"Then why—"
I’d thought about it after the conversation with Fritz. "He paid you because he's waiting."
"For what?"
"For you to claim him." I reached for her hand, lacing our fingers together. "For you to tell him you're staying. That you're not leaving us. That this is real."
She stared at me, confusion written all over her face.
"Henry Hastings has spent his entire life in control," I continued. "He's the man with the plan, the successful businesses, the logical solution to every problem. But you? You terrified him. You still terrify him. Because he can't control this. He can't logic his way into making you love him."
"I do love him," she whispered.
"Does he know that?"
She looked down at our joined hands. "I've never told him."
"He's English, Princesse. He has that stiff upper lip thing going on. He'd rather die than admit he needs you. So instead, he keeps depositing money, giving you an escape route, because he can't quite believe he found his scent match. He can't believe you'll choose to stay without a financial safety net."
"That's stupid."
"It's Hastings. Money is his thing."
She laughed, the sound watery but real. "What about you? How do you feel about it? About him claiming me first?"
I thought about it. I had since the morning I saw the mark on her neck.
"Do you want me?" I asked.
"Of course I do."
"That's all I want, Princesse. I want you to want me. Not because of biology or scent matching or any of that. Just because you do." I squeezed her hand. "And one day, when you're ready, I want you the same way Hastings has you. I want that bond. That connection."
"Like now."
I blinked. "What?"
"If I gave you my neck right now, would you claim me?" Her free hand went to her throat, fingers brushing over Hastings' mark. "Make me yours? Because I love you, Etienne." She pressed her other hand to her chest,right over her heart. "I feel you here. And I've missed you so much it hurts."
My breath caught. "I'd claim you right now, Princesse."
"Without your pack?"
I swallowed hard. The temptation was overwhelming. To sink my teeth into her neck, to feel that bond snap into place, to know she was mine in the same way she was Hastings'.
But I'd hated that Hastings had done it alone. Hated that he'd stolen that moment from us.
I couldn't do the same thing to Fritz.
"What if we go back to London tomorrow?" I said carefully. "And Fritz and I claim you together."
Her eyes lit up. "Together?"
"Oui. The way it should have been done in the first place."
"And Hastings?"
I smiled, slow and wicked. "We'll let him watch."
