She turned her head slightly so her cheek and mine were touching. “I know you’ll worry your handsome head off about me. And I’m not saying you shouldn’t. But I would like to remind you that we’re in this together. We fight for what we believe in and those we love. Does that last line sound familiar?” She giggled.
I dragged my lips to her earlobe and nibbled. “I remember my marriage proposal. Would you like to hear it again?”
She flashed her big blues up at me with a dick-jerking smile. “I’m listening.”
I kissed her neck as goose bumps pebbled on her skin. “Layla Aberdeen, would you be my sidekick, the woman who will keep me sane, a partner who will stand by my side and fight for what we believe in and those we love? Above all else, will you love my arrogant ass no matter what?”
She sighed and quivered. “To the day I take my last breath, Sam Mason.”
I was dying to lay her out on the blanket, strip her naked, and show her how much I fucking loved her. But sex wasn’t on the agenda, at least not tonight.
As if she was in my head, she said, “I’m dying to feel your naked body pressed into mine and feel you inside me. It’s been too long, vampire.”
I groaned. “Kind of hard at the moment. But we’ll find time.” For fucking sure. Intimacy was important for both of us.
“Not to ruin the mood,” she said, “but we need to find my grandmother. I can’t stop thinking about my talk with Rianne.”
She didn’t ruin the mood. She obliterated it.
Her whacked-out sister had stolen most of the show since we’d left the sheriff’s station several hours ago. Frankly, I was tired of dealing with Rianne. The woman had to die, but maybe she would because of the serum. Highly unlikely, in my book. Only because I wasn’t that lucky.
I had, however, gotten an official reprieve for the next week. While the votes were coming in, the guardians had been ordered to stand down. At least I had one fewer group on my ass. The human hunters might be another story, considering the bounty on my head.
“Agreed, but we might have to strategize once we get to Dane’s compound. Also, as soon as we talk to the reporter, we need to leave.” I would have loved to hang out on the beach, but we had work to do, and I would rather have us safely ensconced behind the shifter compound.
“I hate all this,” she said. “Why can’t we just live in peace?”
“We will,” I returned. Having Rianne behind bars was a step in the right direction. One enemy down, several more to go. “You and I will get our happily ever after, baby doll. When? I can’t say. But I swear you’ll have a house on the ocean, and our kids will be free to grow up without anyone chasing us.” If it was the last thing I ever did, I would make fucking sure my family had everything they deserved.
“Speaking of a house on the beach, I looked at one for sale up the road from here,” she said. “It’s perfect for us. But I know it’s not the right time to be buying anything.”
Sadly, she was right. Her place of residence was about to be a log cabin in the Catskills. It wasn’t her dream home, but she and our babies would be safe. She would have more security than here and a great amount of help. I’d spoken to Greta before Tripp and I had left, and the she-wolf was ecstatic to welcome my family into her home.
My phone rang, disrupting the solitude and the whoosh of the waves on shore. I grabbed my cell off the blanket beside me.
“Calls at one thirty in the morning are never good,” Layla said.
“It’s Tripp. Maybe he has news on the vote.” I answered, putting him on speaker, “What’s up, dude? Layla’s with me.” Just in case he had top secret info he didn’t want anyone else to hear.
“Breaking news,” he said with a lightness to his voice. “I just got word from Webb that the Feds will be converging on Intech just before dawn.”
Layla let out a squeal. “Hallelujah. You mean something else is going our way?”
My muscles loosened as I released the sigh of the century. We weren’t anywhere close to that happily ever after I promised Layla, but we needed to celebrate each win, no matter how small. Besides, I’d always believed in the power of three. Rianne was behind bars, and the human government was about to shut down Intech. Two down, and one more good thing had to come our way. Maybe the human government would take Adam into custody and lock him up for the rest of his miserable life.
“How will the Feds deal with Roman?” I asked. “Are the humans prepared to fight vampires?”
“The Secretary of the Navy asked for our help. Viking II SEAL team has been deployed to Chicago.”
Man, I would give anything to join them. “Any word on how the vote is going?”
“Webb said the votes are tied. Half want to keep our existence secret, and the other half knows we have to change how we live among humans,” Tripp said. “There are still several heads of state who haven’t weighed in yet.”
I didn’t have a chance to respond when a bloodcurdling scream tore through the night air. It sounded like it came from Jordyn.
33
LAYLA
