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She turned her hand upward, tickling the inside of my palm with the tips of her fingers.
“Have you been here since we returned?” she asked, the lines around her face softening.
I nodded.
“Is that why my sheets smell like you?”
Oops.
“I may have fallen asleep next to you last night,” I confessed. “Keeping vigil is tiring work.”
“Vigil?” Her nose scrunched up. “I wasn’t dying.”
“How was I supposed to know that?” I demanded. “I thought you’d killed yourself trying to save us!”
“Ah.” Her smirk was not entirely unwelcome. “You wanted to savor your last moments with me.”
“Shut up,” I said more churlishly than intended.
Her fingers threaded my own before I could pull away.
“If I were to die,” she said, meeting my gaze. “I would die happy if you were the last person I laid eyes on.”
My breaths shortened, each pulse thundering in my ears. For heart-rending moments, everything else in the room faded away to hazy bliss. Only Zoei remained in focus, that irritable smirk tilting her lips.
“I thought the doctor administered painkillers, not brain scrambling juice,” I murmured, grappling with the somersaults my heart was undertaking.
She released my fingers to push herself upright.
“Come here,” she said, patting the empty spot next to her.
Was it the trick of the flickering light or was Zoei even more enrapturing than she usually was? I studied her for a moment, taking in her lamp-lit features.
Her expression was unguarded. Open and honest. I found myself falling into those red-flecked depths, the gratitude and love that had been simmering in my chest clamoring to the surface.
“I would do it again, you know,” she whispered against the crown of my head. “I would fight a hundred lunatics and die countless deaths before I let them harm a single hair on your head.”
Her confession brought forth a chuckle. “Those are grand words from someone who wanted me dead just days ago.”
“Don’t remind me,” she groaned, burying her face into my hair. “I will just have to spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
“Presumptuous of you to plan the future,” I quipped, melting deeper into the comfort of her scent. Sweat had gathered and dried at her neck, but I could not bring myself to care. I pressed my nose against the familiar musk, breathing it into my body.
She’s going to be just fine.
Perhaps I hadn’t quite believed she would awaken unharmed. I had paced her suite all through the night, gnawing at my fingernails in worry. She had over-extended herself considerably, and a surge of power like that could easily cause complications to the brain and heart.
But now, as I listened to her pulse and took in the pallor of her skin, I could put those worries to rest. I tamped down on the barrage of unwelcome nagging that sat in my gut, letting Zoei’s scent calm me further.
“I used to look at you and think you were weak,” she confessed sheepishly. “Because you didn’t have as much muscle as me or the natural confidence of an Alpha.”
“Thanks,” I said, the soft feelings melting away to be replaced by an irritable scoff. I shoved at her chest, trying to pull away.
“No, listen,” she said, holding me close at the waist and pulling me half onto her lap. I resisted at first, thinking I would hurt her, but she expertly kept her left thigh away, letting me curl around her right instead.
“I was a fool for believing you were weak, Olly,” she breathed, placing a fleeting kiss against my forehead. “Because you are anything but. The truth is, you are the most fearsome opponent I’ve ever faced because your power over me is absolute.”
Her words washed over me like a warm wave, stealing my breath. My lips parted in a gasp, and I struggled to find something—anything—to say.
