I needed this moment, because I would always wonder otherwise what actually being with him was like. So even if I only got this short time, it would have to be enough.
“Let me tell my guys, so they don’t follow us.”
I murmured this close to his lips, not really thinking about what I’d just said. Louis’s chest rumbled and he slammed his mouth against mine, capturing me so thoroughly that I completely forgot I had anyone else in my life. His tongue dominated me, stroking and stirring the flames that had been flickering in my center since he first stormed into the room. “You have no guys but me,” he growled against my bruised lips. “You belong to me, Elizabeth, until I say otherwise.”
A small part of my brain protested this dominance he was showing, but a much larger part basically lost all train of thought as desire rocked me. I had never, not even with my sister, seen Louis this primal.
He was claiming me. Devouring me. And I couldn’t get enough of it.
When he had thoroughly kissed the hell out of me, he let me slowly slide to my unsteady feet. I wobbled for a moment, and then gained my equilibrium. “Tell them not to come by for a few days,” he warned me. I started to move, pushing around him.
“And, Tee…”
I stopped and turned back. “Don’t touch them. I only have so much control right now.”
That much was clear. His eyes were barely even purple in that moment. If anything, they looked like stormy clouds, ready to lash out and slam chaos down onto the world below.
“Be right back,” I promised.
His eyes on me kept that thrum of energy zooming through my body, and I was hyperaware of everything as I moved toward Connor. He had remained on the edge of the dance floor, no doubt watching me closely.
When I neared him, he rushed toward me, and I held out my hands. “Please don’t touch me right now. Louis is a little—”
“Unstable,” he bit out.
I shrugged. “He’s powerful, and that means his darkness is also. He’s fighting it, but best we don’t push him over the edge.”
Connor studied me for a few moments before he let out a sigh. “Are you sure about this?”
Somehow he already knew what was happening.
I nodded, swallowing hard as I rubbed damp palms across my jeans. “I need this moment with him. I need to know what it’s like to be loved by Louis.”
Sympathy bloomed in Connor’s eyes, and I hated that. My voice was harsher then. “Don’t come by the cabin for a few days. I’ll let you know when he’s gone.”
His jaw was clenched so hard that I could almost hear his teeth protesting. “Don’t let him hurt you, Liz.”
I leaned in to hug him, like I always would, before remembering Louis. Pulling back quickly, I just nodded. “I’ll be careful. See you three soon.”
Connor lifted his head and nailed Louis with a fierce stare, and I had to say, I had never loved my friend more than in that moment. Everyone was afraid of Louis. Everyone in the entire freaking world. Including very ancient and powerful magic users. But for me, Connor risked the wrath of a sorcerer.
“Love you,” I whispered, and then quickly spun away before he could say anything.
Louis’s face was a storm cloud by the time I got back to him, and I knew he’d heard my last words to Connor, but I didn’t even care. He hadn’t been there for the past few decades. He didn’t pick up the pieces of my life. He didn’t give me the will to get back into the world. So he didn’t get to be mad because I found a family somewhere else.
This was my new reality, and dark or not, Louis was going to have to deal with it.
15
Louis
The five days that Tee was off my radar felt like the longest days of my life. Between the humans converging on Stratford, the armies threatening our communities with their weapons, and dealing with council members, I was pretty much ready just to kidnap my mate and hide in Faerie. I spent most of my free time tracking her, just waiting for the moment she emerged back on Earth. I also thought a lot about the future and what I wanted.
And I realized what an absolute idiot I’d been to think I could keep her at arm’s length. There was not a minute that she was not on my mind, and my need to touch her, to talk to her, to stare at her beautiful face … it grew worse every day.
The moment she returned, every spell I’d set up went off, and I knew exactly where she was. Alaska. I’d expected she would return to her home, and I was ready to go straight to her. The darkness inside of me felt out of control, not to a worrying level, but I was definitely unstable without my mate.
“Louis!”
