Simone whimpered and nestled closer. Her fingers twitched on his chest before she settled down again. When she woke, would she regret what they’d done?
The demon within him reared its ugly head at the possibility, but nothing could undo what was done. He was a bastard for taking her and completing the bond, but he’d give her the best life he could. He would keep her safe, and he wouldn’t let the worst of himself taint her.
Simone stirred again as boots sounded on the walkway outside. Killean’s fangs lengthened, but the boots passed by and went to the room next door. He heard a knock before a murmur of voices.
“Killean?” Simone whispered.
“Hmm?” he asked as he turned his attention back to her.
“Are we going to get out of this?”
“Iwillget you to safety,” he vowed.
“And then what will we do?”
“I have no idea,” he admitted. “I don’t think Ronan will take me back, and I don’t blame him if he doesn’t. I’m a killer; he shouldn’t trust me.”I don’t trust me.
“I trust you,” Simone said.
He smiled as he kissed the top of her head. “That’s because you might be crazier than me.”
Simone chuckled. “Not likely.”
“I own some properties we can retreat to if it becomes necessary, but I don’t want to back away from the war with the Savages.”
Simone had known she was binding herself to a warrior when she gave herself to him, but she hated the idea of him out there, fighting Savages while he teetered on the edge of becoming one.
“Can you handle fighting that war?” she asked.
Killean wanted to assure her he could handle anything, but she’d fed from him, they were bound to each other, and she would learn the truth if he tried to keep it from her. Besides, he couldn’t bring himself to lie to his mate. “I’m not sure, but I have to try.”
“I can’t lose you.”
“You won’t,” he vowed. “If it becomes too much for me, I will back away, but you willneverlose me, Simone.”
Despite the reassurance of his promise, dread churned in her belly. “Things have changed so much in the past couple of weeks. I never expected my life to take this direction.”
“Do you regret what happened between us?” he asked and braced himself for her answer.
“No! I don’t even regret being captured and changed. I’m freer now than I’ve ever been.”
“Yet you just sealed your life to mine.”
“And I’m still freer,” she said. “I was so good at being perfect. I was the best student, the best seamstress, the best cook, and the best future wife there ever was amongst the hunters. I was so obsessed with being this perfect automaton that I never stopped to question if any of it was whatIwanted for my life.”
“And was it?”
“No. Marriage to Nathan, or any other hunter, was a duty I would have carried out to the best of my ability, and I never would have stopped to think about me.”
“So, what do you want for your life?”
“Now, once we’re free of this mess, I want to exploreourfuture together. I want to learn to protect myself and help you against the Savages. I want to avenge my friends and the hunters Joseph has destroyed. Iwillhelp put a stop to the evil Joseph is trying to spread through the world.”
Killean gritted his teeth at the terrifying thought of his mate fighting Savages, but she’d been denied so much in her life that he didn’t have the heart to deny her this too. “Fighting a Savage takes a lot of training,” he said.
“It’s a good thing I’m immortal and have a lot of time then. Iamgoing to learn to fight, Killean.”
“Yes, you are,” he agreed. He hated the idea of Simone battling a Savage, but she would learn how to defend herself better. “But it could be years before you’re good enough at it to take on a Savage.”
