“Still in a coma.It was Alex.For sure.He’s threatening me because I’m getting close.”
She covered her mouth with her hand.“Will she be all right?”
“I don’t know.Grateful is working on a spell to counteract the dark magic she was infected with when he stabbed her.”
“Goddess help her.”
He nodded.“What else is going on here, Soleil?”
“What do you mean?”
“You hear my sister was hospitalized, and instead of calling, you come over on a whim.It’s been a long time since we had the type of relationship where you could just pop over in the middle of the night.”
“Morning.It’s almost six.”
“You haven’t let yourself in since we were seeing each other,” Silas said more firmly.“It’s been over a year.”
“You haven’t changed the locks.”
“I didn’t think I needed to.Why are you here?”
She’d been sitting on the side of his bed, one leg curled under her, but now she rose up onto her knee and crawled toward him like something out of an erotic dream.Her short white summer dress lifted on her thighs.“I miss you, Silas.I wanted to see you.”Her warm hand came to rest on his forearm.“Don’t you miss me?”
He’d always been fascinated by her fingers.She had tiny, delicate hands with long, tapered fingers that ended in perfectly manicured nails.Everything about Soleil was decidedly feminine.Soft.Warm.Sensual.The delicate oval of her face and the angle of her nose reminded him of a Botticelli painting.As she played with the thick, dark hair on his arm, he remembered what it was like to touch her, to make her purr until light poured out of her skin.
But his wolf recoiled.She wasn’t what he hungered for.Not anymore.An image of red hair and brown eyes flashed through his brain.He pushed the unwelcome thought aside.
“I think you should go,” he said.
“Is this about the monogamy?”Her features contorted painfully, the corners of her mouth tugging downward.“You know I can’t.It’s not in my nature.”
He scowled.“What is that even supposed to mean?”
“Wolves mate for life.But many planets revolve around a sun.”
“So you’re a slave to your nature?”he said cynically.“Give me a break.”
She moved closer, the heat she was putting off raising the temperature in the room.“I am what I am, Silas.You knew I was a madam the day you met me.Why do you want to change me?”She leaned toward him on the bed.“Darling, don’t you think we’ve played this game long enough?Can’t we take things back to how they used to be?”
She’d taste like a fresh-picked peach, and she never said no.He could have her ten different ways a night if he let himself.And maybe he could.Maybe he could lose himself in her buttery flesh one more time.
Only, he wasn’t interested.He respected her.He cared for her, but anything more than that was long over.
He met her intense blue stare.“I didn’t want to change you, Soleil.I wanted you to want to change.I wanted you to want something better for yourself.Something real and permanent.To have a family.Be loved… not just fucked.”He was careful to use the past tense.At this point, this was ancient history.
She scrambled off the bed as if he’d insulted her deeply.“Is that what our relationship was to you?Fucking?”
He tossed back the comforter, bounded from the bed, and pointed a finger at her chest.“No Soleil.That’s my point.We werealwaysmore than sex.And we couldn’t go back because for me, going back meant there was no way forward.”He shook his head.“Fuck.Why are we even having this conversation?”
“Because I don’t want you to give up on us,” she whispered.
He lowered his gaze to the floor.“Us?There is no us.Besides, I heard you’re seeing someone else.”
“It would be inappropriate for me to discuss.”
“Why?”
“Would you like to think I spoke about you with him?”
