The days passed more normally than I would have expected. Julian and I were coldly distant with each other, although I caught him watching me more than I’d like to admit. He tried to get closer to me, but with each rejection, he got more frustrated and more short-tempered.
I could feel faint echoes of his emotions through our bond, but when the softer ones came through, I had to force myself to believe I was imagining it.
But I wasn’t. Julian was softening toward me, and I knew that eventually, I’d have to confront that, but I kept putting it off. If I acknowledged it, then I’d have to confront my own feelings, and I wasn’t ready to do that.
Instead, I focused on the demons. Every day we went out, and every night we found nothing. There were no more attacks and no trace of where the demons were hiding or what their plans might be. Julian showed us the places they’d seen the demons before, and the areas where he thought they were hiding out and watching his pack before he discovered them. One site was a cave that had a disturbing amount of bones in it and reeked of rotting flesh, but that was the closest we came.
It was frustrating. Infuriating, even. And my hormones weren't helping.
The clinic doctor had given me some medication to stop my nausea, and I wasn’t far enough along yet to be experiencing any other effects, but I could tell a difference in my emotions. I found myself yearning to be held by none other than Julian Payne, the asshole who had gotten me in this state, to begin with, and the yearning for him became so intense some nights that I had to shift to wolf form and run through the woods until I was exhausted.
Sometimes Julian, also wearing his wolf skin, joined me, though we never acknowledged it during the daylight. It was our little secret, those runs through the moonlight. The first time I tried to lose him, but he kept up with me easily, his coppery coat blending in with the night a lot better than my stark white fur. I was made to run through the snowy expanses of Scandinavia, and it made me stand out like a sore thumb sometimes.
But oh well. He would have found me anyway.
The third night he ran with me it seemed he couldn’t help himself but to touch me. I would have never pegged Julian Payne as anything close to playful, but his wolf told a different story. He was happy when he was running with me, even happier when he could sneak up on me and nudge me with his nose, or nip at my tail. I tried to pretend like it annoyed me, but in reality, it warmed my heart in a way I never could have imagined.
It made me wish that he wasn't such an asshole when he was in human form. Maybe then I wouldn’t hate him so much.
This morning, we were packing my Subaru to drive back to the demon cave to see if any of them had returned to the freshest site and hopefully get some more clues, when my phone rang.
It was Faye, and I picked up reluctantly. I hadn’t spoken to anyone from the Silverfangs since I had taken the bite, and I was nervous. Not about what they’d say, but what my reaction would be. I’d been keeping my feelings and emotions under control, and I didn’t want anything to upset the delicate balance.
“Hey,” I said, tucking the phone between my cheek and shoulder as I leaned into the car. “I was just about to call you.”
“I’m surprised you’re not busy running around with your mate,” Faye’s voice was teasing, but it was more than I could handle right now.
“Can we please not talk about him?” I snapped, slamming the back hatch shut. I winced, feeling bad for snapping at her, and leaned against the car, looking up at the sky. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in sight, and it was hard to imagine that just a week ago I was being attacked, forcing me into the mating ritual.
I exhaled slowly and tried again. “Sorry. It’s just…things have changed.”
“We heard,” a second voice, Naomi, said, surprising me. “Sorry, we didn’t want this to feel like an ambush but figured you’d rather speak to both of us at the same time and have it done and over with.”
“No, no, I appreciate it,” I said quickly. “It’s just…”
“A lot,” Naomi said softly. “Yeah. I know.”
I bit my lip, wondering what I could say. Everything I’d heard others say about Naomi had painted her as this weak, meek little lamb who had gotten kidnapped by Danny and then immediately fell in love with him. But none of that was true.
She was kind, loving, and fierce when she needed to be. She was strong, and she helped me realize that power came in many different forms.
“We just want you to know we’re here for you,” Faye said, breaking the silence. “We heard through the Reckless Stalker patrol that you’d take Julian’s bite. I can’t lie, I was shocked, but…I guess that’s fate.”
“That’s not what happened,” I said quickly. “I got attacked by demons the first night here and they targeted me. It all went to shit from there. His wolves took Laura and would only let her go when I agreed to the ritual. He’s just as much of an asshole as he ever was, if not more.”
I heard Naomi’s voice, softer than Faye’s, speak first after my explanation. “I understand. Danny kidnapped me, so I get it. If you need a shoulder to cry on, or just someone to talk to, we’re here. No matter how angry you are at Julian, it doesn’t mean you have to be alone.”
