Page 77 of The Secret of Pain

"Moi aussi, je t'aime. De tout mon coeur."

"What does that mean?" I ask, my voice but a murmur.

"I, too, love you. With all of my heart."

Slowly and carefully, Kain releases my thighs, putting me back on the ground so I can try to stand my own, not an easy feat when your legs feel like jelly.

With one arm, he secures me in place and with the other, he lathers me up with a loofah. His movements are gentle and slow, running over my body as he worships my skin. We both rinse before turning the water off and he carries me out of the shower and onto the plush carpet. With one thick, soft towel, he dries me off, no words, only our breaths and thoughts to accompany us. He repeats the action on himself before carrying me to the bedroom and laying us down on clean sheets.

We're both in a haze of love, our fucking still buzzing in our veins.

"That was…" I don't know how to finish that phrase; it was so much.

"That was us, mon coeur. And that was only the beginning."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

I walk through the forest barefoot and at one with the nature around me. It’s so green and lush, with the sound of wolves playing in the distance. The air here is so clammy, the smell of rain from the fall last night. The canopy of leaves and branches below keeps the beating sun from my already-golden skin.

We’ve been here for months, enjoying the freedom that comes with the forest. Hunting and foraging for our food, reveling in the outdoors. Just being pack. After a rough few weeks of establishing myself within the pack as Roman’s mate, things have finally settled down and we’ve almost established a routine.

Four wolf cubs barrel toward me in the undergrowth, their black and white pelts so soft usually, but now caked in mud. Their silver eyes glow, their excitement and joy palpable. One jumps up at me and I catch her in my arms, scratching the space between her ears with my nails as her tongue lolls out of her mouth.

“Come on, you guys, let’s head back for dinner,” I say to them, and they yip and howl back at me, the pup in my arms jumping down and rushing ahead of me back to our camp. I take my time, walking humanly slow through the trees on the path that has become established since we’ve been here.

As much as I love the pack and I wouldn’t give it up for the world, sometimes I need some time to myself. If you’d have told me a year ago that I’d be here, I’d have laughed in your face, but meeting Roman Knight changed my entire life. I already knew that something was amiss, a hole in my memories clawing at me, pleading with me to understand, and that’s when I met him. The most domineering asshole, with a heart of gold. I’ve never met anyone like him, not in this life or the five before this one.

My lives have been peppered with moments of joy but ruled by death and torture. At least, for as much as I can remember. For some reason, my memories barely came back, and with my mother and father refusing to fill in the gaps, there is no one else I can turn to. No siblings, no cousins, or other Hunters my age, at least none within the Hunter families we dealt with. Life was lonely before Roman. It was nothing but my duty. Following orders I didn’t believe in, from a man I was starting to resent. My father is a hard man, his beliefs resolute. When I began to question the way we live, he threatened to have me cast out, and so I left, traveling halfway around the world by sea, running as far from him as I could.

That’s when Roman found me.

Or well, that’s when Roman tried to kill me.

I still take pride in the fact that I was the first person in existence to pin him. Female or not, I pinned him, and then he claimed me as his mate. Marking me, taking my blood, before I even really knew what it meant. The beginning was hard as he adjusted to the fact that I wouldn’t just lie down and let his word be law. That I had my own opinions and that I would voice them. I was not a usual woman of our time. I refused to cower, to bow down to his whim. It’s the reason he claimed me, and I secretly think he gets off on the conflict.

We moved the pack deep into the forest when rumors of wars ravaging the world began. Conquerors wanting to claim lands that are not theirs to take. Slaughtering the humans in droves. If this were another life, I might stand up and fight alongside the humans, but it’s not. I am pack, and that means I protect them first, above all costs.

I break through the tree line into the clearing where we made camp in this humid, sweltering place that is hidden so deep in the forest we have not seen a human for much time. I spot Roman on the far side, close to the waterfall pool, with the pups climbing all over him, his laugh booming across the space.

My heart warms seeing him so carefree. It is so very rare that he gets to be this way, but life has been easier, simpler, since we came here. The outside world less of a threat. I make my way over to the fire where the cooks are preparing dinner and offer my assistance, before being waved off. Cooking for the pack is deemed a privilege and no one wants to sacrifice that.

Roman sees me across the clearing and stands, telling the children he’ll play more tomorrow, before striding toward me. He captures my lips with his, his hands buried in my hair as he claims me, not caring who can see. I hold on to him, my hands on his biceps, which twitch beneath my touch, giving as much as I get with his mind-blowing kiss.

“You’ve been gone longer than usual,” he murmurs when he breaks the kiss, his silver eyes studying me. “Are you unhappy here?”

I shake my head at his question and smile. “No, I just wandered farther than I have before, so it took me longer to return.”

“You should not wander too far; you do not know who travels this place. It could be dangerous.” His concern warms me, his dominance not steering his words but his love for me.

“Then it is good that I am not just anyone, and capable of looking after myself.” His hand grips my throat, not tight enough to steal my breath but enough to keep my attention on him.

“You are mine, and while you can look after yourself, you will not put yourself in such situations.” He growls, kissing me again, his hand still on my throat. I melt into him, the pressure only making me want him more, and I know he scents it when his chest rumbles.

“Later. Later, you and I will finish this,” he says with a heated look, releasing me and storming back to the cold pool and diving in.

* * *

I wake in my room, sleep still clinging to me, and groan at the sunlight filtering through. I haven’t had a good night’s rest since earlier in the week in Kain’s hotel room, and that was the first time since spending the night with Creek in my bed. I’m beginning to think I’m only ever going to sleep well with one of my men beside me. When I started to think of them as my men, I’ve no idea. My dreams are full of memories. Some of them haunt me with the things that I’ve seen, others make me squirm when I wake up, practically setting my pussy on fire.

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