Page 156 of The Delta's Rogue
“Mi sangre.My blood,” I manage to say through my gasping, heaving breaths. “It’s still in there. I can’t—” I shake my head. “Sácala de ahí. Por favor,” I beg.
I need him to get the blood out of there.
He wraps me up tighter. “Shit.” His focus slices towards the bathroom. “Shit, Sarina. I’m sorry. I completely forgot about it.” He turns to set me on the bed, but I clutch him tighter, shaking from the force of my hold on him and the fear of those tiny, seemingly innocuous vials of blood. “I need to grab the vials to give them to Rune.”
“No me dejes,” I whisper, leaning back to stare into his eyes as I desperately plead with him. “Don’t leave me.”
He sets his jaw and gives me a singular, jerky nod. Then his focus wavers briefly, his eyes glazing over, as he reaches out to someone through mindlink.
“Rune is coming to grab the blood,” he says as soon as his gaze returns to normal. He clutches the back of my head and tucks me under his chin. “Breathe,” he instructs me again, exaggerating an inhale and an exhale. “Follow my lead and breathe.”
I copy him, taking in giant lungfuls of air and blowing them out in a slow, soothing rhythm. With each breath he coaches me through, the anxiety melts away, until a ghost of it remains. It lurks in the shadows of my soul, staring at me and waiting for the perfect moment to strike again, but for now, I am at peace once more.
Two raps echo through the door, followed by Rune’s voice. “It’s Rune.”
“I’m going to let you go now, okay?” Sebastian cups my cheeks and tilts my face up.
I nod.
His fingertips trace my jawline, and he flicks my hair over my shoulder before setting me in the middle of the bed. I cross my legs and hug them to my chest, my eyes tracking his every move.
As soon as he turns away from me, he switches from protective and caring Sebastian to dominant, business-minded, alpha-aura Sebastian. He strides to the bathroom with purpose and is back in front of the bedroom door in no time at all.
“Here,” he says to Rune as he opens the door and passes her the vials. “I wasn’t sure if there was something special that needed to be done before disposing of it.” He keeps his body angled in front of their hands so I can’t see the blood or the glass containers holding it. “There’s also a ring.” He nods at Rune’s hand. “It belongs to Brenna—the witch I met in my dream. She said we can use it to find her.”
“If that even works.” Rune sighs. “It didn’t work when we tried to find you,” she says to me over Sebastian’s shoulder.
“Brenna thinks the magic shielding the girls doesn’t work on her. She wasn’t sure why, but…” Sebastian shrugs. “It’s worth a try.”
Rune shoves everything into her pocket. “I’ll go to Crescent Lake to work on it tomorrow and let you know what we find.”
“Thank you,” Sebastian says.
He closes the door and locks it. His chin drops to his chest, and he rolls his shoulders back as he leans against the door with his palms flat against the surface.
The intensity of today and last night weighs him down like a ship’s anchor.
It all weighs me down too.
He shoves off the door and bends to pick up two duffle bags—a green one and a blue one—that he probably dropped there when he ran into the bathroom to help me. When he straightens, he meets my eyes. In his expression, I see he’s still in business mode. Alpha Sebastian mode.
He doesn’t want to be an alpha, but he falls into the role so easily. He doesn’t want to be in charge of a pack, but he already steps up as a leader without anyone asking him to.
If he wasn’t so afraid of it, he’d be the perfect king.
“I didn’t think you were coming back,” I confess, my thoughts forcing the words out of me.
He places the bags on top of the dresser against the far wall. “I made you a promise that I’ll always be here when you wake up.” He unzips the green bag. “I can’t keep that promise if I’m not with you.”
Some of the air leaves my lungs, and my shoulders curve inward again.
Of course, that’s why he returned. To keep a promise he made to me.
Te lo prometo.
I fiddle with the bedding, plucking out a down feather poking through the duvet.
He continues unpacking, placing his clothing into the top two drawers of the dresser. Shirts, jeans, sweats, socks, underwear—all of it moves from one method of storage to the other.