“I know. And thank you.” I hesitated. “I…can I still come home, Faye? When this is over? Even if I’ve mated with Julian?”
I could hear Faye’s sigh through the phone. “Of course, Whitney. I told you that before, and I meant it. The Silverfangs are your home, no matter what.”
Tears pricked at my eyes and I cleared my throat. “Thank you. I needed to hear that.”
“No problem. We love you.”
I smiled. “I love you guys too. I’ll call you later, okay? I have to get going.”
“Whitney,” Faye said before I could hang up. “The Silverfangs are your home, but it also isn’t wrong if you want to make a home with your mate. He might be our enemy now, but I know how conflicted you must be. We won’t blame you for anything, okay? Just take your time.”
I nodded, though they couldn’t see it, and said goodbye before hanging up. The last thing I wanted to think about right now was my relationship with Julian, but my conversation with Faye and Naomi had brought the issue to the forefront of my mind. I was stuck here for now, but once we figured out what the demons were planning, I could go home.
I would have to leave my mate behind.
But what if I didn’t want to?
That thought stopped me cold. I didn’t want to think about it, but my heart was racing just the same. What if Julian wasn’t the horrible, terrible man I’d always assumed he was? What if he was actually worth my time?
What if we could make a life together?
I shook my head hard to dispel the thought. So what if he’d been providing for me ever since we arrived, making sure Laura and I were well-fed and had our own space even when I was sure he wanted to be near me? So what if the sex was amazing, and he was hot as hell? I wasn’t going to fold just because of a six-pack and an orgasm.
And the playful stuff when we ran as wolves at night…the way he’d made an effort to apologize and speak to me calmly after the mating…it didn’t matter. It couldn’t matter.
We were nothing more than forced mates, and I was still planning to leave him behind the minute the demon threat was neutralized.
With a sigh, I went to find Julian and Laura. Maybe work would take my mind off of all of this.
***
The drive to the demon cave took some time, and I made sure to pop a nausea pill before we took off. The place was foul and it would have made my stomach turn on a good day, but now that I was pregnant, it was a million times worse.
When I was sure Julian wasn’t looking, I took a vial of peppermint oil out of my backpack and rubbed some below my nostrils.
He glanced at me when I came out of the car, and I could feel his eyes on me as I approached. “What?”
“You smell like Christmas,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “I like it.”
“Good thing I don’t care if you like it or not,” I replied coolly, stepping past him.
He sighed and fell in step beside me. “I was just trying to be nice.”
“You know what would be even nicer? If you’d keep your comments to yourself.”
Laura laughed softly, coming up to walk on my other side. “Wow. You guys are hilarious. I can’t wait for the honeymoon period to be over so you can stop flirting.”
I shot her a dark look, but it only made her laugh harder.
We stepped into the demon cave and I immediately wanted to turn around and leave. The stench of death, rot, and sulfur was so strong it almost knocked me over, and I had to stop for a moment to let my stomach settle. I took out my peppermint oil and rubbed some below my nostrils again, trying to ignore Laura and Julian’s confused expressions.
“What?” I snapped, putting the vial away. “If we’re going to do this, we might as well try to make it bearable.”
“I’m just saying…” Laura held up her hands. “It’s not like I don’t have a nose either, but if it helps, I’m not complaining.”
“Me neither,” Julian said quickly, stepping forward. “But…peppermint?”
“It’s an old human trick I learned from our pack medic. He’d done some time working in an ER and said the smells were unbelievable at times.”
“Okay, yeah. That makes sense.” Julian looked at the cave, then back to me, and sighed before holding out his hand. “Give it here, then. I’ll try anything once.”
I tried not to smile at his double meaning as I pulled the vial out of my pocket and handed it to him. “Just rub a little below your nose and you should be good.”
We entered the cave to begin our investigation, and everything looked frustratingly the same as it had the previous day. We’d all hoped that the freshness of the site meant that they were still using it, but it looked like we were just a few days too late to catch them. Damn.
Laura guarded the cave entrance while Julian and I donned gloves and started to pick through the detritus left behind, hoping to find any clue as to what their intentions or next move might be.
It was a frustrating exercise, and it wasn’t long before I felt like I was about to lose my mind. “Let’s just burn it all and be done with it.”
