Page 56 of Found

“I know. The farm looks like it would be perfect, and everyone is on board. Colton and Warren were taking the lead in getting more information from the realtor.”

“And you?” she asks quietly.

I might not be there.

“You look sad. What is it?”

I told myself that I’d spend the next few hours doing whatever I could to make her happy before I have to let her go. That I’d save all the bad news for much, much later.

But now I look at her and that doesn’t seem fair. Not to her.

“I’m staying here, and you are going home,” I tell her quietly.

She looks at me for several seconds, then she swallows, her eyes turning misty. “I thought it was something like that. They want you. I was just a way for them to get what they want.”

That she isn’t crying is a surprise. Her hormones have, as she has told me numerous times, been everywhere. And this is a very hard thing she has to face. But maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.

Aerin is so much stronger than she thinks she is.

“This means you and Thumper are safe,” I tell her and lean in close to whisper right into her ear. “And I can find a way to rescue the omegas.”

I peel away to look at her. “And I can’t do those things while you’re here.”

Because they will use Aerin against me. One threat to hurt her and I would do whatever it took to keep her safe. I know that, and they must know that too.

She gives me a searching look. “So what happens now?”

“You agree?”

“I understand. It’s hard.” Her eyes turn misty again. “But I understand why this has to happen. That you would have tried to find another way if you could have.”

My mate is the strongest woman in the world. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She smiles at me. “So what happens now?”

“Now I want to make love with you again,” I tell her softly.

“And after?” her voice is as soft as mine.

“Say the hardest goodbye I’ve ever had to say in my life.” My eyes are burning.

Aerin grabs me then, kissing me hard.

I kiss her back just as desperately, wishing there was another way to rescue the omegas and keep her safe without staying, but knowing there isn’t.

I’d do anything to keep her safe.

Anything.

We come together with an urgency we lacked before. And even as we’re struggling to control our breathing from our climax, I’m moving inside her again, wanting to stretch out today so it lasts for an eternity. Then I might never have to let her go or say goodbye.

But controlling time is impossible.

It’s late in the evening when a knock sounds at our door and Franklin calls out. “It’s time.”

We share a shower together, more for an excuse to hold each other for a little longer than with any real desire to get clean.

Once we’ve dressed, I walk her down the hallway and out through the front door to where I parked my car.

---