“I need you,” I whispered when he closed the bedroom door and turned to me. “Just hold me.”
When his warm nakedness curled around me, I snuggled in close and enjoyed the scent of Shaz and his intoxicating wolf. It was a comfort all its own.
“Never leave me.” I heard my own sleepy voice murmur the words against his ear with candid and vulnerable but honest emotion.
“Never.” His embrace tightened just enough to be possessive, and my wolf relaxed, satisfied.
I was right where I wanted to be. The world could have stopped right then, and I would have died happy.
Chapter Twenty-One
I never did find Zoey’s body. Oh, I tried. The trail ended two blocks from Raoul’s house, at the creek. Despite a vampire attack and one hell of a beating, she’d survived. I knew it.
Since that night at Raoul’s, I’ve picked up her scent more than once in the forest where we run. It’s always days old and never too strong, as if she’d been there only briefly.
Was it a taunt? An open challenge to destroy her? Or was it a desperate plea for help?
I don’t care. The need for her death is deep in me. Only the challenge in Raoul’s eyes as he lay dying stops me, though I don’t know why. I wonder all the time why he chose to give his life to her. The real estate career, fancy house and flocks of women that had ruled his existence had meant nothing in comparison to what Zoey believed.
He’d wanted her to believe in his love, and he felt the only way to show her was to give her vengeance. At the end of the day, my feelings didn’t really matter. He simply waited too long to reach out to her. But, I know all too well that the reasoning behind some of our decisions doesn’t stand to reason at all.
I was back on my feet within the three days that Fox had estimated. An ugly scar marked where the largest shard had impaled me. That, too, would eventually fade to nothing.
Over a week after Raoul’s death, Arys shared with me what he’d found. He had called for me, adamant that I come to see him at his house.
Instinct told me, without a doubt, that it was bad news. He made me promise to run first to “get the wolf out” before arriving at his place after midnight, alone. I was filled with dread, shaking all the way down to my little black sandals when I rang Arys’s doorbell.
His solemn expression did nothing to ease my anxiety. He drew me into the well-lit kitchen, took my light jacket, and offered me a hot chocolate. I couldn’t stand this beating around the bush.
“Alright, spit it out.” I tossed my hair out of my face and took a deep breath. “Whatever it is that you have to say to me, get on with it. The suspense is driving me mad.”
He wouldn’t meet my eyes, and I followed his gaze to the white envelope lying on the round, wooden kitchen table.
He picked up the envelope and fingered it lightly. “I found this in Raoul’s study, taped to the bottom of a desk drawer. I was combing the place for anything unusual that the cops would be better off not finding.”
He paused, and I knew that he’d already read it. “It wasn’t sealed or addressed to anyone from the outside so I opened it. I have to warn you, Alexa, what you read here will change you forever.”
My mouth went dry, and I stared blankly at the stark white envelope in his hand. “Why bring me here? Why not give it to me when you came to see me?”
“I wanted to be sure you were back on your feet. This just seemed safer.”
“Why?” My heart was racing, and I was truly afraid.
“Read it. Unless you don’t want to.”
Of course, I had to. Raoul had left something for me, something, perhaps, that he’d wanted to say to me. I stared at the letter warily but accepted it from Arys’s outstretched hand.
My hands shook, and I fumbled to slip the lined paper from the envelope. As I unfolded it, a battle waged between my head and my heart. To open or not to open.
The letter was recent, dated the same day as our last real discussion. As I began to read, everything in me gradually came undone.
Alexa,
A part of me prays that you never learn of this while I live, but I fear my time will be cut short, and I cannot go to my grave with this haunting me.
I have always loved you and regard you with more respect than you will ever believe. I know that you feel little for me, and for that, I am both saddened and relieved.
After Naomi’s death, I swore never to love again. Love had become a plague to me, one that withered everything it touched. But then, I met your mother, and I loved her at first sight.