“I understand the urge,” Julian said from deeper in the cave, but there was an edge of uneasiness to his voice that had me snapping to attention. “But I think we should be a little more thorough. Look at this.”
I came a few steps closer and gasped, almost dropping my flashlight when I saw what he was holding—a human skull with some flesh still clinging to it. My stomach turned, but I held myself together. This was just a part of the job.
“There’s more of them,” Laura said quietly, coming to stand next to me. “It looks like a whole pile.”
“We need to move them out,” I said, forcing myself to look at the skull in Julian’s hands. “They deserve better than to rot here in a cave with these monsters.”
Julian nodded grimly. “Laura, you run back to the cars and see if you can find a couple of tarps or something that we can use to carry them.”
“Got it,” she said quickly, already sprinting for the exit.
Julian and I both stared at the skull in his hands for a long moment and then he cleared his throat and set it on the ground. “I could be wrong, but they’re expending a ton of energy if they’re going through human vessels this quickly. They could always be eating them, but it seems like a lot of work to hunt people when they can subsist off of normal food when they’re wearing a human vessel.”
“Do you think it could be something else? Like…I don’t know…a ritual of some kind?”
“Maybe. I’ve heard of demons needing to eat humans to keep their power up, but if that was the case, it would have to be a big ritual with a ton of power.”
I grimaced, thinking of all of the possibilities. “Let’s just hope that whatever it is, we can stop it before it’s too late.”
We spent another hour searching through the cave for any clues but came up empty-handed. We’d managed to move the bodies outside when I heard Julian’s phone ring. Usually, I would have ignored it, but I felt a shiver run down his bond when he looked at the screen and saw the name there. Shock, anger, and concern. Who the hell could it be?
I didn’t have to wait long for an answer. Julian took his filthy gloves off and put the phone to his ear, biting out the name, “Danny.”
I couldn’t hear the conversation, but Julian’s stony expression broke after about thirty seconds, real worry flashing over his handsome features before he forced the neutral expression back on once more. He didn’t speak, but just listened for two or so minutes, before saying, “For him. Not you. Send me the location.” Then he paused, adding, “She’s with me. Fine. We’re on our way.”
My heartbeat was fast and fluttery, like a hummingbird, when he hung up and stalked toward me. I was frozen, waiting for his explanation, because the energy I could feel through our bond had me nearly panicked. Something was really, really wrong.
But Julian didn’t explain right away. His first words burst out like he couldn’t hold them back, and just had to tell someone. “That’s the first time we’ve spoken since the Naomi thing.”
“What did he want?” I prodded, impatient.
Julian swallowed hard, rolling his neck to ease some of the tension there. “Peter was on his way to Silverfang Creek territory to deliver a load of weapons that Saul had spelled when he was run off the road. He was on a back road nearly halfway between the territories, and while Danny can track his phone, it hasn’t moved and Peter hasn’t answered. He’s positive he’s been taken by demons and Danny is hours away.”
I put the pieces together in my head instantly as Laura came up beside us, already taking her own gloves off. “Halfway between the territories means he’s close to us.”
Julian nodded grimly. “We have to go. There’s no one else.”
“Let’s go.”
It didn’t take long for us to get back to the cars, and Julian called out orders as we drove. “I’ve got the location that Danny sent me. Do we need to go back to the cabins to get your weapons?”
Laura and I both laughed out loud. “Oh, no. Not at all. I’ll show you our car stash when we get there.”
His eyebrows raised as he glanced at me, then looked back at the road. “You have weapons stashed in your car?”
“We have a weapons stash everywhere,” Laura explained, looking excited to show him. She loved showing off our gear almost as much as I did.
Julian chuckled softly. “Damn, I should have had you guys on my side from the jump.”
“Bold of you to assume we’re on your side.” I huffed. “This is just a temporary alliance.”
“Whatever you have to tell yourself,” Julian replied, steering us out onto the main road, his expression going grim. “I’m glad to have the help for this, either way.”
I didn’t say anything but took a second to examine his face. Peter had raised Julian, and he must be sick with worry deep down. No amount of pack violence or animosity could break a bond like that. Peter might be disgusted over what Julian did to Naomi, but he’d probably walk through fire to save him.
It took forty minutes to reach the area that Danny had marked on Julian’s phone. The closer we got, the more I could feel the dread building in my stomach. This wasn’t going to be good.
