“Let them try,” he growled. “Why the hell is it so important to them to stay a secret?”
“They have enemies. It’s the way they’ve protected themselves.”
“What of all the other half-breeds? Or mixed breeds?”
“There are no others. I’m it.” She reached for him, her cold palms pressing against his cheeks, her eyes sharp with pain. “I couldn’t bear it if anything were to happen to you. That’s why I tried to stay away from you, Zee. I was afraid you’d see what I am.”
His arms tightened around her. “What kind of power have you developed that worries you so much?”
She flinched and looked away. “I turned…to mist. When I got angry.” Her gaze turned back to his. “It almost happened again when we…when you…”
Suddenly he understood. “When I put my finger inside you?” He finally believed what she’d been telling him all along, that he hadn’t hurt her.
Her eyes darkened, desire suffusing her features. “Yes,” she said huskily. “If we’d continued, you’d have had a wraith in your arms. Or not in your arms. You wouldn’t have been able to touch me at all.”
He leaned down and kissed her, a gentle touch on the lips. “Don’t run from me again, Julianne. We’ll deal with this together. All of it.”
“She’s going to try to kill you. She’ll try to kill us both, now.”
His arms tightened around her. “Forewarned is forearmed.” But how in the hell did one fight an Ilina? He’d better figure out their weaknesses and their strengths, and do it soon. Without asking anyone else. The last thing he wanted to do was endanger the others. “Tell me everything, Sunshine. You said she wanted you to find something for her?”
Julianne sighed. “She says there’s a necklace in this house somewhere, a rare bloodred moonstone. She wants it.”
“Did she say why?”
“She needs it to heal her queen.”
His brows drew down. “I’ve seen it.”
Julianne started and stared at him in surprise. “Where?”
“I don’t remember, but I vaguely remember thinking it was an odd place to put a necklace. I wasn’t interested enough to ask anyone about it at the time. Let me think. It’ll come back to me.”
He hooked his arm behind her knees, then lifted her into his arms, cradling her against his heart. “You need sleep, Sunshine. We both do.”
Julianne clung to him and placed a sweet kiss on his cheek. “The last thing I ever wanted to do was put you in danger, Zee. You of all people.” A shudder went through her body as she pressed her forehead against his neck. “But I’ve needed you so badly. Thank you for not letting me push you away.”
His arms tightened around her with a fierceness that shook him to the depths of his being. She was his. His.
“You’re not getting rid of me, Julianne.” Ever. The pledge rang in his head, echoing in his heart. Ever.
His mind tried to balk. He wasn’t talking about forever. He didn’t do forever. No one in his right mind promised forever.
But his arms only tightened their grip. She’s mine.
With a sudden, startling clarity, he knew why he’d stayed away all these years. It was that very fear that she was his. That she was destined to be his mate. And he, hers.
He’d avoided the inevitable.
Goddess, what a fool he’d been. If she’d have him…if she’d have him…he was never letting her go again.
But right now, the only thing that mattered was keeping Julianne safe. He set her in the middle of the bed and climbed in after her, fully clothed. Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her forehead.
“Sleep, Sunshine. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. To either of us.”
She melted against him, her head on his shoulder. “Zee?” she asked sleepily.
“Hmm?”
“I love you.”
His chest tightened, his mind tumbling with joy, then pulling up abruptly as he remembered how she used to say those precious words to him every night when he tucked her in when she was a child, repeating a nighttime ritual she’d shared with the mother she’d lost.
“I love you, too, Julianne.” The same reply he’d given her every night all those years ago.
But the words rang in his heart, so much more than a simple ritualistic reply, or even the terms of deep affection they’d later become.
“I love you,” he whispered as she slept. And knew they’d come to mean the most profound feelings a man could have for a woman. For the woman he’d always been destined to mate. He’d known it. Even as he’d fought the knowledge, he’d known for years she was the one.