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Chapter 22

Chapter

Twenty-Two

ORION

W e made it back to Corland in the dead of night, parting with Aisling and the Betas at the edge of town. Zane was back behind the wheel, and as we approached the street he lived on, he came to a stop, looking at me with something like trepidation in his eyes.

"I don't think I'm ready to sleep without you," he confessed. "And I don't think I'm ready to go home knowing Danyal's…"

He trailed off, and I reached for him, pulling his forehead against my own. "Let's go to my place. We can stop by yours in the morning so you can grab something to wear and see how you feel after we've gotten some rest."

"Thank you," he murmured, and I touched his cheek before pulling him into a kiss.

"Please don't thank me for doing the bare minimum for you," I told him.

He looked like he wanted to argue when he pulled back, but he remained silent as he turned back to the wheel and started up the street to my little condo. It was smaller than his, a collection of converted apartments where most of the single Wolves had been living. I hadn't wanted much, and the place was furnished very barrack-style with the bare minimum to get me through.

Still, when I stepped through the door and smelled home, I felt a sudden urge to cry. I had gone after Zane with the belief that I wouldn't come back without him, but a still, quiet voice had said I probably wasn't coming back at all. That belief nipped at my heels from the moment I hit the road, and it almost felt like a fantasy when I turned and saw him hovering just inside the door.

"Do you want something to eat?" I asked him. The shit in my fridge was probably bad, but I had enough in the cupboard to whip something up. The idea of cooking right then made me want to weep, but I was willing to do anything for him.

Luckily, he shook his head and closed the distance between us, wrapping his arms around my waist and holding me to his body like he was afraid of letting go. "I just want to sleep."

I nodded, turning my face up to kiss him, then I led the way into the bedroom. We stripped methodically down to almost nothing—socks and boxers—comfortable in the chilly air. I pulled back the sheets and blanket, then took the spot by the wall as he curled into me and locked my legs with his powerful calf.

"I need you to know something," he said as exhaustion finally started to creep over my bones.

"Okay."

He brushed fingers into my hair. "I'm not willing to wait until I'm better to bond with you." I opened my eyes, and he pressed his finger to my lips. "I don't think I'm going to heal completely, but I know that I'm in love with you, and that's not going to change. No matter how much I do or don't recover."

"Zane," I breathed quietly against his skin, and he rubbed the pad of his finger along my lips before replacing it with his mouth.

I kissed him long, slow, deep. A kiss that might have led somewhere if we weren't exhausted down to our very core. He pulled away with a series of pecks over my cheeks, down my throat, over the spot he would bite if I let him.

And I wasn't fooling myself anymore. I was going to let him.

"I don't mean tonight," he said, grazing me with blunt teeth. "We have so much to take care of when the sun's up. But I don't want to wait much longer than that."

I dragged my hands up and down his back, then urged his chin up so I could kiss him one last time. "Yes."

His eyes glowed fierce in the dark. Bioluminescent.

"Yes?"

I kissed him a second time. "Yes."

We fell right to sleep and woke tangled in each other like we had been sleeping that way for years. Zane's chest was rising and falling, lost to the world, and I carefully extracted myself from his grasp and moved into the bathroom to wash up and relieve myself.

It still felt strange to be home, almost like I was walking in a dream. But reality was setting in when I realized what we had to do. Zane would need to meet with the Council—two of the five now missing—either in hiding or on a mission—and I needed to figure out where my place was.

And, I thought as I looked in the mirror and saw a flicker of orange near my pupils, I'd need to visit the hospital and see any of the doctors who had been working with Danyal on the serum. I was mostly myself, but Kor was right—my scent was different, and there was a lot of me that had been…altered. There was every chance it would wear off after a few more weeks, but if not, I wanted to be prepared.

I peered back into the bedroom and saw Zane hadn't moved, so I headed for the kitchen and found a canister of coffee still in my freezer and some unopened bacon that wasn't out of date. I had enough eggs that I could whip us up a quick breakfast, and then I had to put shopping on the agenda.

As I started the coffee maker, I felt a sudden pang of loss when I looked up and didn't see the quiet forest through the window. Here in these walls, I could feel all the Wolves—our power moving together into something that might eventually become like pack. But it was lined with apprehension and fear, because something big was on the horizon, and we were all tired of fighting.

The humans had effective weapons against us now, and worst of all, they had the support of Wolves in power, which meant none of us were safe. It meant we had to walk around not knowing if, at any given moment, someone we had come to trust would betray us.

As the smell of coffee began to fill the kitchen, I heard the thumping of Zane's heartbeat increase as he started to wake. From the kitchen, I could hear him shuffling in the sheets, and it wasn't long before he padded into the room looking sleep-rumpled and delicious.

He didn't say anything, his eyes barely open, but he crowded me against the counter and pushed his face into my neck. I had a single moment of desperate wishing that it could be like this forever—that I had paid my dues and was allowed to just have this—and then I turned my head and smudged a kiss against his temple.