We parked off the side of the road, and I jumped out to open the floor hatch in the back of the vehicle, revealing our weapons stash. Julian and Laura joined me, Julian letting out a low whistle.
“Damn. I was expecting some knives, maybe a crossbow.”
“Well, you know what they say. Expect the unexpected,” I said, pulling out two blades for me and one for Laura, before grabbing my belt with my knives. I took one of the guns, too. Laura and Julian each took one as well, along with a knife.
Julian strapped a sword to his back, and it was almost comical watching him try to adjust the strap that had been sized for someone much smaller. “His truck should be just beyond the tree line if Danny’s location is accurate, and we’ll have to track them from there. Peter is…ah. Fuck. He’s a strong old bastard, but he’s not as much of a fighter as he was in his prime. We have to hurry.”
I nodded, strapping the belt on. “Let’s get going. Lead the way.”
The three of us fell into a steady pace as we jogged through the trees, moving as silently as possible. The forest was quiet, too quiet for my tastes, and I knew it wouldn’t take long for the demons to figure out we were here.
We found the truck within ten minutes, but it didn’t look like anything had been touched. “I’m surprised they bothered taking him alive.”
“They would have taken him out immediately if they wanted him dead. They want him for something else.” Julian growled, emotions running high. “Another bargaining chip, I’m sure.
“Bargaining chip? For who?” Laura asked, but the answer hit me instantly.
“Peter’s connection to Danny and Julian makes him valuable,” I said softly. “If they took Peter, then they want to negotiate. For a witch, no doubt. Faye, Sienna…or me, I guess.”
“Fuck.” Julian rubbed a hand over his face. “Well, if they want a negotiation, they’ve got one. And it’ll be the last one they ever make.”
We ran faster, following the trail of the demons, and it only took a few minutes for us to reach the edge of a clearing. There was a small, dilapidated cabin in the center, with an SUV parked outside of it, and even from here I could feel the dark energy radiating out of it.
We ducked behind some bushes just inside the tree line, but Julian was already moving toward the cabin. I reached out and grabbed his wrist, my fingers barely wrapping all the way around it.
He looked down at me, his eyes flashing with anger and frustration. “What?”
“You can’t just go running in there without a plan,” I hissed. “They could kill you and then we’ll have no chance of finding Peter.”
“I’m not letting him die,” Julian growled low, his teeth clenched so tight I could hear them grind together.
I shook my head. “Of course not. But we need to know what we’re up against first. That SUV seats five, so there are four at most. We can handle that, but we need to secure Peter first.”
Julian nodded, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to relax. “Alright. Three of us, four of them. If we go in fast and hard, we can get Peter and get out before they have time to react.
“Good,” I said, scanning the area and thinking. “Laura, you circle around back. Stay in wolf form, but don’t be seen. We don’t want them to know we’re coming. Cause a distraction if you need to. I’ll wait for your signal.”
“Got it,” she said quickly, stripping and shifting into her dark gray wolf form. She ran silently through the trees, heading for the back of the cabin.
I looked up at Julian, and he was staring at me, his eyes wide and a little shocked. “What?”
“That was…that was good. Smart. Laura is good in a fight, but you’ve got a better eye for strategy than I do.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m more of a hit first, ask questions later kinda guy.”
I tried not to smile at the compliment. “Yeah, I got that impression. So how about you stay here and wait until Laura gives us the signal.”
“Or…” Julian said, cocking his head to the side. “You stay here and wait for Laura to give us the signal, and I’ll go in.”
I scoffed. You wish—"
I didn’t have time to finish my thought before Laura gave three muted yips from behind the cabin. We’d practiced over and over again to mimic a coyote as closely as possible so we didn’t tip off our enemies, but three yips were a bad sign. It meant ‘emergency’.
I told Julian as much, and he was sprinting toward the cabin before I could stop him, keeping low to the ground with his borrowed sword unsheathed. Fuck , I thought. So much for being sneaky.
I followed him, pulling my blades out and running silently behind him, scanning for any movement from the demons. We reached the door in less than thirty seconds, but when Julian tried to turn the doorknob it wouldn’t budge.
“Damn,” he said, rattling it harder. “It’s locked.”
My eyes widened when I heard a thump from inside the house, like someone falling to the floor, and then a man’s huff of pain. Without thinking, Julian slammed his shoulder against the door, putting all of his strength into it.
