“Ha,” she snorted a laugh. “Atlas, you’re hot as hell and very charming, but you don’t fool me. What’s wrong?”
He stiffened. “What do you mean?”
She rolled her eyes. “Seriously? When are you gonna get it? I’m your mate. I know you. You got a text, and then you got all tight and weird and quiet. You’re trying to distract me, but I can tell you’re thinking about something.”
“Another one of my tells giving me away?”
“But only because I’m your mate, and I know you pretty well by now. It’s here,” she pressed her hand to her heart. “I feel it here. Something’s wrong.”
He nodded. “We thought we found him in Rochester. We tracked the car, but it was just found burned up on the side of the road. Now, we don’t even know where he is or in what car. It’s a bit of a setback.”
“Oh,” she whispered. “So this is gonna continue for a little bit longer?” His nod made her sigh. “Okay, well, maybe we need to change our strategy. You don’t want to use me as bait, but there’s a reason we did it last time.”
His eyes darkened. “Yeah. The only reason is because I wasn’t there. It never would’ve happened if I was there. That isn’t happening again. Do you hear me, Lilliane? You’re the love of my life. Not vampire bait. He’ll find you, and we’ll be ready.”
“But you wanted to avoid that. If I…”
“Lilliane,” he growled. “No. You are not bait.” He looked away, his jaw clicking. “I just don’t like being caught unaware. It feels like he could just show up, and I hate it. This is not what being a wolf is. I’m the top of the food chain in my world.”
She sighed sadly. “Not in mine, apparently.”
“Yeah, well, now your world is mine, and being a wolf isn’t enough.”
“Fuck that,” Lilliane said with such fierceness it stilled him. “You are an alpha wolf, and you can pretty much do anything. You’re a wolf man. My wolf man. I don’t think for one second that Victor can one-up you. I don’t care if he is a million years old and has more money and resources than your millionaire self. You have me, and you can walk around in the sunlight. Huge advantage. We will beat this. For our pack.”
His breath stuttered. “I love you, trouble, you know that? I really needed to hear that.”
“We’re a team. I might not be doing much to help with this whole thing that I started, but I can be useful. I’m a Half-Blood. I’m not half bad in a fight,” she added, making him laugh despite the seriousness of the moment.
He laid his forehead against hers and sighed. “I wish we hadn’t become mates right in the middle of this. I wish we could be in the honeymoon phase without all this hanging over us.”
“You gonna get mad at me again if I say it’s my fault?”
“Yup. Absolutely. It’s not your fault, darling.”
“You do call me trouble, though. We both know why.”
“Yeah, because you’re trouble to my sanity.” He held her close. Their bodies twined together as they treaded water.
She pinched his side. “You can say that, but I know the truth. You wish I wasn’t so high maintenance.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah,notbecause being stalked is such a demanding thing.”
“Right?” she clicked her tongue. “That’ll teach me to be rebellious.”
“Led you to me, though. I’m really happy we met,” he whispered against her neck. She shivered in his arms, and he wished they were nude. Their wet clothes were definitely in the way.
“You’re just saying that because you get to have sex with me forever, and I’m pretty good.”
“The best,” he growled before kissing her deeply.
“You got bad news. You won’t distract me,” she said as he kissed along her neck, swimming them backward until he could push her against the wall.
He grinned against her mouth as he felt her melt against him. He distracted her for as long as he possibly could.
TWENTY-SIX
LILLIANE
