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She groaned while tilting her head back. “But…”
“But we need rest if we’re going to seek this fortress.”
“Can’t we take a break?”
I nuzzled her throat, the steady pulse of her main artery luring me in. “We should sleep. It’s getting late.”
“I just want you.”
“You can have me later. When all of this is over.” I kissed her neck lightly. “When you’resafe.”
Although her skin twitched with opposition, she obeyed my words and sat up, straddling my lap. But this wasn’t her trying to progress things. It was her giving in to my touch. I cradled her while burrowing into her neck, finding all the solace in the world in the way her warm skin bent to my will.
Every woman I had encountered in this position had been a mere tool to get off. But Rose was different. Rose wasn’t a toy. She wasn’t some chick I’d grabbed from a bar and had taken to a crummy motel. She wasn’t desperate to get into my pants like I was desperate to claim her.
The way she sat on top of me was far more comfortable than a mutually beneficial hook-up. There was trust in the way her limbs went slack against my body, how her cheek rested on my shoulder, the way her breathing leveled like she was about to fall asleep.
In a swift motion, I stood up, cradling her to my chest while I made my way back through the small garden room. The last few feet to the door were the most alarming. I paused near a mirror that I hadn’t noticed when I first walked in, studying the way Rose clung to me.
It was like she never wanted to let me go.
A new kind of anxiety gripped me then as I headed out the door. Now more than ever, I was committed to defending Rose, to making sure she was never met with harm. Physical or emotional made no difference to me. Domingo hurt her feelings. He had plunged a knife into a wound that neither of us had known was there.
But maybe it was more than that. Perhaps my subconscious mind had picked up on the fact that Domingo wanted me dead. And not just dead, but truly and utterly destroyed. No trace of me would be left on the earth, much like it had been with my family.
My legs relied on muscle memory to get back to the Orchid Suite. I set Rose on the bed and tucked the sheets around her, kissing her forehead for a long moment as I considered what was ahead of us. Destruction was all I could see. Unless something significant interrupted this war, it would keep going until the sun burned out and consumed the world.
Lifetimes would pass. Eons would fly by. An entire generation of wolves and vampires would rise up from the ashes and continue to battle each other, motivated by nothing more than DNA. How the hell were we supposed to stop that from happening?
I sighed.
At least we had one more clue.
I just hoped it would be enough to get us to the end of this once and for all.
Chapter 16 - Rose
Nothing made me sleep better than being right next to Matéo. How I fell asleep was a bit of a mystery to me. One moment, I was kissing him in the garden room and the next, I was curled up on our bed with his legs tangled in between mine. Sweat coated my armpits and my lower back, speaking loudly of how well I had snoozed.
This is embarrassing, I thought while sneaking off to the bathroom.What wolf wants a sweaty mate?
The idea hit me as hard as Domingo’s words from last night. Everyone was saying it now, that dreadful “m” word. But nobody wanted to explainwhythey were saying it. Just because I was attached to Matéo didn’t make me anything extra special.
Even if he treated me that way.
Even if I want it to be true.
The knobs for the sink were cool under my fingertips. Such a contrasting temperature soothed me, inspiring me to lean forward and splash lukewarm water on my face. The comforting routine helped me wake up a bit more as I heard Matéo sigh from the other room.
Opening my eyes revealed my reflection. The grand tub behind me reflected memories of what we did inside it, spewing a layer of red over my face that made me burn from the inside out. Heaven knew I wanted him more every single day.
But that didn’t mean we had mated for life or anything silly like that.
In the blink of an eye, Matéo was right behind me.
“Good morning, little b—” He bowed his head. “Rose.”
I bit my lower lip while shutting off the faucet. “Good morning, Matty.”
