Page 111 of Captured Immune

I melt into her touch, groaning against her collarbone. “Arella.”

I kiss up her neck as she arches her head back. I’ve missed this so much. The taste of her sweetness. The smell of her intoxicating scent. The way she lets out breathless whimpers as I keep sucking on her skin.

Naturally, I grind my hard cock against her inner thigh. She digs her fingernails into my back, making me let out an uncontrollable grunt. The things this woman does to me. The power she has over me with just one touch. I’m hers. For as long as she wants me, for whatever she wants me for, I’m hers. All hers.

My lips travel upward until I find her mouth again. Panting hard, we return to what can only be described as an animalistic make-out session. We scratch at each other’s clothes. She breathlessly moans my name over and over. I thrust my hips against her, attempting to find any sort of release from the torment we’ve been going through.

I know this chaos isn’t over, but for now, right here, I have Arella. She’s alive, she’s safe, and she’s allowing me back into her heart. This is all that matters. This is what I risked my life to get back. This is my reason to keep risking it all.

I love this woman with every part of my soul. To be without her is to be without sunlight and air and food and water and whatever else I need to survive. I’m never going to allow someone to take her away from me ever again. I’ll spend the rest of my life fighting to be with her if that’s what it takes.

“Arella?” I whisper against her lips.

“Mmm?”

“I love you.”

She doesn’t hesitate. “I love you too.”

I might pass out from how happy I am to hear those words from her. A rush of flutters fills me to the brim. I’ve never felt so full like this. So completely and utterly full.

I lean down to plant one long, hard kiss against her lips, then pull back again. “Do you think you can ever forgive me?”

“For what?”

“You know, blowing your tire so I had an excuse to meet you. Trying to use you to make my dead parents proud. Spending three days passed out in an infirmary while you were trapped in a place with people you didn’t know. Putting your life in danger. Should I go on?”

“Trey, most of that wasn’t your fault. Actually, none of it was. Now that I know the whole story, I would have done the same thing if I were you. Fake-date someone to find out information that could result in taking down the people who killed my parents? And to stop those people from killing more people? When that’s all it was supposed to be, I would have taken that mission in a heartbeat. You never meant for me or anyone to get hurt. The only thing you did wrong was trust the wrong people. I forgive you for what happened, but I think the more important question is, do you forgive yourself?”

I don’t have to think about my answer. “No, but maybe someday.”

Arella grabs my face and pulls my mouth to hers. She kisses me so long and hard, it takes my breath away.

I pant for air as I do a push-up over her. “I really don’t want this to stop, but I think we should get going.”

Twenty-some minutes later, I’ve got our heavy backpack over my shoulders. Tao filled it with a fuck-ton of Healing Water, Healing Goo, and Healing Spray. I hope we won’t need it, but it’ll be good to have.

“Come back to visit anytime, okay?” Li says as she leads us to the back door of their shop. “Don’t wait twenty years this time.”

I chuckle lightly. “I won’t. Thank you again for everything. Seriously. You guys saved our lives.”

Li stops at the door, then turns to give me a smile and pinch my cheeks. Her eyes glisten a little. “I’m so proud of you, Trey Grant. You’ve grown up to be such a strong and handsome good boy.”

My insides flutter as Arella and I exit their shop. Li will never know how much her words mean to me. That’s the first time someone other than Liz has ever told me they’re proud of me. Hearing it from Li is like hearing it from my mother.

Tao’s black SUV is exactly where he said it would be: two spots away from the dumpster. With his key, I unlock it with abeep. Arella and I climb in, I toss our backpack onto the backseat, then we’re off.

“I can’t believe they justgaveus their car.” Arella shifts to get comfy in the passenger seat. “I mean, it’s a freaking Lincoln.”

“I bet they’ll have enough money on their next royalty check to buy another.” I glance into the rearview mirror. So far, so good. “Also, I’ll come back some other time and thank them tenfold.”

“Are we going to go search for your parents’ safe house now?”

“Yep.” I check the rearview mirrors again. There’s a car behind us. An elderly lady is driving with an elderly man in the passenger side. Probably not Royals. Also, their emotions are pretty content.

“How do we know that Victor doesn’t know about your parents’ safe house? Now that we’ve discovered he and your mom were a thing, what if she told him about it?”

“I thought about that earlier, and I think we’re okay. My parents’ message said that the only person I should trust is Aunt Debbie. That tells me Victor wasn’t on thetrustworthy listfor a while. Probably since the day Aunt Jodi left him and he broke things off with my mom.

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