Page 185 of The Delta's Rogue
I keep her close, keep her warm and protected in my embrace, as I revel in the heightened sensations from our bond.
Tears leak from my eyes as the full force of her unblocked emotions hits me through the bond. There are so many tumultuous emotions all at once—joy, disbelief, sorrow, and guilt in equal measure.
She gazes at my neck with glassy eyes. Her fingers trace across it, sending ripples of delight and love through me with each brush they take, and I blink down at her.
“Did you— Did you mark me?” I ask through my labored breathing.
A tear drops from her lashes and trails down her cheek. “I did,” she chokes out.
I smile and cup her face in my hand, bringing her eyes to meet mine. “Your lycan is back? It worked?”
Instead of an excitement that matches mine, her eyes fill with more tears and her anguish heightens.
“She was right there.” She pushes through her tears to get the words out. “I felt her when you marked me. I felt the bond solidifying, and I used her energy to mark you back.”
“Now she’s gone again?”
She nods, pulling her lips into her mouth. “The bond—” She swallows and shuts her eyes, and I swipe a tear away with my thumb. “The bond is back for me, though,” she manages to say. “I can feel you again. All of you. Your love, your strength, your power…” She lifts her gaze to mine again, and I lose myself in the piercing, open vulnerability of her stare. “You’re intoxicating and addicting,” she confesses, using the words I’ve always used to describe her. “I’m sorry,” she sobs, shaking her head. “I couldn’t resist, and I—”
“Shh.” I tuck her head to my chest and hold her tightly. “It’s okay. You don’t need to apologize. I am beyond thrilled that I have your mark and that you feel our bond again. Whether or not your lycan is awake right now makes no difference to me.”
“But the attack tomorrow—”
“You’ll be on my team, at my side the entire time. You don’t need your lycan to fight with us. We all know you’re more than capable.”
“I’m a liability.” My chest muffles her soft-spoken confession, but I hear her and feel the conviction behind her words. “I can’t shift or mindlink, and I’m a ticking time bomb that may crumple beneath the weight of a panic attack at any moment.”
I sigh, kiss the top of her head, and stroke her back. “I won’t stop you if you want to back out, Sarina. Don’t make this decision right now, though. You should sleep on it.”
“But—”
I cup her cheeks and tilt her face to kiss her, cutting off her protests. “Sleep, my queen.”
She snuggles into my chests. I rub her back as her sorrow melts and her breaths return to normal. I hold her tightly in my arms, with my mark on her neck and our souls finally bound together forever—for this life and for all eternity.
“Sleep peacefully,” I whisper to my mate, my perfect match, the queen of my heart. “Sleep peacefully knowing that there is nothing that will come between us now, nothing that will let them take you from me in any way ever again.”
Sebastian stretches out behindme. One arm rests beneath my head and the other wraps around my middle, holding me to him. His breaths come in a deep, steady rhythm, rustling my hair with every exhale. I’m pressed as tight to him as I can get, hoping his warmth and his embrace will coax me into a slumber as deep and fulfilling as his.
But sleep evades me.
Through the parted curtains, I watch the stars twinkle and dance in the endless dark heavens. The smallest sliver of the moon hangs in the sky with them, watching over the mountains and the forest, and all their inhabitants.
My mind sprints over those mountains and through the forest. It races and races, never following one thought through to the end, jumping from idea to idea and worry to worry.
I suggested we mark each other to ease Sebastian’s mind, but all it did was cause mine to freak out more.
At least I can feel him now. My lycan is missing in action, but the bond is back and stronger than ever.
That should count for something, right?
I trail my hands across his forearm and savor the sparks flaring to life on my fingertips. His scent floats into my nose, and I hold each breath in my lungs for longer than I need to. It’s all more intense than ever, more than it was the night I left four years ago. Like then, I savor the connection we have. But unlike then, I’m not soaking it all in to get me through our time apart. I don’t have to because we will never experience a separationlike that again.
Nunca. Never.
Through the bond, I sense his peace and contentment. There’s worry there too, but it’s diminished from what I saw in his eyes earlier. And there’s protectiveness, but that will always be there. It’s ingrained in his instincts as my mate and as an alpha.
He may deny it, but heisan alpha. He’s always been one.
