Her hands brush over my thighs. I pull my hands from my face and Mara is on her knees between my legs. Her tail reaches up and brushes my cheek.
I grip her hips and pull her up from the floor and into my lap. “Don’t kneel to me, baby.”
She settles against me and her weight is the only thing keeping me from coming apart. Her tail curls around my arm.
“All of this from a nightmare?” she asks quietly.
I look at her and shake my head. “It wasn’t a nightmare, Mara.”
I sigh because I don’t want to say it. “I time traveled.”
She gasps. I put my hands on her hips to steady her.
“I don’t know how I did it.” I hold one hand between us and my magic sparks from my fingers, blue-gold light flickering. “My power doesn’t come with instructions. I have no idea what I’m even capable of.”
My hand drops and she’s looking at me with those amber eyes, warm and alive. My power saved her. I owe it that, even if what’s growing inside me is something I should probably be afraid of.
“I saw you die,” I tell her.
Her hand flies to her chest. I nod.
“That sword those warlocks conjured.” My voice is steady even though nothing in me is. “In a different future, they slam it into your chest.”
“Oh no.” Her voice breaks. “I walked right into it.”
I pull her close. She moves her hand from her chest and I press my face between her breasts and hold her so tight my arms ache. I can feel her heartbeat against my face and I close my eyes and just let it drown out the image of her dying that won’t stop playing in my head.
“I thought helping my father out of the Glen would save you,” I say into her skin. “That it would stop that future from coming to pass.”
“This is why you went feral,” she whispers.
I look up at her and hold tighter. “I love you, Mara.” It comes out broken. I don’t care. “Watching you die felt like a slow death. I couldn’t handle it.”
She puts her hands on my chest and pushes me back. Her face is serious. “And Tiana.”
I groan. “She was there. She watched you die. Same expression she had tonight at the tree line.” I swallow. “I lost control.”
Mara sighs. “Aaron, she tried to stop me. I wouldn’t listen. I was determined to help you.”
“Don’t—“
She starts to argue but I can’t hear it. “I cannot handle losing you, Mara. And I won’t.”
She goes quiet. Her tail goes limp against her leg.
I press my hand gently against her belly. “I don’t expect you to understand, Mara.”
She puts her hand over mine. Her fingers are warm. “I do, Aaron. I’m willing to risk my life?—“
I kiss her. Press my mouth to hers before she can finish that sentence because I will lose my mind if she says it out loud. She groans against my lips but I feel her smile, and she lets me have this. The bruises on my face sting with every press of her mouth but I don’t care. All that matters is her in my lap, alive, breathing, warm. I wish she understood that losing her would wreck me in ways that have nothing to do with magic.
She breaks the kiss. I move my lips to her neck and press them against her skin.
“I’ll fix this,” I tell her. “All of it.”
She pushes me back and shakes her head.
“Eric got away because of me,” I say. “I just put Wintermoon in danger.”
