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Adric scrubbed a hand over his face, and then with a sigh, rolled over to face her. “Thank you, love.” He took her hand, pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

“For what?” she snapped.

“For caring.”

She looked down at the calloused fingers wrapped around hers. Sadness washed over her. “Oh, Adric. You don’t have to thank someone for caring.”

His mouth contorted. “Maybe not in your world.” He reached for her. “Let me hold you. Okay?”

She shook her head but allowed him to pull her into his arms. Above, the wind whistled over the dunes, but here in the cozy hollow, they were snug and warm.

He nuzzled her hair. “It wouldn’t work anyway. You know that, don’t you?”

“Don’t,” she whispered, tears burning her throat. “Just don’t. Please?”

He nodded and nudged her chin up so he could rub his lips over hers. They fell asleep like that, mouths still touching.

The first rays of dawn had pushed through the trees when Adric brushed Rosana’s hair back from her face. “Time to go.”

The two of them crept back to the B&B and peered through the fence. The parking lot was empty except for two cars—theirs, and a white truck that she assumed belonged to Mark. The human couple must’ve checked out.

Adric motioned for her to remain hidden behind the fence. “Wait here until I pull out of the parking lot. Just in case.”

When she nodded, he slipped into the parking lot and strolled up to the Mazda. A press of the keyless remote, and the doors unlocked. He drove it a few yards up the street and then waited as she slid into the passenger seat.

The streets of Lewes were nearly empty, the houses still dark. Streetlights glowed against the slowly brightening sky as they pulled onto the highway.

Adric slanted her a look. “You hungry? We could stop somewhere.”

She shook her head. “I’ll eat when I get home.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

They drove back to Maryland in silence. Rosana stared out the window, dully aware she’d failed.

So this was how it ended. One night was all they’d ever have.

In a few weeks—or maybe even a few days—Adric would leave for Virginia and the New Moon Court, and be captured by the night fae. Maybe he wouldn’t die—maybe he’d somehow avoid that slashing knife. Like he’d said, that was just one possible future.

But even if he survived, what would become of the two of them?

It wouldn’t work anyway. You know that, don’t you?

They were almost at the rest area where she’d left the car when something in her snapped.

No.

She was not going to lose Adric because she was too afraid to speak up. If he didn’t want her, he could tell her straight out.

She turned in the seat to face him. “ Why wouldn’t it work?”

“Rosana,” he said in a hard, don’t-question-me voice. “Don’t do this.”

“But it meant something. You felt it. I know you did.” He’d touched her with such tenderness. Held her all night in the park. “You…thanked me for caring.”

“And I meant it. But you and me?” He shook his head.

Her breath felt heavy in her lungs, as if she were trying to breathe underwater. Adric started to say something else and she threw up a staying hand.

“It’s all right. Really. I get it. You don’t want me that bad.”

“Fuck.” He swerved to the side of the highway and stomped on the brakes, throwing them both forward against their seatbelts.

A car zoomed past, horn blaring.

Rosana looked at the arm Adric had flung across her chest. “What the—?”

He unbuckled his seatbelt and hers with shifter-fast speed and dragged her toward him so that she lay half over the console.

“The hell I don’t want you.” His fingers dug into her shoulders.

“If it was up to me, we’d be halfway across the country, looking for a place to make our own den away from both our clans.

But I’m the alpha. The clan needs me. Before I took over, we almost lost everything. You know how many elders we have?”

She shook her head mutely. Hurting for him. Hurting for herself.

“Five—three women and two men. Other than them, no one older than forty survived the Darktime. I lost my mom and dad. Jace lost both his parents and his only sister. And the list goes on and on. That man I saw last night?” His throat worked.

“He was captured and tortured for close to a year just for being my friend. So don’t tell me I don’t want you.

It’s not a question of what I fucking want. ”

He kissed her. A hard, fierce kiss, his arms clamped around her.

She brought her hands up, instinctively stroking, soothing.

He groaned and tore his mouth from hers. His grip on her loosened. He brought his forehead to hers.

“I can’t turn my back on them,” he rasped. “And they’d never accept you.”

“It’s okay,” she managed to say, even though her heart had fractured into jagged shards. “I understand.”

“The only way we can be together is if we keep sneaking around like this. Just say the word, and I’m there.

But do you want a man who can never claim you?

And what about your family, your clan? Do you really think Dion would accept me as your mate?

” His laugh held zero humor. “God’s cat.

The man would probably try to carve off my balls if he found out we spent even one night together. ”

She shook her head, but in her heart, she knew he was right. A truck rumbled past, rattling their windows, but inside the car, the only sound was the harsh scrape of their breathing.

She pushed away from him. His hands tightened for a second as if he wanted to keep holding her, but then they opened, and she knew it really was over.

Adric regarded her moodily. “I’m not going to say I’m sorry. Last night was…special. I’ll be damned if I regret it.”

She pressed her lips together so he wouldn’t see them trembling. Lifted her chin. “I didn’t ask you for an apology.” Returning to her seat, she fumbled blindly for the seat belt.

“I’ll take you back.”

She latched the belt and sat back. “Thank you.”

Back at the rest stop, Adric turned off the engine. “One thing you can count on. I’m not going to die. He is. So stop worrying.”

She just shook her head.

“So.” He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Take care of yourself—okay?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

She reached for her canvas bag. Got out of the car. Shut the door.

Moving on automatic, because if she let herself think, the sobs locked in her chest might spill out.

Adric accompanied her to her car. After she unlocked the door, he reached around her and opened it.

He didn’t say goodbye, just touched her cheek and then closed the door for her.

But he tailed her out of the rest area and up I-95.

Making sure she got safely back to Grace Harbor, because that’s who he was.

She watched through her rearview mirror as he followed her off the exit and then turned south toward Baltimore.

Her stomach was a hard, hurting knot. She pressed a fist to it and aimed the car for home.

Adric drove the thirty-five miles to Baltimore, foot heavy on the gas pedal, radio blasting. Just let the cops pull him over. Right now, he’d welcome the chance to pound on someone.

With every additional mile he traveled from Rosana, something inside him unraveled. Like his heart was attached to hers by some invisible thread, and with each mile, that wanting, needy organ was being shredded and left behind.

Mine.

His fingers tightened around the steering wheel. Her scent was still in the car, on him. Driving him insane.

He’d meant every word he’d said to her. The two of them together just wouldn’t work.

Yeah, the clan had accepted Evie, Jace’s mate, but everybody liked Evie. And she’d turned out to have a Gift that helped the healers, so she was an asset to the clan.

Marjani’s mate, Fane, had been a harder sell, but Adric had made it clear the clan had better accept him or else. After what his sister had been through, she deserved to be happy.

But Adric was alpha. The clan needed him, and after the Darktime, they didn’t trust easily.

He’d worked his ass off to win over the doubters, convincing them that the only way forward was to work together.

But choose a river fada as a mate—and worse, a Rock Run river fada—and that fragile accord could be blown sky-high.

Still, none of that mattered anyway. Because despite what he’d told Rosana, he didn’t expect to get out of Virginia alive.

Inside his cougar lashed its tail, furious that he’d let Rosana just drive off. The cat was a simple beast. To it, Rosana was theirs and Adric was a fool for letting her go.

But he was a highly disciplined man, so he ruthlessly wrestled the cat under control, and then slowed enough to blend in with the human traffic.