“Not even a gaggle of women?” I whispered.
“Not even a fucking herd of them.”
I smiled, but he did not.
“You fucking kept a dangerous secret from me.”
“I know,” I whispered.
“A secret that could have destroyed you—meaning me, therefore us.”
My eyes turned away, then rose to meet his. Tiny droplets of water collected on my lashes and then swam in my eyes. “I did not want this…” I whispered, motioning between us. “I did not want a choice I made, to stay for the test of Fate, to come between us because of something someone else decided to do. To take advantage of. If the test would have been called off…” My husband could have possibly gone another route. Perhaps his family would have presented him with a challenge my father would have appreciated. One that would have required myhusband to sacrifice blood, or worse. I shook my head. “This is all I can say. I cannot go back in time and change it.”
“Moving forward.”
It was not a question, although it was posed as one.
I stared into his eyes. “If it means keeping you safe…” I did not know what else to say. If I mentioned Fausti challenges, or how wily Iggy seemed, my husband would get offended, as if he could not take care of himself. I believed my husband could defeat him, but if Iggy meant us no harm…what use was it to kill him and have his blood on my husband’s hands?
“My soul,” he said.
He was looking for clarification. I would give him that much.
“Yes,” I whispered. “As a woman, your wife, it is mine to shelter and keep safe. If Iggy means us no harm, I do not see it as protecting what is yours. I see it as plain murder.”
“I should allow him to get the jump on me. Hit first after he’s taken more than one swipe at me. The close to deadly blow…the moment he decided to cross a boundary, one that tripped the strings of my heart and soul. He crossed the threshold of my wife’s fucking door while she was alone, without her husband.”
“No.” I shook my head. “This is not what I am asking of you. I am asking you to have the meeting with Nonno and Lev before you go after him.”
We stared at each other.
His hand jingled.
A crack of silver light lit the night as the flash of a camera would.
The look on his face was seared into my memories, a picture of it to forever save inside of my mind.
The monster who controlled the man in that moment.
I almost took a step back.
Held my hands up.
Surrendered to the Fausti monster inside of him that craved blood.
Not mine, but the blood of an enemy who had disrespected him by crossing a line with me.
This, I was being honest with myself,thiswas why I had not told him right away. His reaction, quite frankly, scared me to death. I had never seen or felt a man turn this way when he felt a wrong had been done to him. I felt guilty, as if it was my fault my husband was denying himself a blood spree in my honor, although I was not the one who crossed a line.
He became very still, and a breath trembled out of my mouth.
He said nothing to me as he opened the door to the house. The comical boots slapped against the floor as I stepped inside. My hands went automatically to my arms. I was soaked, and the cold air from inside instantly clung to me. Mariano removed his shirt and slid it over my head. Although his was as soaked as mine, the residual heat from his body gave me a flash of heat.
He hurriedly removed my boots and set them to the side. He picked me up and carried me up the stairs, bringing me straight to the ensuite bathroom in our bedroom. He started the shower, and I almost gulped in the steam as it warmed the room. He took my hand and led me to the hot water of the spray.
He leaned against the counter and watched me.
Once I turned the water off, he dried me off, pulled one of his long t-shirts over my head, and walked me to the bed.
