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The familiar sound of the front door locks opening pierced my cozy silence of staring out the window with a mug of tea in hand.
Jae walked in with Suna hot on his heels. I blinked at them, surprised.
“You didn’t tell her anything, did you?” Suna asked, folding her arms over her chest and rolling her eyes. “Men.”
“What is it? What’s happened?” Worry immediately clouded my thoughts. Was this it? Was I going back to the Ivanov bratva tonight without a chance to say goodbye alone with Jae? Did Suna blame me for endangering their family?
She turned on her heel and headed through the house toward the bedrooms. “Come find me after you two talk.”
“What happened?”
Jae approached me, his hands reaching for my waist. For a man who didn’t like to be touched, he sure seemed handsy since the other night. I leaned into his solid strength, comforted by it.
“I saw your brother.”
I stiffened, worry making me antsy. “Where?”
“At Luna. Don’t worry. He’s alive,” Jae said.
I swallowed the hard knot of guilt in my throat. My first worry had been that Kon might have hurt Jae, not the other way around. “Okay. What did he say?”
“As you predicted, he wants you back and will go through with the arranged wedding in some shape or form.”
That knot slid lower down my throat, cutting off my ability to speak for a moment. I didn’t realize I was crying until Jae ran his thumb beneath my eye.
“Don’t cry, Kat. He’s not worth your tears. No matter what he wants or how angry it makes me, I won’t hurt him.”
I blinked at Jae. “I wish I was good enough to worry about that. It’s not why I’m crying.”
“It’s not?”
I shook my head miserably. “I dragged you into all this, made trouble for you, and it’s still going to happen anyway.” The confession weighed heavily on my heart. It was a feeling I’d had about myself since I was old enough to understand my role in the brutal bratva my brother had made.
Jae cupped my face, tilting my head back firmly so I had no choice but to let him see the misery in my eyes. “You seem confused, Kat Ivanov, so let’s make something clear. From the second you let me have you—no, it was before that. From the moment you touched me in the warehouse and fell into my arms, I was never letting you go. Konstantin can’t have you, even if it means war… because you’re mine.”
My heart leaped as hope and crushing fear swept through me.
“Go and see Suna and let her help you get ready,” he said quietly. He pressed a long kiss to my forehead, still cupping my face as if it was something precious to him.
“Get ready for what?” I asked, humbled and in awe of his steadfast confidence and how he’d instantly transformed my fear into joy.
“The wedding. We’re getting married at sun-up,” Jae said quietly.
My mind blanked at his words. What? I tried to pull away, but he held me tightly.
“There’s only one way to fix this, and you’ll do it. There’ll be no running or fighting me.”
I shook my head. I’d never run from Jae. He was the man I’d only ever run toward—my safe harbor in the dark.“Are you sure you want to do this?”
His parents would be angry, and maybe his men too. He was risking his reputation to keep me safe.
“Kat, your touch is the only one I can stand. You’re mine, and I’ll keep you until your last breath, whether you want me to or not. I told you, I’m not your white knight. I’m the villain stealing the girl,” he said quietly.
“I don’t care what you say. You’ll always be my white knight.”
“Yet, I’m not going to ask you to marry me. That isn’t a no I would accept from you, so there’s no point. Not very knightly behavior.”
I grinned. “I don’t know. The white knight didn’t give sleeping beauty much choice when she woke up. It was more—come with me or die.”
