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He pulled the collar of his shirt aside to show off the mark I’d put on his neck. “I thought this meant forever?”
I gave him a single nod. “It does. For me. You didn’t sign up for all of this.”
He didn’t speak. Instead, he came around the outside of the bar, taking the stool next to me. “I signed up for all of it. Everything that goes with your life, Dominic. I’ve been in my line of work a long time. I know what your people, mine, and the vampires are all capable of. I don’t have rose-colored glasses on.”
“You also thought I’d live longer.”
“Yes, I hope you will, but I love you and I made the choice with you. I’m not going to run away when it gets hard.” He stroked his fingers over my forearm, the bit of contact causing a spark under my skin.
I hoped I’d always feel that way when he touched me.
“I know,” I leaned in to press my face to his neck, lips finding the spot. “I don’t doubt you. I doubt what I’ve gotten you mixed up in.”
“Your life and mine are joined now. They are our people, our life, our path. I chose it as much as you did.” He turned, brushing his lips over my temple. “We have to make sure we are ready, so he can’t continue to do what he’s been doing, and no one else can either.”
“Yes. I’m sure he has loyalists throughout the pack.” I picked up my head to look him in the eyes.
Vin nodded, and we sat in silence.
“The danger will ebb and flow. Neither of us followed an easy path.” He cupped my cheek and brushed our lips together. “And this is a lot better than hate-fucking you once a year.”
“It was more frequently than that.”
He rolled his eyes. “The point remains. A little danger while getting to spend my days with you is better than an occasional hate-fuck, as much as I enjoy them.”
“We can still hate-fuck.”
His brows rose. “Are you going to go out of your way to piss me off?”
“Of course I am.” I gave him a wolfish grin. “We can start now.”
“I feel like I should ask what you’re going to do to make me angry, but maybe I don’t want to know.” He squeezed my knee, then downed the rest of his drink.
“How about you don’t sell wolfsbane to anyone ever the fuck again?”
“I didn’t. But is this really what you’re concerned about, Dominic?”
“You’re mated to a wolf.”
“This was during our hate-fuck days, and maybe I considered using some on your indecisive ass.”
I snarled, and he smiled.
“Who is going to be hate-fucking whom?” he asked, getting to his feet.
“Whichever one of us gets control first.”
THIRTY-NINE
VINKETTIN
Dominic mourned, and the season changed.
The warmth faded, and the leaves turned. The cool air blew down from the mountains, warning of a harsh winter to come. There were no more deaths, but that didn’t ease his or my mind. Not while there was a vampire nest that knew what his blood was. Days turned into months, and we were no closer to finding the perpetrator than before. I used every contact I had, and he did the same, but we came up on dead end after dead end. Like these damn vampires were ghosts.
Dominic felt like a phantom, and I felt like I was losing from all sides. He wasn’t dead, but he became a shadow of his former self. Maybe this is what the fates meant when they prophesied me losing him.
I found Dominic in the borderlands. It wasn’t hard to follow his scent when I woke up. He walked through the tall grass in the strip of land that was a throughway for wolves and other creatures traveling. His fingers skimmed over the tips of the blades, and he didn’t turn in my direction as I approached. Either lost to thought or tired of my intrusion into his grief.
