A familiar, male voice sounded down the phone.Aworried,familiar, male voice.
Peter frowned, steering his car one-handed as he pressed his cell harder to his ear.“Rick?Is that you?”
“She’s here, mate,” the man on the other end almost whispered, thick worry rolling through each word.Peter’s blood ran cold.“At my apartment.Get your arse here.Now.”
“Is she okay?”Peter demanded, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Yolanda shift in her seat, twisting to face him.
“Just get here as soon as you can,” Reggie’s long-time friend muttered, low and harried.“And bring your gun.”
The disconnect tone drilled into Peter’s ear, loud and cold.He lowered the phone and turned to Yolanda, pulse pounding, chest heavy.“I know where Reggie is.”
Yolanda stared at him, every muscle in her body tense, her fingers curling tighter around her own cell phone, eyes sharp.Eager.“Tell me.”
His mouth felt dry.Like it was stuffed with cotton wool.Opening his eyes slowly, he peered into the darkness around him.He was in a room and on a bed.Better than the last time he’d regained consciousness, at least.No prickly straw scratching at his neck this time.
He shifted his wrists slightly, waiting for the sound of chains.None came and he smiled.
“Rick offered to cage you.”Regan’s husky voice caressed his ear and he turned his head, finding her standing beside by the bed.“But I said no.”
“Gee, thanks.”He rose up into a sitting position and studied her, frustrated at the shadows of the room hiding the expression on her face.Was she angry?Worried?He couldn’t sense anything.He pulled a quick breath and her soft, delicate scent filled his being like ambrosia.His heartbeat tripled and he swallowed.Had he thought his mouth dry before?“Are you okay, love?”
She placed a gentle hand on his jaw and leant forward, her green eyes hidden in the darkness.“Haven’t I already told you not to call me love?”she whispered, before brushing her lips over his.
Electricity surged through him.Cut through his body like a charge.He reached up and tangled his hands in her hair, holding her to the kiss.Praise Mary, he was never going to let her go.He flicked at her lips with his tongue and she opened to him willingly, her mouth a sweet, warm well that gave him life.
A life so much more now she was in it.
He broke the kiss, pulling away from her a little to stare into her eyes.“God forgive me, Regan.I never meant for you…for McCoy…” He stumbled over the name, chest clenching, jaw bunched.
Regan gave him a small, warm smile.“I know.”She kissed him again, her lips velvet-soft.Forgiving.“Just don’t let it happen again, okay?”
“Never.”He smoothed his hands from her hair to cup her face, holding her gaze with his.“Which is why you have to stay here when I leave.”
She cocked an eyebrow, her smile turning sardonic.“You going somewhere?”
“Yes.Nathan Epoc’s private residence.”
She rolled her eyes, stepping backward.“Not this again.”
Pulling the sheet free of his limbs, Declan swung his legs around and placed his feet on the floor, ignoring the slight stab in his side.He’d find out what the vet did to him later.After he got this sorted out once and for all.“Yes, this again.Do you really think I’m going to let you come with me after what happened?”
She folded her arms across her chest, glaring at him.“And do you really think I’m going to let you out of my sight after working so hard to keep you alive?”
He stood up, wrapping his fingers around her arms, holding her still.Her heat seeped into his hands, up his arms into his body and he dragged in a deep breath.“Don’t you get it?”he growled.“I couldn’t survive if something happened to you, something I could have prevented.Losing you would mean losing myself.Losing who I am, who I’ve becomebecauseof you.It would mean the death of my human soul and if that happened I’d become the monster Hollywood so loves to portray—an ancient creature more savage and wild and deadly than any on this earth.I can’t risk that.I can’t riskyou.Not after losing Maggie.I can’t.”
Regan regarded him silently for a still moment, her eyes unreadable in the dark room, before the corners of her lips curled gently.“What was I doing when we first met?I mean, as wolf and human?”
Declan frowned.“Trying to save the animals in Epoc’s lab.Why?”
“You were one of those animals, Paddy.I wanted to save you—help you—then and I want to help you now.”
His frown deepened.“It’s not the same, love.Breaking into science labs is a bit different to storming a psychotic werewolf’s personal territory.And if I remember rightly, your rescue mission went belly-up.”
Her smile stretched wider.Grew almost predatory.“There are five things I know about you, Declan O’Connell.You’re Irish.You’re a werewolf.Your sister was murdered, you hate Nathan Epoc and you’re ruled by your emotions.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but she shook her head, cutting him short.“Let me finish.There are three things you should know about me.I’m stubborn, I hate being cornered and in just under a day I’ve fallen irretrievably, madly and completely in love with you.And if you think I’m going to let you face Epoc and his mongrel alone, thatI’mgoing to risk losingyou, you really are monumentally stupid!”
Declan gazed at her, mouth open, heart hammering.Did she say what he thought she said?Did she just say…
