The Alpha’s Desire 4(20)

 

 

 

“You are a kind and wonderful soul, Christina. It has been an honor meeting you, and working with you. Your strength, the depth of the way you care: it will take you far. It makes you more than worthy of your gifts. Now, the sun is already coming up, so get some rest. Once you are up and showered tomorrow, we will take you to the airport. He will heal fully as he sleeps.”

 

 

 

I stood up then to hug her tightly. As filthy as we both were, I could tell she’d not care. Not that she would have cared anyway. With tears flowing again, I held on.

 

 

 

“It has been an honor to meet you, too. Even though you say I don’t have to, you will always have my thanks, my gratitude for giving me back the man I love, a man I never thought I’d have, but now that I do... to lose him would be unbearable.”

 

 

 

She squeezed me again once more before pushing me away, toward the bed, to Lex. I crawled in beside him as she went in her blur down the stairs. He barely stirred. I rested there, face to face with him, unable to let the sleep my body so craved come, for the video of the evening playing in my head, jumping back and forth from the battles to the plain scary waiting moments of unknowns. Moving up those terrifying stairs and not knowing what would come at us next even got to me, still. In my own way, I mourned the loss of all of them, from the wolves to the vampires. I hadn’t known them, but the loss hung in my heart, and made it skip beats when the emotions overwhelmed me.

 

 

 

“I can’t believe you are here with me, my love,” I whispered to Lex. “I feared I would never see you again, or that when I did, I would watch you die. You should have seen my magic tonight. It was as scary and unpredictable as it was amazing. You brought that out in me. You are the reason that I was able to use that energy; of course, they say you are the reason it resurfaced at all, but still, that is our connection. It was my love for you that let me use it to save us from the man in the black suit.”

 

 

 

As I fell asleep, I wondered where he was, and what his next move would be.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Thirteen

 

 

 

Waking with a start, I sat straight up, only to find myself alone in the bed. All that was left of Lex was blood and dirt stains. I closed my eyes, looking away from them, grimacing as I slid from the bed in search of him. Desperation shattered my sane thoughts, having been without him for what seemed like forever. I suddenly found it a challenge to breathe. Call me greedy, but I’d wanted to see him, first thing, when I opened my eyes, to tell myself it wasn’t all a dream. That I did have him back.

 

 

 

Rushing down the stairs with no effort toward grace, I hit the main floor but didn’t stick the landing. Scrambling to gain my footing again, I took off toward the sound of dishes clanging together, the only source of human noises in the place. Sliding on the overly polished floor as I turned the corner, I stopped short, having found Nira in the kitchen and brewing coffee. She smiled as I came to a halt in front of her, breathing hard, and I’m sure with my face white.

 

 

 

“He’s fine,” she said with a light laugh. “In the bathroom. He couldn’t wait for a shower, so I told him that if he went now, I would send you in as soon as you woke up. Go. Go.” Her hands shooed me away from her.

 

 

 

I caught her wink as I tuned to sprint for the bathroom. I wouldn’t let being shy stop me from getting to him as fast as I could. Not wanting to startle him, I did manage to slow down enough so as not to slam the door to the bathroom closed behind me. Making short work of navigating through the sitting area, or the dressing area of the bathroom, I came up short, seeing him in the shower, his body miraculously healed. He stood there under the dual streams of water in all of his masculine glory, the streams only serving to illuminate his body under the lights.

 

 

 

When he turned and saw me, his eyes lighting up, I crossed to the shower. Opening the door to where he was, I was mindless of my state of dress or anything else. I just stepped in, sock feet and all, onto the wet floor and right into the streams.

 

 

 

“Christina,” he sighed, and I stepped into his arms, fully clothed, right under the spray of the shower, my clothes soaking to me as I pressed against him.

 

 

 

I don’t know how long we remained in that embrace as I said his name over and over again, my tears mixing with the droplets of water hitting my face. When I did look up at him, he seemed rather mystified as he ran a finger down my cheek. His eyes glistened. His jaw held tight, and quivered a bit before a large, genuine smile broke out. Neither of us spoke. All I could hear was the rush of the water and the mix of our heavy breathing. He looked at me like he’d never seen me before, like he was committing every part of my face to memory or as if I was part of a dream. I felt the latter about him.