Chapter Nine
As Beth dematerialized away from Shuli’s, she had no conscious idea of where she was going, but some inner compass piloted her in the direction of the suite of rooms she’d been living in for so long.
Soon enough, she was walking along the curving tunnel of the Wheel’s outer passageway, and not tracking much.
The conversation with L.W. was a drain hole for every emotion and thought in her, to the point where she couldn’t even begin to process whatever Wrath was doing or where he was.
The act of ambulation did seem to be pulling her together a little, and she decided maybe she was just going to keep going, around and around, until either her heels got blisters or the soles of her shoes wore out—
The scent of something burning stopped her in front of a doorway.
Her doorway.
“Shit,” she said as she shoved her hand into her hip pocket.
She must have left the stove on or something.
Jabbing her key into the copper lock, she cranked the dead bolt free and shoved the door open. The nasty stench rushed out at her, and as she sneezed from the sting, she wondered how the night could get worse.
Burning the residence down was setting a high bar—
She skidded to a halt. “What the…”
As George hopped up off the floor and came forward with his tail wagging and his loose jowls peeled off his front teeth in a smile, she tried to understand why Wrath was standing in front of the stove with the iron skillet she’d used for his bacon and eggs.
He still had his full set of leathers on, even the jacket, and with his shitkickers and those wraparounds, he looked like the Terminator trying trad-wife on for size.
“Sorry about the smoke.” He pointed up at the vent fan. “I forgot to put this on before I started cleaning it.”
“You’re cleaning…”
Goals: Finish a sentence.
“Yeah, this is the way I learned. No soap or water, you just wipe it out with some salt and give it some heat.”
“Oh.” She looked around. “I…”
New goals: Work harder toward goals.
Wrath cranked the flame off. Killed the exhaust fan. Turned away with the pan and took three deliberate strides straight ahead. With his free hand, he patted at the counter and found the butcher block.
“Not that you were doing it wrong, mind you,” he said. “I mean, it’s whatever—”
“Wrath.”
He glanced over his shoulder as if he could see her, one black eyebrow lifting free of the wraparounds. “Hmm?”
It was hard to switch gears away from their son. But that got easier as she remembered what had happened before she got to Shuli’s. “Your Brothers are looking for you—”
“Hey, you want me to make you First Meal?”
“No. I don’t.” She rubbed her aching goddamn head. “I want you to stop fucking around and tell me what the hell is going on.”
“Okay.” As he turned to face her, he shrugged. “I want to make you food. That’s what’s going on. And we’re not that far out of First Meal timing, so I was going to go with pancakes and eggs.”
It was a struggle to keep her voice level. Then again, like father, like son, right? She wanted to boot both of them in the tail.
“Rhage asked me to find you,” she said through a locked jaw. “And I showed up at what turned out to be Shuli’s just after you told our son you’re stepping down from the throne.”
“Hmm.” There was a nod. “Yeah, that covers it. Now, about food—”
“Wrath.”
Crossing his arms over his huge chest, he shrugged. “I’m stepping down. Our son is old enough to take over. I’ll help him if he’ll let me, and that’s what’s going on.”
Cue the mushroom cloud over her head.
“I can’t believe you!” she yelled. “Fighting is that important? You’re not only willing to sacrifice our mating, but the entire species?”
Wrath recoiled like she’d slapped him. Then he seemed totally confused. “It’s not about going out into the field—you think that’s why? Fuck, that’s not it at all.”
“Why the hell else would you do such a thing? If you’re not on the throne anymore, you’re free to do what you want now. Which is be out in the field.”
Wrath stepped toward her, and when he went to take her hands, she let him. Why? Who the hell knew. Probably because in spite of her anger, she was stupid and heartbroken. And fucking exhausted.
“I’m not living a life where you won’t answer my phone calls.”
Beth shook herself to attention. “What…?”
He drew her over to the little table and sat them both down. After that, he just rubbed his thumb over the life line on her right palm.
“You are the most important thing in my life.” His voice was quiet, but intense.
“I have nothing if I don’t have you. You’re right, I wasn’t going to say anything to you about going to Whestmorel’s.
It’s because I didn’t want you to worry, and I was confident based on V’s monitoring of the place that it had been abandoned.
I also knew that the Brotherhood was with me—all of them.
