“You can do this,” she says against my mouth, her breath warm. She pulls back a little and fixes me with a fiery stare. “And you arenotmy burden, Katie. You never have been. You’re my happiness and the reason I fight so hard.”
I try to believe her. I want to so badly. But it’s impossible not to notice the difference between us.
“Do you know how much it kills me knowing I dragged you into this?” she whispers. “That I’m the reason you might lose five years of your life? If not for me, you’d be safe. Normal. Free.”
I cup her face with one hand. “I wouldn’t be normal. I’d still have this ability, but I wouldn’t have you to protect me.”
Her eyes dart across my face, maybe trying to find an argument.
“And anyway, I’d rather be in danger with you than safe without you,” I add.
Her breath hitches, and a crease appears between her eyebrows. She searches my face as if checking to see if I’m serious.
Finally, she leans her forehead against mine, her breath warm on my lips. “I wish I could give you everything. Magic, acceptance…everything you deserve.”
“You’ve given me more than enough,” I say, and I mean it with every fiber of my being.
I hold her gaze—this gorgeous, incredible woman I’ve fallen hard for. The one making sacrifices to keep me safe. So I won’t be given magic, and the coven won’t forgive me any time soon—but no matter what, I can’t lose this relationship we’ve built. For her and for everyone else I love, I need to figure out how to catch chimeras.
More than that, I need to be the best damn Tracker the coven has ever seen.
She leans in for another kiss, and I melt into her, letting the net fall to the floor.
“You’re not a burden or an outsider or weird, okay?” she murmurs, threading her fingers through my hair. “You’re brave and brilliant and special.”
Her words tingle through me. She always has a way of making me feel better, even when the whole world is against me.
I hook my fingers over the waistband of her jeans, pulling her closer so the heat of her body envelops me. Her familiar scent fills my head, making everything else seem distant compared to the immediate need to be close to her. “Fine. Now come here.”
She glances over her shoulder toward the door, then turns back to me with a smile. The hungry look in her eyes sends a thrill through me.
“I’ve missed touching you,” she whispers. “Every night for seventy-eight days, I wished you were here with me.”
“Same,” I murmur. The fact that she was counting too makes something warm unfurl in my chest.
She kisses me again, slower this time, like we have all day. And maybe we can afford a little pause. We both passed out fast last night when we got back from White Rock, so today is the first stretch of time we’ve really had together since I got back to Vancouver. Maybe for now, I can forget about chimeras and nets and the Madsens.
Natalie wraps her hands around my thighs, and in my next hitched breath, she lifts me up and sets me onto one of the wooden tables. The casual display of strength makes my stomach flip pleasantly.
Her warm fingers wander beneath my shirt as I lean back on my hands. The cool surface under my palms contrasts with the heat of her touch, making me shiver. Her mouth traces a path down my neck, and I let out a shaky breath.
“We probably shouldn’t…” I say with a glance at the door, even as my fingers find the buttons of her shirt.
“Probably not. But nobody has any reason to come in here, and anyway…” She stretches out a hand toward the door, and aclickresonates. “Door’s locked.”
I return her grin, and she pulls my T-shirt over my head—which is actually hers since I don’t have my stuff here yet. The soft fabric slides over my skin, raising goosebumps in its wake.
“I’ve been imagining doing this since I saw you at the airport,” she says, reaching for the clasp of my bra.
I laugh breathlessly as my bra lands on the floor beside the T-shirt. “Before or after the Shadows attacked me?”
“Both.” She kisses along my collarbone and palms my breasts. “Though I pictured a much better reunion.”
Everything narrows to her fingers, her soft lips, and the heat of her body against mine. I slide my hands beneath her open shirt and push it off her shoulders, letting it hit the floor. She’s so unbearably beautiful—all lean muscle and smooth skin glowing in the dim light, marred by the cuts and bruises from our fight with Sophia. Evidence of what she’s willing to endure for me.
“So many things I’ve wanted to do to you…” Natalie murmurs against my skin.
I knot her hair in my fingers as she traces her lips down my chest. “Show me,” I whisper.
