Page 171 of The Seven Rings
“I know it. I know you are. Get some sleep.” She kissed his cheek. “She’s done all she can do for tonight.”
Trey lifted her off her feet, held her there a moment before he looked at Owen. “We’ve got women like this? We can’t lose.”
He nodded, then glanced at Cleo. “Need another minute.”
“All right.”
“No, with you.” He took her hand before she could go inside.
“All right.”
He closed the door behind Sonya and Trey, then looked down at the dog who stayed at his side.
“She fucked with me good. This guy? I promised when I took him on, the scrappy one-eyed little bastard, we’d look out for each other. I wouldn’t let him down. And I left him tonight. He got bloodied trying to get to me.”
“You know that isn’t your fault.”
“Doesn’t make it less true. I know you’re going to say it’s not my fault. Mostly I agree, it’s not. It wasn’t. But I need to say I’m sorry.”
“Jones won’t hold it against you.”
“To you. I wanted her, Cleo, and if I’d have had the chance, in that room, at that time? I couldn’t and wouldn’t have stopped myself.”
The sound she made mixed patience with annoyance. “What part ofbespelleddon’t you get?”
“I need to say it. When I’m with someone, I’m with them. I don’t mess around.”
She angled her head. “If I thought otherwise, you wouldn’t be with me.”
“It wasn’t just wanting her.” Because he remembered that, too well, he scrubbed his hands over his face. “It was like survival. It wasn’t just lust, it was life and death. It’s not lust I feel for you.”
She smiled, laid a hand on his cheek. “Oh, really?”
“Not just. Not anymore. Maybe not from the start. A good, healthy lust, sure. This wasn’t that.”
“Owen, of course it wasn’t. She’s evil. Her magic is evil.”
“But until she kissed me, until I tasted her, I was lost. Even after… I can’t explain it.”
“Do you think any of us expect you to?”
Gently now, she brushed his hair back.
“She could’ve tried this with any of us. But she chose you because you’re a Poole. And she failed because you’re Owen. She’ll never understand loyalty and love.”
“I’m crazy about you.”
“Of course you are.”
“Cleo.” He took her face in his hands. “I’ve been crazy about women before, but not like this.”
“There is no one like me but me.”
“That’s the God’s truth. I need to tell you I’m sorry.”
“Apology unnecessary, but accepted. I hate her for what she did to you, for what she wanted to do to all of us. And I only think more of you because you were strong enough to fight her off.”
“At the end.”
