Page 90 of Where the Wicked Reign

Before I could get a word out, he stepped up to me. “Because, if you were, I was thinking we could wake up early and justchill, as you call it.”

“What about Nico?”

“You think he’s actually going to head back to the Manor? He’s gonna stay over at Caterina’s to ensure she’s okay through the night. And if she doesn’t allow that because of the obvious issues of them being seen together, especially in an amicable way, he’ll keep her on video call all night long.”

“In spite of your assurances, yeah.”

“You know how he gets when those close to him are hurt.”

“I surely do.”

“Now she’s one of those.”

“I think she has been for a while, Milo. For the last few years, in fact. That time at the sleazy club isn’t the only time he’s intervened on her behalf to ensure her wellbeing.”

“True. That move he secretly made against Santino Leone to protect her comes to mind the most. Talk about walking a dangerous line. And now he’s no longer standing at a distance from her or only interacting through theirwarall bets are off.”

“It seems you’re gonna start accepting that now.”

“She could’ve let me fall tonight. She chose a different path. It says a lot.”

“It does, yeah.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose, then took a moment, before admitting, “That was too close for my liking. She wasn’t the only one distracted. I guess I’m feeling the weight of things. I should’ve picked up on that threat without anyone needing to step in like that. And I think… I mean…”

“It freaked you out and you’re in need of comfort.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I am.”

I patted the couch. “Come sit with me. The meds will arrive for Cat in a few minutes, then her and Nico will head out and I’ll see to you.”

He nodded and slumped down beside me, his big body and all that hard muscle pressing up against me. I reached up and stroked his spiky silver hair and a peaceful sigh escaped him.

As I did, with him this close, the intimacy of it, and now having a quiet few moments, the brutal realization of just how close it had come for him tonight sank in.

In the most awful of ways.

And so did the fact that this was just the beginning of a major undertaking that would no doubt soon play out in one hell of a bloody war.

I sucked in a breath in a bid to calm myself as the thought of it started to infect me more so with every passing second.

I kickedmy bedroom door shut with much more force than was necessary.

Milo spun at the violent thud reverberating through the room. “Sunshine?” he questioned, arching an eyebrow.

I stalked toward him and slammed both hands into his chest, knocking him onto my bed. “Don’t ever fucking do that to me again.” I jerked off my pants and tossed them roughly across the room. I was going commando as usual, so all I had to worry about was my tank then, and I gave it the same angry treatment.

The bursts of aggression weren’t helping to ease the infection running through me, though. The infection that had seeped into me when tonight’s events had collided with the realization of what was coming.

I pounced on Milo, straddling his thighs, and his gaze flicked all over my naked body, drinking me in.

“Did you hear me?” I demanded, myDomvoice coming through of its own accord, despite the fact that I didn’t want to bring that tonight. I wasn’t levelheaded enough to bring it tonight and things could become dangerous with that sort of play, if that was the case. Not to mention, I’d also been drinking. While it wasn’t enough to make me drunk, it was enough to alter my reaction rates and times, another thing that could be proven dangerous if I was to take a Sub in this sort of state. I wouldn’t. I never did. And I especially wouldn’t do that to Milo. So, no games tonight.

Besides, I wasn’t in the mood to play.

Having him beneath me, starting to pant at my closeness, the need blazing back at me, was a heady thing. Something real, something intense, something undeniable.

There was an ache permeating every part of me, and while he needed comfort from me, that infection making me ache needed to be soothed.

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