But Jude and Zane had been right. Retreat was the only option. They’d been too weak for anything else.
“Why do I feel so good?”
She glanced over her shoulder and saw him staring down at his unmarred chest. No wounds. The horrible gashes were gone now. Grabbing her shirt, she told him quietly, “Shifter blood.” Plus a helping of demon blood.
But it was the shifter blood given freely by Erin and Jude that had really healed them. There was power in a shifter’s blood. Shifters were beings that some believed carried two spirits and with two spirits, the strength influx was double.
Without that shifter blood, they’d both still be unconscious, their bodies struggling to heal from their wounds.
“It was a fucking ambush, wasn’t it?”
Dee found a pair of panties and shimmied into them before yanking up her—
“I love your ass.”
She glanced back at him. Yep, his gaze was on her butt. She hiked up the jeans.
His gaze rose to her face. “Your Night Watch hunters got us out?”
“Yes.”
“I figured the demon would be coming. I knew he’d get you out of that metal hell. Just had to make sure you survived long enough.”
The rage stirred then, and she’d tried so hard to keep the fury in check. “It didn’t matter how long you survived, huh?”
He blinked.
“You left me in that trap, alone, and I could hear you dying—” Her voice broke at the end. Weak. Hell.
A muscle flexed in his jaw. “And before I forced you to drink, I saw you dying. My choice, Dee. Mine. You can bet that I’ll do anything to save you. Anything.”
The emotion was there, swimming in his eyes.
She wanted him again. Wanted his arms around her and his flesh against hers. Clearing her throat, she managed to say, “When this is over…”
“I’ll fucking love you forever.” Bald. Flat. No hesitancy. Just stating a fact.
Her lips parted.
“Remember that, okay? When the shit comes down on us again, or when you learn that my past isn’t nearly as pretty as it should be, just remember. You come first for me, and you always will.” A hard shake of his head. “It just took me a while to realize it. What can I say? Sometimes, my priorities are shit.”
I’ll fucking love you forever.
No one had ever said that to her before. No one and she—
She didn’t know how she felt. There was no ready response on her tongue. She could only stare at him and realize that the curve of his lips looked sad.
Because he understood. He knew her better than any of the others ever had.
A rap sounded at their door. “Playtime’s over,” Zane called out.
But Simon’s stare didn’t waver.
She should say something. Anything. Her hands shook as she pressed the snap of her jeans. Her sex—inside, she could still feel him. “The plan…” she cleared her throat and tried again. “The plan’s to attack tonight. We go in under the darkness and we hit them fast and hard. They—they won’t expect us.” Thanks to Erin and some magic strings she’d pulled, the story of their “death” had made the local headlines. “If luck’s on our side, they won’t even know we’re attacking until it’s too late.”
“Grim will know.” Certain.
Her jaw locked. “And he’ll die.” Because this madness was ending. Revenge—hell, why did it seem so empty now? Why, when she looked at Simon, did she just want to run to him and—
To run away with him.
No. Grim wouldn’t stop if they fled. If he found out they were alive, he wouldn’t stop until they were dust.
She couldn’t walk away with a monster like him out there. Because there would be other families. Like hers. Like Nina’s.
Nina.
Was she still alive? Where was she? Dee had thought of her when the pain eased and the bloodlust lessened. Zane had gone out scouting, but he’d found no sign of the woman.
Maybe she hadn’t gone after Grim. Maybe she’d just run.
Couldn’t blame her. Not a bit.
A harder knock shook the door. “If we’re taking Grim out, we need to move.”
Yet Simon stood, as still as a statue before her.
Because he was waiting on her to say something.
I’ll fucking love you forever.
But she didn’t know what to say. Her throat was tight. Her heart nearly ripping through her chest.
And she was afraid.
When she loved, people got hurt.
So Dee swallowed back the words that wanted to rise up and she held his stare, so scared of what he made her feel.
Simon finally turned away, and grabbed the clothes she’d lain out for him.
Her shoulders fell. Emotion. She’d never been good with feelings. Never understood them, not the good ones, anyway.