Page 157 of Lovely Venom

“I just want to be with him on my terms.”

He chuckles. “Trust me, you’ve made that very clear.”

I raise an eyebrow.

“But, Raina,zemër,” he adds, eyes glittering with dark humor, “as your father andkyre, it is up to me who you marry.”

“And if I want it to be Connor?” I ask, knowing everything points to Valdrin agreeing since a truce with Quinlan Empire benefits his brotherhood.

“I approve.” He nods slowly.

“Thensend Connor back in.”

But a doctor comes inwithConnor, who joins Valdrin, standing shoulder to shoulder, leaning against the far wall. I’m sitting up now, stiff but functional, while the tall, blond doctor with a neck tattoo checks my pulse and vitals.

“You’re improving rapidly,” the handsome doctor says. “It was good that they knew what you took. The ER team gave you a liquid accelerant for the antidote when you got here. You’re lucky.”

“Luck had nothing to do with it, Cormac,” Connor murmurs, pushing off the back wall.

“You know each other?” I ask, looking from Connor to Cormac, who doesn’t speak with an accent.

The doctor smiles. “Almost my whole life.”

“Dr. O’Rourke is one of us,” Connor says and strides to the doctor’s side. “He’s also Trace’s best friend.”

“And brother-in-law, since he married my sister, Shea-Lynne,” Cormac adds.

“My inhalers?” I ask and take a shaky breath, relieved to breathe freely. “Was that you?”

“Yes. Call me when you need refills.” Cormac winks and squeezes Connor’s shoulder. “Have to get to class.”

After he leaves, walking with power and pride, I say, “Class?”

“He’s a medical school professor.” Connor clears his throat like there’s more to say about Dr. O’Rourke, but he just gazes down at me.

As much as I want to know more about Cormac, I reach out for Connor’s hand and address the elephant in the room first. “I’m sorry I went rogue.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” he says softly. “I get it. You’re not the kind of woman who wants to be rescued.”

Out of nowhere his eyes blaze, looking at me. Glancing at Valdrin, who moved to a guest chair a few feet away to give us a chance to talk, Connor rasps to me in avoice I never heard, “Did Tahiri rape you? I found your underwear on his floor. In his bedroom.”

My brain scrambles to remember the chaotic few minutes in that bedroom: Tahiri beating me. Kicking me. Kissing me, which ended his life.

“No,” I say with as much strength as I can. “He planned to. I didn’t give him that chance.”

The relief on Connor’s face comes off in waves.

“Not many people know this, but female agents are given extra training and fighting skills to prevent a man from assaulting us. No one will ever touch me that way. Except you.”

Connor wipes a tear away and hugs me. “Fucking, thank God. But you will always have a guard, do you hear me?”

I nod. “Can I choose my guard?”

Connor raises an eyebrow. “Who?”

“Nero.”

Connor leans into me. “Aye, but I only trust myself.” Then he exhales. “That isn’t practical, is it?”