There was a loud cracking sound as the wood around the lock splintered and the door swung open. I didn’t have time to revel in the victory, because Julian was already running into the room, his sword at the ready.
I followed him inside, my heart dropping as I saw the scene before us. Peter was on the ground, his hands bound, bleeding from his temple but thankfully still conscious. Two demons were standing in the far corner of the room, while one was standing over Peter, his foot pulled back as if to kick the older man a second time.
If there was a fourth demon it wasn’t in the structure. As soon as I had the thought, I heard Laura’s snarl and the shriek of a demon in pain out back and grinned. My partner could handle herself.
The two demons that had been in the corner took off for the back of the house, trying to get out before we could catch them while the third went for the front. I tackled that one to the ground, slicing across his hamstrings with my knife before rolling out of the way to let Julian finish him. The demon was still screaming and thrashing when Julian sliced his head clean off.
I jumped up and sprinted for the back door, but two of the demons were sprinting for the cover of the trees while Laura finished off her adversary. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw the nasty gash across his neck where Laura had ripped his throat out. It was an instant kill wound, but the demon was stubbornly hanging onto his life.
“Stupid mutt,” he hissed at me. “You’re all going to die today.”
I kicked him hard in the ribs, and the sickening crack was music to my ears. “You’re the only one who’s going to be dying here, Buddy.”
He opened his mouth to reply, but before he could speak, I slammed my knife through his eye socket, straight into his brain. It was a messy kill, but I didn’t have time to be neat right now. We backed off as it popped out of existence in a shower of sparks, Laura shaking her head hard to get rid of the taste of demon blood.
We’d only killed two of four, but there was something more important: Peter. Julian had stayed inside with his old mentor, who was on his back, trying to push himself into a sitting position, but he looked hurt and disoriented. Julian moved to his side and knelt, helping him up.
“What happened?” Julian growled,
Peter winced, touching his head gingerly and coming away with a bloody hand. “I was run off the road, and two of them pulled me out of the car.” His voice was steady, despite the situation. “They knocked me out, then took me here. I don’t know what they wanted, but every time I tried to shift they beat the shit out of me to keep me in human form. Bastards.”
I could guess what they wanted, and Julian probably could too, but that was something that could wait until we were back at the cabin and could figure out our next move. Instead, I focused on the here and now. “We killed two of them.”
“The two that got away were the ringleaders.” Peter coughed, struggling to stand on his own, but unable to keep his balance. I grabbed him by the arm, putting my shoulder under his to hold him upright. “Shame we couldn’t grab them.”
“Don’t worry about that right now,” Julian said gruffly. “The girls will take you home. I’ll catch those fuckers, and then we can talk.”
“What do you mean—?” I couldn’t even finish the question before Julian was shifting, loping out of the cabin and following the trail of the escaped demons. “Julian!” I screamed after him, shocked, but he didn’t stop.
“Let him go, Kid,” Peter huffed. “There’s no stopping that one when he sets his mind to something.”
I would kill him , I thought. How dare he go after them alone, two against one? How dare he put himself in stupid danger like that?
We walked as fast as we could back through the woods, but Peter was unsteady and weak from his wounds. Laura had shifted back and dressed, and the three of us were quiet for the entire walk back to the cars, which thankfully were still in one piece.
Peter’s tires were flat, and unsurprisingly, the demons had emptied all the spelled weapons out of it. But that was a problem for another time. Laura and I loaded him into the Outback. He looked tired and in pain, but I’d seen worse wounds on our kind. “We need to get you back to Canines territory so Saul can check you over.”
“You’ve already done more than enough,” Peter replied, his eyes falling shut. “You should go help Julian before he gets himself killed.”
“Oh, don’t worry. We’ll help him alright. He’s going to regret giving me this damn bite when I get my hands on him.” I growled, looking back to make sure Laura was still with me.
She didn’t look happy about it. Her dark hair was tangled and snarled with twigs, and she looked as exhausted as I felt. But we weren’t going to be able to stop anytime soon. I could feel Julian down our bond, and the thought of leaving him out in the middle of nowhere to fight on his own made me feel sick. Well, sicker than usual.
“You’re going to go after that prick, aren’t you?” Laura sighed, climbing into the back seat.
“Of course I am,” I huffed. “Those demons he’s after might have critical information.”
Laura barked out a laugh. “Sure, Whitney. I’m sure that’s why.”
