When he returned to her bed, she stopped him. “What are you doing?”
“Getting into bed.”
She pointed to the other queen. “That’s yours.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Nope. Good night, Elijah.” Echo turned, giving him her back.
To her irritation, she felt the bed move as his determination flooded her emotions. His arm was around her, pulling her against his chest.
“What the hell?—”
“Be quiet, love,” he murmured in her ear. “We’ll sleep on this, but if I get to fuck you, I get to cuddle you too.”
“I—”
“Go to sleep.” He gave her a slight squeeze and then she felt his body relax.
Echo was stiff in his hold for a minute or so until she sensed his breathing deepen. When she stopped fighting him, she realized she liked him spooning her in sleep. The heat and weight of him at her back, while comforting, was also foreign.Discombobulating. No one had ever held her in sleep before. She thought she’d hate it. Find it suffocating.
But she liked it.
Too much.
To Echo’s shock, tears stung her nose and blurred her vision.
She’d been alone for so long. Longer even than she’d let herself admit. All of her life, in fact.
If she was right about that thread between her and Elijah, she wasn’t destined to be alone. But what if he didn’t want that kind of permanency? Or what if he didn’t reject her, but Echo couldn’t be what he needed? Her plan was never to live out her immortality. But Elijah was immortal.
Echo squeezed her eyes closed, stuffing down her rising panic.
These were all hypotheticals.
For now, they had an enemy to take down. If they were successful, she’d worry about the future then.
21
It wasas if her preternatural senses felt the danger coming before it even arrived.
Echo’s eyes flew open and she sat up, like she’d been yanked out of consciousness.
However, the hotel room was empty.
“Elijah?”
No answer.
Her body told her the sun had not yet set. Elijah was likely out getting some food and gas for their journey north.
So what woke her?
The door to the hotel room suddenly blasted open and there was a blur of color as someone sped toward her at a speed she’d only seen twice before—in Elijah and Niamh.
But the figure that materialized out of high speed wasn’t familiar.
A beautiful redhead stood over Echo, her expression hard with dispassion.
