Simone curled up beside Killean and draped her arm tenderly around him while Ronan and Nathan shut the back doors. If anyone tried to harm him while he was in such a vulnerable state, she’d tear off their heads.
Chapter Fifty-One
Simone liftedher head when Killean stirred beside her. This small movement was the most life he’d shown in the past two days. Hope surged through her as she sat up to stare at his face. His hair, eyelashes, and eyebrows were still gone, but the rest of his skin had healed enough that all his muscles were covered. The scar running down the center of his cheek remained, but no marks blemished his skin from the burns.
Behind his closed lids, his eyes darted side to side. She rested her fingers against his cheek as she leaned closer to him. “Killean?” she whispered.
When his eyes opened, she found herself gazing into them. It was then she realized she’d feared never seeing those beautiful, golden eyes again. “Killean,” she breathed.
Gripping her shoulders to push her back, he bolted upright, and his gaze flashed around the room where Ronan placed them. Ronan had said this was Killean’s room when he was here before, but it seemed to take Killean a couple of seconds to recognize it as his body remained tensed beside her. Then his shoulders slumped, he released her, and a ragged breath issued from him.
“We’re at the compound,” he said.
“Yes.”
His gaze raked her from head to toe. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she assured him with a smile. “Completely healed and much better now that you’re awake.”
He grasped the ends of her sleek auburn hair, now cut to just beneath her ears.
“It was badly singed, and Kadence had to cut it,” she said. “But I kind of like this.” She gave her head a small shake. “It’s much cooler and easier to take care of.”
“You look beautiful,” he said. The short cut emphasized the loveliness of her sculpted features, porcelain skin, and green eyes.
She rubbed his bald head. “It’s much better than yours.”
Killean reached up and laughed when he felt the smooth skin against his palm. “Much better,” he agreed. “Ronan brought us here?”
“Yes. He said you’ve more than proved yourself, and the hunters would have to accept his decision. I agree.”
“And have the hunters accepted it?”
Simone shrugged. “I haven’t left the room since we got here, but everything seems okay; Ronan hasn’t mentioned any unrest when he comes to visit, but he probably wouldn’t tell me if there was.”
“Probably not,” Killean agreed.
“But the hunters won’t pull out of this Alliance, not anymore. They’re committed.”
“They are. What happened to Joseph?”
“He’s dead. Nathan finished what you started.” Simone bit her lip as she studied him. She’d just gotten him back, but still… “You shouldn’t have done that! You could have died!”
Killean clasped her hand, and lifting it to his mouth, he kissed the back of it. “I’m sorry I scared you, but it wasn’t planned. I’m never going to leave you.”
“You can’t say that! We have no idea what the future holds for us.”
“Simone—”
“You were sobadlyburned.” Tears filled her eyes as she recalled the terror of the past couple of days.
“Shh,” he whispered and drew her close to kiss her forehead. He despised the tremor in her body as she bowed her head and her fingers encircled his forearms. “I’m okay, and Joseph is dead. He’ll never hurt you again.”
“Dead,” she whispered and for the first time allowed herself to savor that wonderful knowledge. They still had that other thing and plenty of Savages to contend with, but that murderous, sickmonsterwas dead.
Smiling, she breathed in the resin scent of Killean, tinted with the faint hint of smoke and the taint of a Savage. Simone realized that even after enough time passed for the smell of a Savage to fade, he would always be more Savage than not. There was something inherently wild and dark about Killean, and she loved him for it.
“That other thing is still out there,” she whispered.
