“I know,” he said. His hands were warmandfirm.
My tears soaked the front of Virgil’s shirt. “You cameforme.”
He let out a deep rumble in his throat. “Of course I did. I would neverabandonyou.”
My throat tightened up and I could no longer speak. I just pressed against Virgil’s chest, letting him hold me as my trembling and tears wore off. Finally, when I was stable again, I pulled back. Virgil reached out to wipemyeyes.
“Are you alright?” he askedquietly.
“Yeah,” I croaked. “Sorry I made abigmess.”
He shook his head gently. “Never apologizeforthat.”
I sighed shakily. “What are we going to do about Colin? He just left and I don’t know whereheis.”
Virgil’s brows furrowed and he growled, “I’ll protect you no matter where he is or what he’supto.”
I had to smile at how protective he was. “No, I mean… What are we going to do when hecomesback?”
“We’ll deal with that, I promise. Everybody in camp will be informed about what he did.” He paused. “With your permission, ofcourse.”
I nodded. “I don’t think he’s a bad guy… But he really didscareme.”
“I know,mylove.”
My heart squeezed.My love.Virgil called me his love. I almost started crying again, but I refused to do that a second timetonight.
“Come,” Virgil said, getting to his feet and lifting me. “Let us returntocamp.”
Isniffled. “Okay.”
Holding hands, the two of us walked back to our tent. Everybody else had simmered down, and the area was quiet. Not many people saw us return together, and all the people who did see us strolling to our tent with laced fingers didn’t sayanything.
Inside the warm tent, I pulled my blanket closer to Virgil’s. The tension between us had dissipated. Now I wanted nothing more than to be close to him, and he wanted the same. He never let go of my hand as he spooned me and gently kissed the back ofmyneck.
“I’m sorry about the way I’ve been acting,” I said quietly. “I knew I was ignoring you and acting like a brat, but I couldn’t stopmyself…”
Virgil kissed my hair in acceptance of the apology. “What wasbotheringyou?”
I sighed heavily. “I don’t know exactly. Probably because I had you all to myself in our cabin and when we finally did have sex, these people showed up at our door immediately and hauled us off to become freedomfighters.”
I felt his wry smile against my neck, then a frown. “Yes, I did notice I wasn’t paying as much attention to you compared to before. There was much to be done, but I could have spared you more time. I’msorry.”
Hearing him say that made my heart squeeze with affection. I sighed contentedly and snuggled closer to him, wanting him flushed close as possible. But that wasn’t all I wanted. Even though my heat had ended a long time ago, my hormones were still sensitive and easy to rile up. Being so close to Virgil made my temperature rise, especially close to mygroin.
Tentatively, I wiggled my ass closer to Virgil. Since he was spooning me, he would have felt it immediately. And he did - he tensed slightly, and I hoped he wouldn’t push me away. Hedidnot.
“What are you doing?” he murmured in my ear, not accusatory, butcurious.
“I think you know,” Iteased.
He smirked and tightened his arms around me possessively, which made a shiver run down my spine. One hand crawled down my chest, moving lightly as if totease.
“There are people around,” he said in a mildwarningtone.
“Who cares. We’re in our own tent. Besides, there’s no way there’s this many alphas and omegas around and theyaren’thaving sex,” Imuttered.
Virgil chuckled. “You’reright.”
