CHAPTER 19
Naomi stepped out of the shower that next morning, feeling different in so many ways—stronger, more rested, every fiber of her being thrumming with the reminder of Asher’s incredible passion last night.
And his bite.
She moaned just thinking about how good it felt to have his mouth on her like that, his fangs piercing the pliant flesh of her neck. Now that she knew what it was to give herself over to his hunger, a deeper craving had begun to take shape within her too.
She wanted to taste him.
She wanted to drink from his vein and feel the same kind of bond to him that he had described after taking his fill from her.
She wanted to feel his bond.
It terrified her how much she wanted that, even knowing there would be no coming back from it. A future with Asher. As his blood-bonded mate.
His Breedmate.
Wrapping a towel around her, she stepped in front of the bathroom mirror and peered at her reflection. She tilted her head, and for the first time in her life she studied the small red symbol under her chin with something other than annoyance or resentment. She’d spent twenty-six years trying to pretend the teardrop-and-crescent-moon stamp on her skin was nothing more than a birthmark, something to be ignored. Now, she couldn’t see it without thinking about Asher and the incredible, passionate world that had opened up to her since he came into her life.
She smoothed her fingers over the vein that pulsed just below her ear, unable to contain the broad smile that spread over her face.
She loved him.
He hadn’t said the words back to her precisely, but he’d said other things. Tender things. Possessive things. And all the while his molten gaze had scorched her with its intensity, and its raw honesty.
God, she had it bad for him.
More and more since she’d met Asher, she had been allowing herself to imagine shiny places in her future, places that had plenty of room for the kids and Michael, yet always with Asher at the center. It astonished her to realize how deeply she longed for those things, and that the other driving force in her life—vengeance on Leo Slater—had begun to take a backseat to this other one.Hope.
“You are a love-struck fool,” she told her giddy reflection, but not even that dimmed the happy look on her face.
She shook her head and finished drying off, then hurried to get dressed so she could go find Asher and maybe persuade him to help her out of her clothes again after she made some tea and found something to eat.
She was finger-combing her damp hair when her phone trilled with an incoming call. She retrieved it from the top of the bureau and frowned at the private caller message shown on the display.
There weren’t a lot of people who had her number; Michael and the kids, primarily. Instantly her thoughts careened toward Slater, but she couldn’t imagine any way he’d know how to reach her. Still, her finger hesitated for a moment over the screen before she decided to answer.
“Hello?”
“Hi,” a female voice replied. “Naomi, this is Sheila, from Dr. Davis’s office.”
“Oh. Sure, of course.” Naomi let go of her pent-up breath when she realized it was only the medical assistant at the low-cost clinic where they brought the kids. “Is everything all right?”
“Yes, everything’s fine. We, ah, we have Tyler here for his asthma check-up today.”
“Okay.” Naomi vaguely recalled the appointment, but usually it was Michael who kept track of those things and made sure everyone got where they were supposed to be. “Is there something I can do for you, Sheila?”
“Well, I was just wondering . . . Tyler’s been waiting for someone to come pick him up for over an hour, so I didn’t know if you—”
“Wait a second,” Naomi blurted. “Didn’t Michael bring him to the appointment?”
“Yes, he did. But Tyler tells me Michael dropped him off and was going to take care of some banking and run a couple of errands before he came back to pick him up. Like I said, it’s been quite a while since we finished with Tyler and the poor little guy’s getting a bit anxious for someone to come and get him.”
“I can imagine,” Naomi murmured, a niggling sense of unease creeping over her. “Have you tried to reach Michael?”
“Yes. We’ve called him several times, but his phone goes straight to voice mail.”
“Okay.” Naomi pinched the bridge of her nose. “Okay, I’ll try him too. I’m not in the city right now, but I can get there in about an hour. Can Tyler wait there for a while longer?”
