28. Daphne Graveyard #2
“No. Daph, she did that to herself,” Thay breathed, holding me at his center. “But there is no end to what we would do to keep you safe, Daphne. And that truth is one you have to learn to swallow.”
I stilled, closing my eyes to shut off the pain.
“Also, as far as the club is concerned, Lyla wasn’t a traitor. Karsten’s men took her out on a revenge hit. Is that clear?” Wolfe asked, searching my face to see if it dimmed. “They can’t know the truth. Everyone’s life in this room depends on it.”
Because if they did, they would know that Wolfe chose a betrayer for a queen, which was reason enough to call for mutiny.
In a slow, compliant gasp, I nodded.
“Good,” Wolfe cleared his throat.
Never in my existence did I imagine a time when he would have to use that voice on me, and here I was, peering up at him, naked, Thay’s, but also his.
I took a breath when Thay removed his hand, the edge of his smile twitching against mine, waiting to see if this broke me. Because of course it fucking did. I didn’t want to be the reason Lyla was dead, or anyone else, for that matter.
“I didn’t want her to die,” I admitted, feeling small in a world full of monsters.
“People do that all the time down here, love. The trick is to find something worth dying for,” Wolfe smiled, lifting my chin.
“Like you,” Thay kissed me on the cheek.
I nuzzled into Thay, kissing around his lips in a shaky embrace, and part of me still couldn’t believe I was allowed to do this.
“Am I still in danger?” I asked, turning my head to Wolfe.
“Always,” he tossed a playful brow at me. “But we’ve kept you alive this far.”
“Is that why you put me on the plane?” I growled, nudging Thay in the chest.
“Yes,” he confirmed, his left hand moving high up my thigh. “I mean Wolfe drove me to the airport, but I was the one who had to let you go.”
“To keep me safe?”
“That and because I fucking love you,” he made clear. “I wish all this for you, Daphne. I just don’t know how to give it to you and be the one you kiss.”
I knew what he meant. It was a choice. You can’t hold on to something that you’re always letting go of.
“Yeah, well, I choose you,” I spoke quietly to his mouth, and he rolled his eyes.
“You’re insufferable, Daph. Did you know that?”
I pouted, and he bit my lower lip.
“Meet me in the shower after you say goodbye to Wolfe,” he dipped his head low before pulling himself out of me, making the room shiver. “Let me know how it goes,” Thay turned his attention to Wolfe, his bare, hard body sneering when he disappeared behind the bathroom door.
Wolfe shifted, and suddenly, I felt very naked.
He had seen me crying. Watched me claw at Thay’s soul for more… Heard the difference in how I broke for the other half of me, and yet he didn’t move to make sense of it. He only stared at me the way he always did, like I was the only one worth looking at.
“I am sorry about Lyla,” I mumbled, bringing my knees to my chest. “I didn’t mean to cause all this shit.”
“I’m not,” he lifted my chin to meet his eyes. “And you caused nothing. This is the effect of being in our world. I wish there were words to make that fact cleaner for you, but there aren’t.”
“I know. It’s just…”
“Real now?”
I took a breath and nodded.
“Are you in pain?” His attention dropped to the inky letters of Thay’s last name before rifling around to find the ointment and a clear sheet to protect it. There was something soft in the way he thumbed over the burn and set it to rights. Something so entirely Wolfe.
“I don’t know. This all feels like a lot!” I smiled, taking a breath.
“It is. Falling from heaven. Fucking your soulmate. Entering a relationship with two men and blowing up your chances at a normal life is objectively overwhelming, Daphne. But this is what you want, right?”
A double-edged question that felt like a grenade.
What I wanted was them. There was a difference, even if they would argue otherwise.
I eyed him suspiciously, and he smiled.
“You always know,” he confirmed, cocking his head to view his first aid skills.
I knew he brought Thay here to ensure his perfect world remained in working order.
That, without him, his cold math ran too warm.
And there was nothing that Wolfe despised more than uncontrolled chaos.
That is why he didn’t push back when Thay told him to watch, content to remain in the shadows until all the pieces he was playing fell exactly into place.
It was something I loved about him; he was a blue sky in a world full of explosions.
But these were my explosions now.
And if he wanted to leave his mark, Silas was going to have to give me a little more than a high fucking five, or a band-aid for that matter.
“Did you bring Thay here for you or for me?” I asked, feeling my stomach turn when Wolfe leaned forward to kiss my kneecap. “Don’t lie to me.”
“I brought him here for both of us,” Wolfe took a breath. “And for the record, I’ve never fucking lied to you.”
“Yes, you did. You didn’t tell me about Lyla.”
“You didn’t fucking ask!”
I shoved him in the chest, but he caught my hand.
“That technicality bullshit will never save you with me!”
“Yeah, well, that technicality bullshit is the fucking air people breathe in our world, Daphne. Need to know is truly just that. Plus, I was going to tell you, show you the contract, make you understand, but then all hell broke loose. Which is what hell seems to do whenever you’re around.”
I glared, shifting my attention to the wall.
“I found Thay drowning in a pool of your old clothes, screaming with a pistol against his belly.”
Fire hit my insides, and suddenly I couldn’t breathe.
“And the funny thing was, that is how I felt, too…” Wolfe blinked. “And for a split second, I wished I could die with him. Or be that fucking dramatic. Feel all this shit out loud. But I don’t work that way. And you know it.”
My hand swept over his in a slow glide.
“Look, Daph,” Wolfe leaned close. “I put the club first. That’s my job, and men’s lives depend on it, so if Threx requires you to tame his beast, or Thayor needs you to regulate his heart? I bring him to Maine. Because he keeps us safe.”
My eyes shifted to the bathroom door.
“But if the world is a fuckless, colorless piece of shit without you! Then I come to fucking Maine, too… Because my monster is the cage your monster plays in. And without you, I am hollow.”
There he was. Brighter than the coastal blue sky and twice as deadly as the storm behind it. I was worried for a moment that he had disappeared behind all of this.
“Thank you,” I leaned forward, pulling his mouth to mine. So familiar. So safe. He wasn’t my stars, but Wolfe was my choice.
“You’re welcome. I’ll give Threx a little breathing room before I put my mark on your skin,” he half-smiled. “And next time, Daphne,” his finger brushed over my lips. “I won’t be watching.”
Then, with a kiss to the cheek, he bounced off the bed and shuffled to Thay’s pants lying dead on the floor. I watched curiously as he pulled them on, then reached for his shirt.
What in the hell?
“You’ll need to stay here until the coast is clear,” he snickered to himself. “Literally.”
“For how long?” I rose to my feet, marveling at how weak they felt when I tried to step forward.
“As long as it takes. Another week at least.”
“No fucking way,” I grumbled when he fell into me, taking me by the hips. “It doesn’t work when we are apart.”
“I should fuck you before I leave!” He nipped at my neck before peeling back with a wicked smirk. “But if I miss my plane, we’re all dead.”
“You know those are Thay’s, right?” I pointed to the oversized pair of jeans barely holding him in and the stretched-out shirt that hung loose at the collar.
“Aw,” he kissed the scrunch in my nose before leading me to the bathroom. “Speaking of Threx, tell him I said goodbye. And that Jessie will pick him up in Seattle.”
“Wolfe?” I made a face when he shoved me into the steam, screeching when Thay’s hands wrapped around my waist. Wolfe was up to something. I could smell it.
“Love you, Daph,” Wolfe punctuated with a grin before the door slammed shut.
Loved me?
Why did I have the feeling he was about to show me how much?