Page 30 of Taming the Beasts

I slowly inhaled and let the smell of warmth calm me down even more. Otto hadn’t been hurt. Titan hadn’t shifted. Everything was okay.

But tonight could have gone so terribly wrong. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to unsee the look in Titan’s eyes.

My boyfriends were partially what Kebe said. Violent. Dangerous. Unpredictable.

And the cure for them was sitting in my pocket only several feet away. No one was going to be able to convince me to withhold it from them any longer.

I held on to Otto tight. Tomorrow everything would change. And I just hoped his feelings for me didn’t.

Chapter 8

Friday

Emma

I stared at the sharp lines of Callum’s jaw. I wasn’t sure what Callum did when he closed his eyes in bed. But I knew he wasn’t sleeping. He’d told me he couldn’t.

So was he meditating? Or was his mind swirling with thoughts? When I couldn’t sleep, I thought about what I needed to get done the next day. I thought about the future and my worries and concerns that came with it. Before he came back into my life, I’d also thought about him and what could have been. And worrying I’d never be able to feel the way he had made me feel ever again.

Is that what he was doing? Worrying?

Right before he’d proposed, he’d said he’d change me in a year if that’s what I wanted. But it wasn’t going to come to that. We’d found the cure. It was safe with Zoey. Things had gotten out of hand last night, but everything was on track again now. Zoey and I would tell the guys today once everyone was awake. No more delaying. I couldn’t wait to surprise Callum.

We didn’t need to wait a year to be on the same page about what forever meant. Forever started today.

I pushed the covers to the side and straddled his waist.

A contented sigh fell from his lips and his hands lifted to my hips. He slowly opened his eyes.

I stared down into the golden hue. Those eyes had haunted my dreams for ten years. I much preferred the real thing to a memory. “What are you thinking?” I asked.

“That you’re up early for coming home so late.”

When I’d come home last night, I’d told him I was exhausted and went straight to bed. I wasn’t great at keeping secrets. And I was worried that if we’d talked, I’d just confess everything. Zoey and I had agreed to tell the guys together. I’d told Callum what I was looking for when he was showing me his room full of artifacts and souvenirs from his travels. He’d told me Anubis had nothing to do with a cure. I really hoped he was wrong about that.

His eyes searched mine.

I shifted forward and felt him hardening beneath me. I placed my hand on the center of his bare chest. My ring shimmered even though the black out curtains barely let in any light.

“I tried so hard to get over you,” I said.

“I’m glad you failed.”

I smiled. “When we get married…what last name will I take? Evans?” I was pretty sure that was his real last name. “Walsh?” That was his last name when I’d met him. “Or Gold?” That was his last name now. But I knew there were more in between. He’d been alive for centuries.

“Well, it would be easiest for record purposes if you were Mrs. Theo Gold.”

“I don’t know how to stop calling you Callum. You’ve been Callum in my head for ten years.”

“You can keep calling me Callum. If anyone questions it, we’ll just tell them it’s my middle name. A term of endearment.”

I smiled. “That works. So…Emma Gold. It makes it sound like I won the lottery.”

“Haven’t you?”

I laughed as he flipped us over, pinning my back against the mattress.

He pushed up my t-shirt, his hand tracing up my stomach until he reached my left breast. He cupped my breast as his mouth lowered to my other. He swirled his tongue around my nipple.