I ignored her, starting the car and heading for where I knew Julian would be, following our bond like a built-in GPS. We drove in silence, but the energy in the car was tense. We were both tired, hurt, and pissed off at Julian for running off like he had. Peter was dozing in the passenger seat, but I didn’t want to leave him without medical care for much longer. Julian better not be far.
But he was, and it took me almost an hour to get as close to where I sensed him. I parked the car and got out, opening the hatch in the back. “He’s not far.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Laura growled, stripping and shifting, shaking her head when she was done. I pulled my knives out and put them in my belt, strapping the gun on too, before closing the back up.
She followed me as I followed the bond, and we moved quickly through the trees until we reached another clearing. Julian was there, panting hard, his shirt hanging off of his body in tatters and his skin covered in sweat. At his feet were the two escaped demons, or at least what was left of them. The first had already exploded and nothing but a dark, greasy spot on the ground was left. The second was drawing its last breath, and from what I could see, Julian had made sure it was a slow, miserable death at that.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I demanded, walking toward him and resisting the urge to punch him in the face.
Julian glared at me, his chest still heaving from exertion. He was so fucking gorgeous that it hurt. “I got some good information.”
“So what? You know they’d be thrilled to kill you,” I shouted, getting right in his face. “You’re so fucking stubborn and selfish, you have no regard for anyone else around you!”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” he yelled back, his hands curling into fists. “I didn’t ask you to come help me, I didn’t ask you to follow me! I can handle my own damn fights.”
“You idiot!” I shoved him back a step. “You’re outnumbered two to one. Do you think those demons would have spared you, even if you did manage to kill both of them?”
Julian glared at me, breathing hard, and I knew he was struggling to hold onto his human form. If he shifted, I wouldn’t be able to make him hear reason. “I’m not your responsibility—"
I don’t know what came over me, whether it was the exhaustion, the adrenaline from the fight, the worry I’d felt searching for him, or the blinding relief that had swept over me when I saw him alive, but something drove me to throw myself at him. I grabbed the shreds of his shirt and pulled him to me, crushing my lips to his, a small sob escaping me as I finally got real confirmation he was alive—his breath mingling with mine, his heartbeat under my hands.
He made a surprised noise, but his arms were instantly around me, one hand sliding into my hair to angle my head so he could deepen the kiss. He kissed me hard, biting my lower lip before pulling away just enough to rest our foreheads together. “Fuck, Whitney.”
Before I could be even more ridiculous and kiss him again, someone yipped from behind us.
Oh, shit. I’d totally forgotten that Laura was with us.
I jumped away from Julian, who was reluctant to let me go. Laura, still in wolf form, barked at us both, amused and annoyed. She wanted to get going.
“You’re right,” Julian sighed, running a hand through his hair. “We need to get Peter to Saul, and we need to talk.”
I nodded. I didn’t have the energy to argue with him, and I definitely needed to sleep before we had the inevitable argument about what happened next. I turned and headed back toward the car, but Julian caught my hand. I looked back at him, my cheeks still flushed and my lips tingling from our kiss.
“I’m glad you came after me,” he said, squeezing my fingers.
I didn’t pull away immediately. “It wasn’t easy. Following the bond was like tracing a single strand of spider silk in the bright sun. It was there and then it wasn’t, over and over again.”
Julian paused, looking to make sure Laura was out of earshot before murmuring, “There’s a way to cement the bond and it makes it a lot more concrete. If you returned my mate bite, we’d be able to sense each other to the ends of the earth. But you won’t do it, so I won’t ask.
I knew what he was talking about, but hearing it put so bluntly made me annoyed. “I’ve told you a million times—"
“That you’re going back to the Silverfangs when this is over. Trust me, I know. Just…think about it. I won’t mention it again, but think about it.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss to my cheek, then turned to follow Laura to the car.
I stood there for a minute, my skin tingling where his lips had brushed over it, and my thoughts spinning. The more time I spent with him, the more I wanted to stay. But I couldn’t. If the demons disappeared off the face of the earth tomorrow, Julian would go back to being my enemy in a flash…wouldn’t he? And what he was asking for, giving him my mate bite, that was serious. It was a lifelong commitment. I’d be tied to him forever.
It was too much to think about right now’ so I shook my head and followed them. We had to get Peter home, and it was a long drive to the Red Canines.