Page 45 of All for the Beast

“Come, I will take you home.”

She looked at him, the sadness overcoming the rage for the time being.

“Home?” she whispered.

He gave her the same smile, the one that anticipated an irrevocable loss.

“Well, home for now,” he murmured.

Katy took his hand, and he pulled her to him softly. He didn’t take her body the way he normally would, which was a passionate plea for their bodies to unite as one. He politely let her hand go as she stood, then let her walk ahead of him as they departed from the establishment.

Katy wanted to cry. She had no clue that when she said yes to the persuasive stranger that was Gerri that she was going to walk into a literal life-or-death matter. She thought she wanted to try something new, hell, to fuck with someone new, but something else happened that she hadn’t anticipated.

She climbed into the car with V, and his driver took them to the inn. She clapped a hand over his and asked him, sweetly and gently, to take them back to his home.

TWENTY

VHARLK

Vharlk was feeling defeated and exhausted by the multitude of events that happened in the restaurant. His wolf-shifter instinct told him that he had to engage with Dimess, as it was tradition and proper. But the other part of him, who needed his mate and had a broken heart, wanted to give in and simply wither away out in the distant seas.

So when Katy gripped his hand in the car, begging for him to take her to his home, he didn’t know what to say.

“I don’t want you to think I need you to change your mind,” V said, his eyes pinned to the floor of the car. “This isn’t your fault.”

He felt Katy sigh, her body’s sounds and movements reverberating into his own. He had no clue how he was going to go on without her once she left for Earth.

He was also curious as to why she wanted to go with him at all, especially since she had clearly made her decision, even pawning off another woman on him to keep him busy.

But she was his mate, and nothing, not even logic, could keep him away from her.

“I want to understand, V,” she said softly. “Let’s go home, and we can talk more.”

Vharlk directed the driver to take them home, and off they went. Katy kept her hand cupped over his as the car moved through the black night, and it felt warm.

It felt like home.

They arrived at the mansion, and they moved inside together. It was different from how it usually was when they arrived there, often linked together with arms or hands, their skin pulsing with the heated need to be touched by the other. But there was a coldness to that night that made V’s heart feel like glass, fragile and likely to break into a million pieces at any second.

They went inside, and V said that he would make tea. Katy said she would start the fire in the lounge for them. When she started climbing the spiral staircase, he noticed her white pullover that caressed every valley and curve of her form, and he allowed himself to indulge for a single, fleeting moment.

Vharlk thought of her as his wife, her essence and laughter permanently staining the walls of his home, their home, little children running around with half of each of their genetics. She would be his queen, and he would take every opportunity to make love to her and show her how he appreciated every single inch of her body and soul.

Katy’s sexiness exuded from every pore, and it wasn’t just because she had a bomb body. She had a good, loving heart, she worked hard, and she wasn’t afraid of pleasure and relaxation. Her intelligence would make her a good leader and a formidable foe for anyone that would cross her path … including V as her husband.

The prince thought about all of this as he watched Katy walk up the stairs, enter the lounge, and begin the process of starting the fire in the stone fireplace. His heart ached in his chest to know that it could be the last time they sat together in front of the flames.

V went to the kitchen and made them both a cup of tea, knowing how Katy liked it, making him pine for her even more, despite the fact that she was only a room away. He did it all on autopilot, his mind stuck in the inevitable future of his sorrow.

V carried their teas upstairs, the usual delightful fragrance offering him no solace. When he walked into the room, he saw the fireplace blazing, tangerine licks of flames crackling and snapping.

The sight of Katy with her legs outstretched on the couch adjacent to the fire, her enchanting eyes lost in the burning, he nearly dropped the mugs. The woman had power over him like no one else, and he knew that without her, there was no way he was going to be able to function the way he had before.

Perhaps, it would be best for Dimess to take over his throne.

Katy turned to him and smiled. It was the kind of smile couples gave one another after an argument when nothing had been resolved, but the love remained. V placed the mugs on the table in front of them, with Katy moving her legs out of the way for him.

“You can rest them on me if you’d like.”

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