"Did you get enough sleep?"

"Mmfph," he muttered against my skin. He mouthed at my pulse, then laid his cheek against my shoulder as we listened to the coffee percolate. "You?"

"Solid as the dead," I told him.

"I got up a couple times—bad dreams," he said in his still sleep-thick voice. "But it was easier with you there."

"Sorry I didn't get up." I dragged my fingers through his hair, then he pulled back and looked at me, more awareness in his eyes.

"Don't be. I went to sleep easier knowing you were resting." He touched the side of my face, then let out a jaw-cracking yawn and stepped around me to rummage through the cupboards.

After a beat of him finding nothing, I laughed and turned to the one behind me, pulling out two mugs. "There will be time for you to get to know the place," I said. "Unless you want to move somewhere bigger, since this is pretty much a closet."

I couldn't read his expression as he stared at me, and he said nothing when he turned away and filled up his mug. I handed him mine, and he poured coffee in right to the brim—exactly the way I liked it, and I couldn't hide my smile as I gulped the first searing mouthful.

"I want to live with you," he said as he walked to the fridge and pulled out the milk. He gave it a sniff, then grimaced and set it back, reaching for the sugar on the counter instead. "But uh…"

"You want to wait until Danyal gets back," I finished for him. He looked at me out of the side of his eye, and I snorted a laugh. "You don't even have to say it. I assumed you would."

"I just…can't imagine what shit he's going through, and I don't want him alone when it's over."

I closed the distance between us and laid my hand on his hip, leaning into his space. "Zane, I wouldn't let him suffer like that, okay? If we need some big-ass compound for us, and Talia and Cameron and the munchkin, and Danyal, we can do that. There's room to do that."

His eyes glowed a little brighter. "How the fuck are you real?"

"I could ask you the same thing." I drank another long gulp, then set my mug down and let him kiss me again. "And as much as I want to encourage all this," I reached down and groped his half-hard cock for emphasis, "we have places to be."

He groaned, thrusting against my hand, but he nodded his head. "I know. Talia has been bombarding the bond all fucking morning, so we should stop off there first. Then I gotta get to Council."

"And I'm stopping by the hospital," I told him. When his eyes widened, I waved him off. "Nothing's wrong, but I still got some of that Omega shit in me, and I need to find out if it's going away."

"Do you want it to go away?" he asked.

I was surprised by the question, but even more surprised by my answer. "I don't know. I don't…hate it. I don't feel weak or not myself, so…" I trailed off with a shrug, and he looked at me again for a long time. "Do you hate it?"

"You could have nine arms, Orion, and I wouldn't hate it."

I almost choked on my tongue as he gripped the back of my neck and tilted my head to the side with his thumb. I let him nose along my shoulder, licking the spot he'd mark, and he let out a groan before ripping himself away.

"Come on, before you start something you know you can't stop."

We showered quickly, then he threw on his old sweats, and I hopped behind the wheel, heading over to his place. The streets were a little busier than usual, people coming and going, and I wondered if that was a good or a bad sign. Were they fleeing? Or just making plans for what was coming up?

We'd been cut off from the events in Corland for long enough, it felt alien, and I hated it.

"You know what they did with my Jeep?" he asked when I pulled into his empty driveway.

I shook my head. "When we went out there, it was abandoned on the side of the road, and I didn't even think about having it towed back. Kor probably took care of it, but…"

But he was gone.

Zane let out a quiet sigh and opened the door. "Yeah. I'm gonna have to break in too. God only knows what those sadistic fucks did with my things."

I hadn't even thought about the fact that Zane had been grabbed with his house keys and phone. I felt a ripple of fear creep up my back, and I grabbed him before he got to the door. "Maybe we should get someone to inspect the place before you go in."

He stared at me with a frown. "You don't think…"

"I don't know what to think, but I do know he had a couple of Wolves with him when he grabbed you. Kor was able to scent them. And I know they were able to cross the city line without anyone being aware of it. Our security right now is pretty shit, and I don't want to take the risk of them setting a trap."

His jaw tensed. "I just can't imagine them sticking around for something like that. And if they did, anything they could possibly set up here, the two of us can handle."

I didn't like it, but I had to trust him. Things had gone well so far anyway, so he was probably right. Danyal had been staying in the house for a while after Zane had been taken, and he was fine. Or at least, he was fine until he decided to try and enact a rescue plan all on his own.

With a breath, I gestured for him to go ahead, and he nodded. Making a fist, he punched through the small, decorative glass window in the door, then reached his hand through. He scrunched up his face as he searched, and then I heard the lock turn.

We both waited, holding our breath, and when nothing happened, he relaxed. His hand closed around the knob, and he looked back at me as he opened it.

The gods only knew what I might have said in the moment. Some sarcastic thing to make him laugh, because making him laugh made me feel strong and wanted. But I didn't get the chance. There was just enough time for us to hear the boom, and then to feel the heat, and before the pain really set in, everything around me went black.

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