Page 22

Chapter 22

Daff

Mandy was waiting for me, just like Jean said.

“What happened?” she asked, pulling me into a hug.

“They said I was relieved for the day, because you needed me at our apartment.”

“I’m sorry, I?—”

“Holy shit! What happened to your neck?”

My hand shot to where I knew it showed, hovering over it, but not quite willing to cover it.

I didn’t want to hide the mark that branded me his.

“It’s a mating bite.”

“Right. In we go,” she said, tugging my hand.

“I’ve got chocolate stashed in my bedside table, and I have the feeling we’ll be needing it by the end of whatever it is you’re about to tell me.”

She pointed to a dove grey, three-seater couch.

“Sit. I’ll be back in a moment.”

When she did, I told her everything.

The connection we felt.

Him watching me, and me watching him.

Coming together. How he begged to mark me, and I begged him to fuck me.

“Do you love him?”

“So freaking much.”

“And you don’t regret any of it, knowing you’ll have to leave him at the end of your contract?”

I shrugged, so far past caring how I must look, all puffy and tear-stained.

“No one’s ever loved him before. No one’s held his hand or hugged him.”

“Or fucked him.”

I choked out a laugh.

“That too.”

“Was it good? Did it really feel like, you know…” she trailed off to boop the tip of her nose.

I fell back against the couch, clutching my almost empty box of tissues.

“I’m trying to be serious!”

“You think I’m not?” she asked, waggling her eyebrows.

“Oh, my god,” I said, shaking my head.

“It was amazing,” I finally said, all humour gone from my voice.

“Everything about him… I don’t think I could ever love someone else like I do him. So yeah, even though I know I’ll leave, and it’ll shatter me, heart and soul, to do it, loving him is absolutely worth it.”

“Oh honey,” she said, pulling another tissue out of the box in my hand and passing it to me.

“So why all the tears now, when leaving is still so far away?”

“Because if this is what six hours of separation feels like, how will I cope when it’s the rest of my life?”

“Would you stay if they let you?”

“So I could be with him? Yeah.”

“You could really walk away from the rest of the world? From your Dad?”

“He’d be okay. My brothers are close by, and I’d send the money from here home. He’d have everything he needed, including a full-time carer if he wanted.”

“And you’d have Prowl.”

“And I’d have Prowl.”

“What?” I asked, when she hadn’t spoken for a few minutes.

“Did they make you take a Plan B pill?”

My heart thudded in my chest. “No.”

“So, there’s a chance…” she trailed off, looking at my stomach.

My hand moved on its own, settling on the space below my belly button.

“They don’t even know if it’s possible.”

“That doesn’t mean it isn’t.”

“You’re right.”

“Would you keep it, if you were?”

Fire blazed through me, burning with the fierce need to protect the potential life within me.

“Yes.”

“And Prowl?”

“I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it.”

“That might be something you should do relatively soon. It might also prove a worthy enough reason to let you stay.”

I closed my eyes, hope and fear clashing within me.

“Right,” she said, jumping off the couch.

“I’m getting popcorn. You choose the first movie. It’s time to show you why I’m the best roommate ever.”

Three movies, two bags of popcorn, and one much smaller emotional meltdown later, our six hours were up, and I was on my way back to Prowl.

He swooped me up into his arms when I entered, nuzzling his mating mark.

“You came back.”

“You were worried I wouldn’t?”

He shook his head.

“Not by choice.”

He let my body slide down the front of his until my feet hit the ground again.

“How did you go?”

“Fine,” he said, tugging me towards our bed.

“Knowing you wore my mark and no one could take it from you kept the beast in me calm.”

“Did you stay here?”

“I was with King in his quarters. This place doesn’t sit well with him, and I don’t want to be here without you with me. How’s Mandy?”

I sighed in contentment as I nudged his head onto my chest so I could run my fingers through his hair while we talked.

“Patient, thoughtful, and ridiculously sweet.”

“I’m glad you have a friend here.”

“Me too. I feel a little bad, though. I think she wanted to know more about what happened with Rage, but I was too upset about everything and worried about you and us, and what’ll happen next to really talk about it.”

“It’s nice she cares about him.”

“Hmmmm.”

He took a deep breath, making the muscles on his back expand and contract.

“Did you make your decision on birth control?”

“Do you want a family? Kids of your own?”

“Would you want them with me, knowing what they might look like?”

Tears pricked my eyes, but I kept my hand steady, grazing his scalp with my nails as I continued running my fingers through his hair.

“What if I’m already pregnant?”

He jerked up to look at me.

“They didn’t make me take the morning-after pill, and as long as I don’t, there’s a chance…”

His lips met mine in a searing kiss before pulling away.

“Is it wrong to hope for it if it means I’ll never have to leave you?”

He rolled us over, so I lay on top of him.

“Don’t take it.”

Relief and a rush of happiness washed over me.

“I won’t.”

“Don’t take any of them.”

“They won’t like that.”

“Fuck what they like.”

I tilted my face up to look at him.

“Doctor Helliot won’t let this go. If it looks like we’re fighting him on it, he’ll push his agenda of separating us even harder.”

“I don’t want you taking it,” he repeated, stroking my cheek.

“I know it might not be possible, but I can’t help but hope.”

I sighed, snuggling back into him.

“Me too.”

“Then we’ll hope together.”