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As soon as we make it inside, Dominic closing the door behind us, I open my mouth to repeat my statement from before, but he beats me there.
"I'm not asking you to apologize for anything. I understand what you're doing, I just don't like the way you did it. We're partners. I should have been by your side. You don't get to disappear out of the bed in the middle of the night and start making potentially dangerous decisions without me." His face is unhappy, almost as much as when he saw me appear in the middle of the fight yesterday.
"You're right," I admit.
"Yeah I am," he growls at me.
His grumpy moments are starting to grow on me. I try to bite back a smile, but I can feel my lips tilting up at the corners anyway. I've had the best freaking morning. Nothing Dominic says can bring me down right now.
"I don't feel like talking anymore," I tell him, my voice going all low and phone sex operator, the way it's only ever done for him. All this adrenaline I'm feeling, it needs to go somewhere. And I have a few ideas since Dominic put the brakes on last night. His eyelids droop as I stalk closer, closing the little bit of distance between us.
"Good. Me either." He bends slightly and loops an arm around my waist, lifting me over his shoulder in a way that gives me major déjà vu. The difference is that, this time, I laugh when he carries me up the stairs, appreciating the moment of weightlessness.
"I think you're aging me prematurely," he mutters.
"Nuh-uh. Don't you dare try to blame me for that, Dominic Edward Parker—you're the one who decided to keep me."
He stops at the top of the stairs and yanks me off his shoulder. He sets me down and levels me with a hard stare. "Why on earth would my father tell you my middle name?" He grimaces just like Dimitri promised he would.
"Because I asked." I bat my eyelashes at him sarcastically. I had a lot of time to ask Dimitri about his son today. Most of those conversations can stay private, but I'm definitely going to give Dominic hell about a middle name likeEdward. It makes him sound like an old man, and I'm already planning a dozen ways to work it into conversation just to drive him mad.
It's good for him. Builds character.
His upper lip twitches, and I swear he's holding back a grin of his own. For a second, the two of us freeze, just staring at each other. He softens slightly. "I love your difficult ass," he says.
I let out a snort of laughter. "Wow, it only took you like a whole three days," I joke. But inside, I feel the most embarrassing collection of butterflies take flight in my stomach. I know that we never stood a chance against a double-fated bond, but I've also seen this man at both his best and worst, and I think we've come out okay on the other end.
There are worse mate pairs out there. I could have ended up with someone who never listened to me at all, at least Dominic is willing to let me own my place beside him. A place that I plan on working to deserve. I want to be a Luna worthy of the Anchorage Lake Pack, which is exactly why I need the best training. Even if Dimitri has one dark mark on his record.
People deserve a chance to be better than their worst mistake.
It makes me wonder about where my own parents are. Something that I started wondering after seeing so many generations of my family ready to lend me strength to fulfill our family's legacy. My parents weren't among them… which leads me to believe they're still out there somewhere.
I'm not sure if I want to try to find them, especially now, when the idea of peace seems fickle. But there will always be a part of me that needs to know they were better than their worst. Even if that is almost all I remember about them some days.
"You look like you're thinking awfully hard there," Dominic says, reaching out to stroke my cheek and bring me back to the present.
"Just thinking about the place where the past and present collide," I whisper, knowing the words don't mean much of anything at all to him. But they will. Later, I'll explain everything in great detail. All the things that happened in the library. All of my feelings. But right now…
I tug him by his shirt, closely enough that I can stand on my toes and beg directly into his ear, "Please take me to bed, Dominic. Remind me of the perks of having a mate."
He groans and wraps a hand around the back of my neck, fisting my hair so he can move my head. He covers my mouth with his, distracting me enough that I don't realize we're moving until my back is against a wall. The back of my head hits the wall with a thud, but when Dominic tries to pull away to check on me, I drag him back by the collar of his shirt.
I could kiss this man forever, but I need so much more.
"Bed, Dom. Now," I manage to mumble out around him worshiping my mouth like he's hoping for a gold-freaking-medal.
He pulls away, leaving me panting as he tips his chin to stare down at me. "You're spectacular, you know that? In the bedroom. In the training circle. I'm lucky to have you, and a fool for ever thinking otherwise." He winces slightly, and I know it's at the memory of rejecting me years ago. Now is seriously not the time I want to start thinking about that. Especially considering I'm guilty of trying to make the same mistake.
"Mind in the present," I tell him softly.
I slide out from around him and step into the master bedroom. It sort of feels like ours already despite only spending a single night here. I love the early afternoon light streaming in through the windows, casting everything in a sort of dreamy haze. This place feels just as magical as anything I was doing on the training field.
I undress, keeping my back to Dominic. I can feel his eyes on me, watching my every move as I tear my clothes off as fast as I can. I can't imagine it's sexy, but I hear him groan his approval nonetheless.
Vaguely, I hear the sound of him shedding his own clothes.
And then he's behind me, pressing up against me and showing off how ready he is. "Do you have any idea how much I need you?" he asks, mouth pressed to my ear. I can certainly feel it, his need for me. He grinds his cock against my lower back
