She came to a stop in front of me and looked up. A smear of dried blood streaked across her cheek like a damn brand. Not hers. Thorne’s. I immediately reached up and tried to rub it off. But it clung to her skin, just to insult her further.
I took Isadora into my arms and kissed the top of her head. “How is she?”
“Alive,” she replied, her voice low. “Resting now. Her brothers are sitting with her.”
I nodded. The brothers could keep watching the fucking door. I’d handle the bigger threat.
“Good,” I said, offering her another gentle kiss. “Then let’s go. We’re leaving.”
Isadora briefly stiffened before she pulled back, her eyebrows lifted. “I beg your pardon?”
“There’s nothing else you can do here,” I said calmly. “We need to get you somewhere safe. I called in reinforcements. Rue is already at my place, waiting for us.”
Her expression flattened, and she took a step back, placing distance between us. “No.”
I stole that step back. So, she took another.
I didn’t like her retreating from me. “This isn’t up for debate, Isadora. You saw what he did to her. You think I’m going to let you stay here? Where he could come looking for you? Where I can’t control?—”
“You can’t control everything,” she snapped, her words sharper than any blade. “And I’m not going to hide out at your place. That’s not happening.”
“Yes,” I said through clenched teeth. “You are.”
She gave a bitter laugh and planted her fists on her hips. “Why? So, you can hunt him down? Play executioner while I sit on the sidelines twiddling my fingers like some simpering damsel. Yeah, no thank you.”
“At least you’ll be safe!” I said, my voice rising. I took a breath to settle myself. Shouting in the Wolfes’ hallways wouldn’t make my point. I knew better than to get emotional. But that was hard when Isadora was being so stubborn. “Listen, you matter to me. I refuse to scrape your body off the floor like we almost had to do with Thorne. I’m not going to lose you just because you want to prove how tough you are.”
Her chin lifted. “You do not get to sideline me, Lucien. Not with this. This is my fight. I refuse to let him think he broke me. And I refuse to let you shove me into some tower while you’re riding off playing the hero. I’m not yours to control.”
A slow burn built under my skin. I wanted to throw her over my shoulder, stuff her into my car, and drive her back to my place. She was driving me fucking mad—because she was right.
“You are mine,” I spoke softly.
She froze.
“I don’t mean like a possession,” I added. “I mean in every way that matters. You are the only fucking thing that matters to me. And I won’t let him ruin that.”
Isadora’s lips parted, and I had a feeling she had a response fully prepared. Likely, an unpleasant one. But then the energy between us shifted. She relaxed her jaw and let loose a slow breath.
“Lucien,” she said, softer now, but no less fierce. “You don’t get to make these decisions for me. If we’re going to be together, you have to understand that. I know you fight to control everything in your life, but that won’t work for us.”
I stared at her. This woman. This beautiful, infuriating vampiress who’d marched unannounced into my life and fucked it up six ways from Sunday. I wanted to cover her in bubble wrap and lock her away somewhere safe, but that would smother her fire and kill the woman I loved.
I couldn’t do that to her.
I took the last step forward, grateful when she didn’t back away this time.
“Fine,” I said, hating this concession. “But we do this together. My way. You don’t get to do anything foolish, clear?”
She flashed me a grin. “Crystal.”
I grunted, already regretting this compromise and cataloguing the many ways this could go wrong. But her smile kept me from retracting the offer. Barely. I had to do this if we were to have any future. That much I understood.
Before I could drag her toward the exit, Thorne’s door creaked open again.
Ricky stepped into the hall, his clothing wrinkled and his eyes wild. Blood stained nearly every inch of him, and his face was gaunt. There was no trace of humor in his eyes. Not like I’d seen in the past. His expression was one of cold fury.
“Just so we’re all clear,” he said, his voice far too calm considering all that’d happened. “I’m going with you.”
