a heavy breath.
Elodie’s sweet voice by my ear recentres me, quietening my racing thoughts. “Do you really believe that any of your siblings begrudge you, Rafe? They love you just as much as you love them.”
My brow gathers as her words sink in, and I drop my head forward, feeling the burden on my shoulders lessen slightly.
She wraps her arms around me from behind, her palms splayed across my chest as she holds me close. “There you have it, then. They know you’re doing what you must to keep everyone safe. To keep the peace between the remaining families. Everyone needs to play their part.”
Long moments pass as I’m enveloped in her soothing presence until her cell beeps with a text. Both of us freeze before she gets up and grabs the device from the nightstand.
Her face lifts in a huge smile at what she sees and, interest piqued, I quickly rise and move to stand at her side. My own lips are helpless against the picture Sebastiano has sent Elodie.
It’s an image of Skye playing piano onstage at the school talent show. Her face is scrunched up in adorable concentration,several blonde curls falling across her brow, having escaped from her high ponytail.
Sebastiano: Skye placed first. She was so fucking good.
Elodie turns tear-filled eyes to mine. “Is it almost time?” My eyebrows pull together as she swallows harshly. “The n-n-need to see her…to hold her in my arms, Rafe…it’s indescribable?—”
I cut her off when I spin her in my arms, holding her close against my chest. Palming her cheeks, I turn her face up to mine. “The jet is ready. We fly to pick her up in the morning.”
She sucks in a sharp breath, tears falling from her long dark lashes, and I dash them away with my thumbs.
“I’m sorry it’s taken so long to ensure her safety here, but the Treaty and this Conclave have secured peace between the four. All I wanted was to guarantee protection for both you and our child before we bring her here.”
Elodie freezes, her wide navy-blue eyes blinking once, twice before her lips part on a whisper. “Ourchild?”
She grips the lapels of my jacket when I rest my brow atop hers, and my eyes hold hers with an intensity I feel in my marrow.
“Si, Stellina.Ourchild.” She shakes her head as though she can’t comprehend what I’m saying before I continue. “Skye is a living, breathing,perfectextension of you. And every part of you ismine, just as every part of me isyours?—”
Before I’ve even finished speaking, Elodie yanks my lapels, pulling me closer to slam her lips against mine. She half sobs, half whimpers in her throat when my tongue slides past her lips to gently caress hers, and I break the kiss, pulling back slightly to find her eyes brimming with emotion.
“I could never have believed a man like you existed, Rafael Caruso.”
My eyes flicker between hers as my chest fills with sheer adoration for the woman in my arms.
“I exist for you,Stellina. Fate brought me into this world to be yours. And when I leave it, Iwillfind you in the next…” I press a kiss to her soft lips, my voice dropping to a whisper as my words ghost over her mouth. “Because soulmates are destined for one another ineverylifetime.”
She brushes her lips across mine, her eyes deepening to the shade of a stormy sea as she breathes, “Make love to me, Rafe.Please. I’ve wanted you so desperately…”
My nostrils flare as my jaw clenches, and my cock roars to life between us, desperate to bury himself within her warmth.
In the two weeks since Conti’s takedown, I’ve had to throw myself into funeral arrangements and Treaty negotiations, not to mention trying to mend the rift in our family while restructuring our hierarchy. Each night, I’ve been too exhausted to do much more than fall into bed and gather Elodie in my arms. Once I’ve kissed her brow, and inhaled her sweet fragrance, I’ve practically passed out.
But even more than that, I’ve been reluctant to push Elodie to be intimate until she’s ready, despite wanting her more than life itself. She’s had so much taken from her for so fucking long.
“I’ve listened to the sound of you breathing at night, praying you’d awaken and kiss me until I’m breathless and begging for you. Pleading for the release only you can give me…”
Her candidness stokes the fire within me, and when she nips my lips between her teeth, a groan tears from my chest forcibly. My hands slip around the back of her neck, and I tug her to me, our lips colliding in a hungry kiss. Her mouth opens beneath mine immediately as she slides her tongue past my lips, dueling against my own with a passion that breathes life into me.
I drop one hand down along her body, and she arches into my touch, meeting my tongue stroke for stroke. My hand skims her breast and down her hip, breaking our kiss to rip her top over her head.
Once my lips are back on hers, I make short work of her bra before I hook my thumb in the waistband of the soft pants she’s wearing, pushing them and her panties down over the curve of her ass.
When I feel her step out of them, I bring both hands to her ass and lift her into my arms. She wraps her legs around me, securing her ankles at my back.
