She turns abruptly to face me. “Fine. I’ll let him in.” She turns back to Zeb. “Don’t hurt her, asshole. I don’t care if you’re a governor now. Words will be had if you fuck this up.”
She pokes him on the chest.
He grunts and sends a swift glance at me. “I’ll try not to fuck up, but I am a man, so it’s a given I’m going to at some point…” He trails off, before adding earnestly, “She’s my world. I’d sooner cut off my own arm than hurt her.”
“Ha!” Diana says, interrupting my swooning on this side of the room. “I know about your kind now. You’ll just grow another one. That’s not much of a threat.”
He chuckles—the sound turns my insides to goo.
“Diana!” I send a meaningful look toward the door.
She finally gets the hint, throws the door wide and steps aside.
He enters cautiously.
“Call me if you need me,” she says to me, and with a final glare at Zeb, she leaves.
Zeb looks across at me, and I can see he’s fighting a grin again as he stalks me down.
Every nerve in my body is going haywire. I can smell him. Not the fake pheromones of an alpha, but something else. Something I met only briefly. And inside him, buried beneath his casual appearance, I sense his other side, his soul, his inner dominant, the part that has already claimed me.
The smile drops somewhere between the door and reaching me. His eyes are like burning pools that I could happily drown in.
I’ve changed, and there is no going back.
He changed me… Or more, heawakenedme to something pure and perfect. To a possibility of a life bond that transcends dynamic norms and expectations.
He’s not entirely human. Then again, is anyone after the Copper Virus chewed them up and spat them out?
Does that matter?
Does he scare me?
No. And not at all.
He’s here.
He came for me.
Life is so very fragile, and it can be snatched from us at any time. I would waste none of those precious moments.
The simple truth: I want him, not because he’s extraordinary and can change into a beast. Not because he will go down in the history books as the first non-alpha to join the ruling elite. But because he is the only perfect fit for me.
I’ve been waiting for him all my life, I just didn’t know it until we met.
I swallow.
He tucks my hair behind my ear and cups my chin. “I’ve missed you.”
He leans down to kiss me soft and brief. He doesn’t let go and his eyes are still on mine.
“You’ve not slapped me yet,” he whispers.
Kiss.
“I’m sorry, baby.”
Kiss.
