Page 143 of The Delta's Rogue
“I’ll talk to him,” Reid mutters.
Wes growls but doesn’t argue with him.
I pause in the archway between the living room and the kitchen, glancing behind me. The scent of pizza wafts to me from the coffee table, and my mouth waters. While delicious, the breakfast I ate with Sarina was light, and now my hunger and thirst fight with each other to be relieved.
As I linger, deciding which to assuage first, Wesley adjusts his trajectory to the couch, where Haven, Taryn, Imogen, and Cassandra all sit. He plops onto the floor in front of Haven, his shoulders holding all his tension. Haven rests her hand on one shoulder without looking at him or stopping her whispered conversation with her friends, and he covers it with his as a layer of his tension dissipates at her touch. Nolan heads to the other end of the couch, nudging Cassandra aside so he can sit in her spot, and then he yanks her into his lap, his arms circling her waist.
Taryn smiles at Reid as he blows her a kiss and tosses her a wink. Then he frowns at her, concern and confusion filling his eyes. “Where is—”
She covers her lips with her finger and tips her chin towards the floor on the other side of the coffee table. Both Reid and I follow her line of sight to where Dominic sleeps on his back in front of the empty fireplace, one hand behind his head, a sleeping Savannah on his stomach, and his other hand resting on her back. Cav lies on the floor next to them, his head on his paws but his attention glued onto Savvy.
Reid rolls his eyes, but the gesture doesn’t hide the smile that tugs at his lips. As much as Reid pretends to be annoyed by Dominic’s temporary permanence, we all know the truth—he wants Dominic to be part of Savvy’s life.
Reid strolls over to me, and I cross the threshold into the kitchen, my thirst finally winning out against my hunger. I grab a glass from the cabinet by the fridge and fill it with water from the dispenser in the door.
“Are you feeling better?” Reid asks as I chug it down.
I shake my head and fill the glass again. “No.”
He leans his back against the counter and braces his hands on the edge. “Where did you go?”
I down the glass again in one gulp, swallowing loudly, before I fill it for a third time. “I did laps around the perimeter of the property.” I lean against the counter opposite him, taking sips of the water now instead of gulping it.
“I thought for sure you’d gone all the way back to the pack.”
“I didn’t. I wanted to, but I didn’t.”
“Why not?”
I stare into the glass. The water ripples from the light shaking of my overtired muscles. My neck and shoulders roll as I attempt to release some of that exhaustion.
“I couldn’t. My lycan wouldn’t let me.”
Reid laughs and crosses his arms. “Right. Your lycan. I’m sure it wasjustyour lycan.”
“It was.”
“You keep telling yourself that.”
I lift my gaze towards the archway. I stare out of it, in the direction of the large window seat in the living room that overlooks the back deck, as if I can see through every obstacle to where she is. Every instinct in me is attuned to her, to her needs and her existence.
Was it like that for her before? Has she always sensed me the way I sense her now?
“She knew the whole time,” I murmur with the glass against my lips.
Reid chuckles. “Well, yeah, I’d imagine she knew she was the future queen since King Malachi is her dad.”
“No, I mean she knew we were mates.”
The humor vanishes from his face. “Oh. That.”
“She’s always known what I am to her,” I repeat the words, mostly to myself, still utterly flabbergasted and surprised by the entire situation.
Looking back, it makes sense. The pieces all fit. The way she sought me out, both when we were kids and I was visiting the palace and when her team was here in Crescent Lake. The way she was so devastated, so heartbroken, when I left her behind in Hawaii and when she left me behind here.
It wasn’t an assumption for her, like it was for me. Sheknew.
“How did she know you were mates when she wasn’t twenty-one yet?” Reid asks.
