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I know, I wanted to tell him, but my mouth couldn’t catch up with my dazed brain and numb body.
He propped himself up on his elbows and looked at me. “I love you.”
I smiled at him. “I love you too.”
24
SHANE
If it depended on me,Raika and I would live in total oblivion to the rest of the world. But as alpha, I couldn’t pretend for long.
After waking up and making love to Raika once more, I forced myself to get up, take a shower—where I dragged Raika with me and took her one more time against the shower wall—and face the day.
With a smile on her pretty face, Raika made us breakfast and when it was time to leave for school and training, Minsi and Tyren both complained about having to go when they wanted to be with us.
“We’ll spend the morning at the castle, in boring meetings,” I told them. That seemed to do it.
Raika kissed Minsi and Tyren when Rue and Dom came for them.
With a hand over her heart, Raika watched as they walked away.
And I watched her, totally taken aback by her, her kind heart, and her love for my siblings. And for me.
I was totally, irrevocably in love with her.
After organizing the kitchen, I remembered Raika’s cell phone. I had kept it, though turned off, so I handed it to her. She chucked the one other she had been given in the trash.
Then, Raika and I made our way to the castle.
I glanced at her, so proud and happy she was by my side. But there were pressing matters we couldn’t forget. I squeezed her hand on mine and asked, “Want to talk about Paimon? Or Ivy?”
Raika’s brows knotted. “I … I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know what to think. I know Paimon was playing with me, but Ivy …” She shook her head. “She was different. I felt she was really my friend, my sister, while I was there.”
I could only imagine. Raika had been an only child, practically isolated from the rest of the pack while growing up because she was the omega and no one wanted her near them. But suddenly, she woke up in a world where she had never been alone. Where she had a sister and a best friend.
And that had been a lie.
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too.”
“The demon hunters are preparing for a war against Paimon. At some point, we’ll have to decide whether we want to help them, or if we want to ignore what is going on.” I still wanted to be the one to kill Paimon, but if Raika chose to stay out of it all, I wouldn’t force it on her. I would stay by her side, no matter what.
“I know.” She sighed. “Right now, thinking about confronting him and Ivy makes me anxious and I honestly don’t know how I’ll react. But I want to believe that if I prepare myself, I’ll be able to act and do the right thing.”
“So you want to join the fight?”
She nodded. “I think we should consider it. They'll need all the help they can get, and if they lose, it’ll affect all of us.”
I tugged her to me and pressed a soft kiss on her head. “My mate is wise.”
She elbowed me on my side, but not hard. I still groaned as if she had broken a rib. She laughed and that sound was music to my ears.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t live in our own bubble. At the castle, Raika and I went directly to Dot’s cell in the dungeon. The guards opened the doors for us without any questions.
The witch was in the same position as last evening, a tray of untouched food by her side.
“Have you changed your mind?” I asked, knowing this wouldn’t go well.
