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Time losesall meaning as I rest in my alpha’s embrace, but when his soothing rumble finally quiets, the light in my hospital room has softened to the golden-orange glow of sunset.
In the quietude that follows, my mind slowly returns to reality, but instead of anguish and sorrow, I feel relaxed. Like waking after a good night’s sleep.
He pecks the crown of my head and pulls back enough to let me peer up at him.
Green eyes meet mine, and my heart stutters in my chest at the expression in them. There is no judgement, no regret. Just tenderness—and an overwhelming warmth that heats me to the marrow of my bones. And finally,finally,it clicks.
Everything I’ve done, everything I am… the pain I’ve caused, the damage I’ve lived with for so many years… he can handle it. All of it. Because he is my Fated.
This man is my home.
Gently I raise a hand to skim my fingers over his jaw and up his cheekbone. His eyelids flutter closed at my touch, as if the simple grazing of our skin is an exquisite pleasure. Because it is. I feel the echo of it vibrate through our bond and sink deep into my heart.
“I think I love you,” I whisper, the words pulled from my lips before I even register their meaning. Horror follows on a rush of understanding. “Wait, no—”
Jacob opens his eyes to give me a patient look. “If you wish to take it back until the thought of saying it no longer scares you half to death, you can.”
“I—” I stare up at him, mouth half agape as the clenching fear in my gut tightens harder—because him saying that only makes the disconcerting warmth in my heart spread farther. He knows every one of my flaws and weaknesses, understands them in a way even I struggle to comprehend… and he still looks at me as if I’m worth all the horrors I’ve put him through.
My mate leans down to plant a chaste kiss on my forehead. “I’ve waited this long for you, Addie. I can wait a little longer.”
Addie.The softness of my nickname washes over me, and I close my eyes and lean into his chest. The rhythmic sound of his beating heart makes my own slow, until the fear releases its hold and I’m once again reminded of how strong that muscle was in my hands. How certain I was that I would make this man live.
We stay silent for a little while, until a nagging thought at the back of my mind wiggles its way to the forefront.
Hesitantly, I glance up at Jacob. “Um. Doyou…?Do you think you…? Not now, not yet, but one day…?”
He snorts, a humorless sound, but his eyes are soft when he says, “I think I’ve loved you from the moment I first laid eyes on you. It’s just that you made it awfully difficult to distinguish from hate, those first few years.”
The heat in my face is not from embarrassment, but from shame. “Jacob, I’m… I can never make this right.”
“You can,” he says, firmness in his voice. “You will. I’ll make sure of it.”
It should sound like a threat, but it doesn’t. “You promise?”
A smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. It makes him look young, human—and impossibly even more handsome. “I do.”
I breathe with the bloom of hope slowly unfurling in my chest. If anyone can make me find redemption… it’s him. My mate. My alpha.
“So what happens now?” I ask, glancing at the darkening sky through the window. From my bed, I can’t see the state of the city beyond. “Did we… win?”
“We did. The others are overseeing the changing of the guard—making sure no one swoops in with a rogue claim on the Oval Office before elections can be held. Apart from that, well, that’s not my job to worry about.”
I bite my lip and steel myself for the next question. “And my father? Is he…? Did he die during the takeover?”
“He was captured,” Jacob says, his voice gentle. “But I think it’s a matter of when, not if, he’ll be tried and executed.”
I nod and look down, doing my best to fight back the sting of tears. “It’s what he deserves. I just…”
“Love him.”
I grimace what’s supposed to be a smile. “Can’t help who we love. You of all people know that, eh?”
He doesn’t laugh at my attempt at a joke—just holds me tighter.
“It’ll kill my mom,” I whisper into his chest.
“I know.”
