Then I was coming again, the tendons in my neck straining as I screamed into his mouth. He followed on a roar, thrusting a final time and then shuddering as his hot release flooded me.
Afterward, we lay facing each other on the pillows, both of us breathing hard. The wonder in Beck’s eyes mirrored the emotion swelling in my chest.
“Your glasses are crooked,” he murmured, carefully straightening them on my nose.
I laughed softly. “I’m surprised they stayed on at all.”
A smug smile touched his lips. “They know I like them. They wouldn’t dare fall off.”
Another laugh escaped. “So, even glasses do what you say?”
“Mmhmm.” He twirled a strand of my hair around his finger and used it to gently tug my lips to his. “Everyone around here does,” he said against my mouth. “I’m the alpha. When I give an order, people obey.”
Desire shivered through me. “And what kind of order do you have for me, Alpha?”
His lips curved against mine, and his fingers were achingly gentle as he slid them into my hair and cupped the back of my head. “Just let me love you, sweetheart. For the rest of our lives.”
“I think I can do that,” I whispered, and I surrendered to his kiss.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
BECK
Ileft Charlotte sleeping and made my way downstairs.
The scent of coffee and frying butter greeted me as I entered the kitchen. Cal stood at the stove, flipping pancakes with the ease of someone accustomed to cooking breakfast for a search and rescue team of ten bear shifters. Everett sat at the table with his laptop open, his fingers flying over the keys.
They both looked up when I entered.
“How is she?” Everett asked.
“Sleeping.” I poured myself coffee from the pot on the counter. “Finally.”
Cal plated a stack of pancakes and set them on the table. “We searched the forest all night. Henry’s followers are dead.”
Relief loosened something in my chest. “All of them?”
“Every last one.” Cal dropped into a chair and reached for the syrup. “Ilya tracked two of them to a cave about five miles north. They’d holed up there, probably waiting to see if Henry would regenerate.” He drizzled syrup over his pancakes. “They didn’t put up much of a fight.”
“The bond broke when Henry died,” Everett said, closing his laptop. “Without access to his blood, the withdrawal would have killed them anyway.”
Cal grunted. “Vampires are a plague. Any day with one less walking the earth is a good day.”
“Fewer,” Everett murmured.
Cal flipped him the bird, then shoved a bite of pancakes into his mouth.
Everett turned serious eyes to me. “Charlotte made a huge sacrifice ruining her research. Her reputation might not recover.”
My heart clenched. I set down my coffee, my appetite deserting me. “I know.”
Cal swallowed. “She did it for you. For all of us.”
“I know that, too,” I said. “But I’m not sure I’m worthy of it. It feels selfish asking her to waste her potential.”
Silence fell over the kitchen.
