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His gaze darkened, his jaw tightening, cheekbones sharpening. “It is over. I won’t have you risk your life one more moment. I’ll be the one to finish this, Rose, not you.”

I bit back my frustration. He’d had a scare last night, but I had to make him understand. “That’s not how this works. You know that. I know you’re worried—”

“Worried? I arrived minutes before a pack of demons found you and tore you apart!”

“They were going to breed me, not kill me,” I said and regretted it instantly.

His eyes went from violet to deep purple. “You will either stay here, or at your mother’s home. I won’t argue about this.”

“No. I have to do this. If I don’t, I fail, and my coven will pay for it.”

He shook his head. “But I’ll still have you, and that’s all I care about.”

I stared at him in shock. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He was completely blinded by the fear of losing me, and he was willing to sacrifice my entire coven. “You can’t mean that? You can’t actually be serious—”

“I almost killed you, Rose. I would have drained your blood, you would have died in my arms, and I would have lost you. I dream about it, that I’m that cold, emotionless shell again. Nightmares where the mother doesn’t call you in time, and I bite you. I sink my fangs into your vein and drink until you fall limp in my arms.” He shoved his fingers through his hair. “I can’t fucking bear it. Seeing you in that car, unconscious, bleeding, demons closing in, I felt it again. I was supposed to protect you, but I didn’t. And I almost caused your death again, but this time I felt it. I fucking felt all the horror and fear, all of it.”

“Ronan—”

“No. I’m your mate, and my decision is final.” He gripped my arms. “You can’t talk me out of this. Don’t you see? The more time that passes, the more I understand these emotions I’m feeling, and the more I understand what I could have lost if I’d done what you asked. The threat of losing you, of living without you—that fucking nightmare feels so incredibly real. I won’t let it become our reality, no matter the cost.” He made a snarling sound, flashing his fangs. “I won’t lose you, Rose.”

I didn’t know what to say. I stared up at him, utterly stunned. I understood where he was coming from, but he was being unreasonable, and struggling to come to grips with his new emotions was only making it worse. “Zinnia told me tonight that Warrick made some kind of deal with Lucifer, that my sisters, me, our mates are immortal. I can’t die, Ronan.”

He blinked down at me, but that stubborn line to his jaw didn’t change. “You’re immortal?”

“Yes, we both are.”

“I already was.” He took a deep, shuddering breath. His face was still set in stone. “But that changes nothing.”

There was no biting back my anger now. “What do you mean, it changes nothing? We’re immortal, Ronan. And if Warrick hadn’t made his deal, you would have lost me eventually. Can’t you be happy that now that won’t happen?”

“Immortals can be killed, Rose. All it takes is a demon or someone else to remove your head.” His voice rose. “So no, I won’t change my mind. You’re not doing this. You’re not risking your life because the mother, that sadistic bitch, has decided to send you on a suicidal mission for her own personal entertainment.”

“I’m not talking about this with you right now.” I spun and strode across the living room. “I need to go home and tell my family about Zinnia.”

“Good, because I’m done talking about it as well. My decision is final.”

I loved the male more than anything in existence, but I kind of wanted to punch him in the nuts right then.

The ride to my house was quiet. He was brooding, and I was silently fuming, at least until we pulled up outside the house.

“Shit,” I whispered. How the hell was I going to do this? I reached for the door handle, but Ronan grabbed my hand. I turned back, and he pressed it to his lips, kissing my knuckles.

“I’m sorry I raised my voice at you. I’ve never…I’m trying to navigate these feelings. I just want to protect you. I don’t want to fight, petal.”

God, the look on his face, so worried, so unsure, it made me want to lean over and kiss him, to reassure him, but he meant what he said back at the warehouse. Yes, he was sorry we fought, but he hadn’t taken back what he’d said because he’d meant every word. “I know it’s hard, and don’t want to fight either, but I think if we continue to talk about it right now, we’ll only fight more.”

The door to the house opened and Mags strode to the car, then frowned at me through the window. “You coming in, or are you gonna sit out here all night?”

“I’m coming in.” Mags headed back inside, and I turned to Ronan. “Are you coming?”

“No. I’m going after Kelley.”

“Ronan—”

“If I manage to get close enough to him to question him, I’ll let you know.”

Unbelievable. “No, I need to be there when you question him. I need to be the one to ask the questions.”