“An enemy.”
Thank you for making it that much harder, Your Majesty.
I had to say it. He put his cards on the table and he had a right to know what he was getting into. You can’t smelt happiness out of a lie. The world doesn’t work that way.
I unclenched my teeth. “I see my aunt.”
It took him a moment. Understanding flared in his gray eyes. Yep, he got it.
“She won’t stop until she or I are dead,” I said. “There is no place I can hide, and even if there was, I’m not running. You saw what she does. If I don’t fight, she’ll go after everyone I’ve ever known. She’s my family and my responsibility. It’s to the death now.”
My throat was so dry, my tongue turned into a dry leaf in my mouth.
“If I lose, I die. If I win, Roland will want to know who nuked his sister. Either way I’m screwed. There are consequences to being with me. This is one of them. By my presence, I’ll endanger you and your people. I know I said things before about wanting warmth and a family, but the truth is that I’m alone for a reason. Once we’re together, you and everyone you know will become a target.”
I couldn’t read his face. I wished I knew what he was thinking.
“I’ll never sit demurely by your side. I’ll tell you exactly what I think and you won’t always like it. I won’t be your princess all snug and safe in the tower you built. That’s just not me. And even if it was, no army in this world could make me safe. If I choose to have children, they may never be safe. That’s the kind of mate I’d make.”
He said nothing. I was rambling. This was important and I was mangling it all to hell.
My fingers had gone cold. All this hot water and I was freezing. My voice came out flat. “Being without you makes me very unhappy. I don’t have enough willpower to walk away. I’ve tried. So, if you want to break it off, I need you to use whatever it is that made you Beast Lord and leave. Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear, unless you really mean it. No hard feelings. Climb out of this tub, get Derek to find me a separate room, and I’ll never bring it up again.”
I looked at Curran. He still wore his Beast Lord face: flat and about as expressive as a stone statue. I was a hair from punching him in the jaw just to see some emotion. Any reaction would do at this point.
“Anything else?” he asked.
“No.”
Curran shrugged and pulled me back to him. “You don’t pick the family you’re born into. You pick the one you make. I already chose my mate and glued her ass to the chair to make sure she knew it.”
He didn’t care. The stupid, stupid idiot.
“This gluing thing won’t keep me put,” I said.
“Maybe I’ll chain you to it next time.”
“Is that werelion humor?”
“Something like that.”
I kissed him. He tasted like Curran and it made me absurdly happy. Everything took a step back: Erra, the dead, the guilt, the fear, the pain. I shoved it all aside. If one of us died tomorrow, at least we would have these few hours. We would make the best of them, and no force on earth, not even my bitch of an aunt, would interfere.
I brushed my hand through his blond hair. “You’re a fool, Your Furriness.”
Tiny gold sparks flared in his irises. “You’re in my rooms in my bathtub naked and you’re still mouthing off.”
Did he expect something different? “Hey, I didn’t kick you or punch you in the throat. I consider this progress. And you haven’t choked me again, which is some sort of record for you . . .”
He grabbed me with a growl. “That’s it. You’re in for it.”
“Very scary. I’m shaking in my—”
He locked his mouth on mine and I decided it was a good incentive to shut up.
CHAPTER 25
I AWOKE BECAUSE CURRAN SLIPPED OUT OF BED. HE did it in complete silence, like a ghost, which was impressive considering the bed was four feet tall.
He strode out of the bedroom. A door swung open with a soft whisper. A barely audible voice murmured something. I couldn’t make out the words but I recognized the rasp—Derek.
A moment later the door swung shut. Curran entered the bedroom and stopped when he saw me looking at him.
He looked . . . at home. His hair stuck out at a weird angle, probably dried odd, since we went from the tub straight to bed. His face was peaceful. I’ve never seen him so relaxed. It was as if someone had lifted a huge weight off those muscled shoulders.
And dumped all of it on me.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“A little past five.” He paused in midstride and leaped on the bed.
I rubbed my face. I dimly recalled getting out of the bathtub, wrapped in a criminally soft towel, and letting him convince me that we needed to lie down and rest for half an hour. We slept for a solid ten hours at least. “I meant to go and talk with the old woman and to call Andrea. Instead I passed out here with you.”
“It was worth it.”
It was totally worth it.
“No more tubs for me.” I jumped off the bed and pulled on a pair of Pack sweats. “They make me lose all sense.”
Curran sprawled on the bed with a big self-satisfied smile. “Want to know a secret?”
“Sure.”
“It’s not the bathtub, baby.”
Well, aren’t we smug. I picked up the corner of the lowest mattress and made a show of looking under it.
“What are you looking for?”
“A pea, Your Majesty.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
I jumped back as he lunged and his fingers missed me by an inch.
“Getting slow in your old age.”
“I thought you liked slow.”
A flashback to last night mugged me and my mind executed a full stop.
He laughed. “Ran out of snappy comebacks?”
“Hush. I’m trying to think of one.”
As long as we kept sparring, I could pretend that surviving today would be a breeze.
Curran slid off the bed, presenting me with a view of the world’s best chest up close. “While you’re thinking, Raphael and Andrea are waiting for us downstairs. Nash doesn’t matter, but if I keep the scion of Clan Bouda waiting for too long, I’ll have to smooth his feathers, and I don’t feel like it.”
“Feathers?”
“Yes.” Curran snagged a white T-shirt from the drawer. “B’s precious peacock. Strutting around and making sure all the ladies faint in his wake.”
I arched my eyebrow at him.
“He’s not a bad guy.” Curran shrugged. “Spoiled, arrogant. Good in a fight, but thinks with his dick. When things don’t go his way, he throws a tantrum. Andrea is perfect for him—unlike his mother, she doesn’t buy any of his bullshit.”
“So if I invite him over for tea and cookies . . . ?”
“As long as it’s in public, it wouldn’t be an issue. Just don’t expect me to show up. I’ll be indisposed. If you invite him into our rooms, I’ll rip his head off.”
“Is it because you’re jealous or because it would be a breach of Pack protocol?”
“Both.” The muscles along Curran’s jaw tightened. “He handed you a fan so you could fan yourself while watching him. If he steps a hair out of line, he won’t live to regret it and he knows it.”
I slid Slayer’s leather sheath on my back. “Now is probably a good time to mention that I made a deal with his mother.”
Curran stopped. “What sort of deal and when?”
I sketched it out for him while putting on my boots.
Curran grimaced. “Typical. She picked a moment when you were at your weakest.”
I shrugged. “It’s a good deal for me.”
“It is. But then she tried to feed you. That’s my privilege.” Curran held the door open. “B will always push you to see how far she can make you bend. I won’t interfere with the way you handle her, but if it was me, I’d call her to a meeting once this is over. Somewhere public where the two of you would be on display. Make her wait. Half an hour ought to do it.”
“Are you actually holding the door for me?”
“Get used to it,” he growled.
I bit my lip so I wouldn’t laugh, stepped through the door, and Mr. Romance and I went down the stairs to the conference room.