The Band of Bastards was on the periphery, too.
I was totally protected, and something was telling me, I just had to go there. ”
He took his wraparounds off, and his pale green eyes with their tiny, pinpoint pupils stared forward in her general direction.
“Honest to God, I lied because I wanted to spare you. After all the time you’ve spent alone, and everything you’ve handled so well, and with such strength—the throne, our son, the brothers—I really…
I didn’t want to add shit. Not when I’d only just come back.
And I realized tonight that as long as I’m King, I’m not free, not really, to be everything you need and deserve from a mate—and nothing and no one is ever going to come between us. So fuck the throne.”
Things got wavy as her eyes flooded with tears. “You can’t be serious.”
“I just hope it’s not too late.”
“Wrath, I can’t let you do this—”
“The throne is nothing compared to you.” His hand shifted, traveling up her arm to her shoulder…and then continuing higher to stroke her hair. “You are everything to me. You’re my life, my love, my bedrock, my true north. And I will not live without you for as long as you’ll have me.”
As he fell silent, she wanted to say something coherent, but her heart was skipping beats, and her thoughts were spinning out of control.
“How can you leave your legacy?” she ended up sputtering.
He took her hand and brought it to the center of his chest. “Bonded male, remember?”
His eyes were so steady, and not just because he didn’t use them to see. If ninety percent of communication was non-verbal, then everything about him was projecting commitment and love. No asterisks. No qualifiers. No hesitation or wobble.
Beth touched his face, tracing the high cheekbones, the rigid jaw, the cut of his chin, the arch of his arrogant brows.
“Hi,” she whispered.
“Hi.” He tilted his head and smiled a little. “Am I back for you now? Because if I am, this is where I’m staying.”
With a choking noise, she leaned in and put her lips to his. “I love you,” she croaked. “I love you so much.”
Wrath’s massive arms wrapped around her and pulled her in, angling her so he could properly fuse their mouths. His kiss was slow and sensual, a vow and a promise, and when he pulled back, she stared up into his eyes—and it really was as if he could see.
“Sorry isn’t enough,” he said. “Not for a female like you. But I’m going to make it up to you. If you’ll let me.”
“Oh, God, of course. Yes…”
He started kissing her again, and she knew there was a whole lot more to talk about. This was a very bad idea for the species, and BTW, their son was seriously spiraling. But she needed strength right now…and their love gave that to her.
Her hellren was also one helluva kisser.
Wrath gathered his shellan up in his arms and carried her out of the kitchen. Before he hit the hall, he glanced over his shoulder in the direction of his dog.
“You stay-stay, George. We’ll be right back.”
There was a snuffling and then a long sigh, which was how the golden stretched out and committed to a big nap.
And what do you know. Now, Wrath knew the precise layout of the suite of rooms’ spaces.
He piloted his strides perfectly down the hallway to the last door, and then he was back in the bedroom.
No shin strikes now. No confusion about where the bed was.
No hesitation. And yeah, he sure as shit could have used all this coordination before, but now was when it counted most.
He laid his female out on the bed. “Leelan…”
As he inhaled her scent, the perfume of her arousal went through him like a lightning strike, but he couldn’t ignore what was underneath her need: Her stress, her fear, her unhappiness, all registered in his nose, a piercing, acrid sting that was only temporarily in the background.
All that shit would be waiting for them after the pleasure.
So, he was going to make this count.
He found her mouth with an ease that reminded him of when he’d had his sight. And then he was kissing her deep and long, taking his time as his hands went down his mate’s body, skating over her ribs, finding the indent of her waist, landing on her hip.
That wasn’t where he was going to stay.
Traveling over the top of her jeans, he released the waistband’s button, went to work on the zipper, and then he was inside, feeling the soft skin above her panties.
He smiled against her mouth. Plain and cotton was the way his shellan rolled, and that was more than fine with him.
All he ever did was take the damn things off of her, anyway.
Rising up onto his knees, he drew those jeans down nice and slow, leaving the panties in place.
It was a good plan—until there was a log jam at her calves because her shoes were still on.
Good thing the treaded shoes slipped off easy enough, and the socks were also a quick peel.
After that, he ran his hands up the smooth contours of her legs, once again taking his time, even though his cock was pounding at the buttons of his leathers.