“I know…”
“No, you don’t.” A troubled sigh left him. “Vanessa went head-to-head with two Hunters for you, without a single thought for her safety. She not only defeated them but then used her Audiokinesis to alert D and me of the danger and send your location to us. All while attacking the wolves’ hearing to immobilize them so they couldn’t hurt you or take you from us.She may be immortal but with such injuries and without blood to heal her, she was at great risk.”
Regret filled me when I remembered her gripping her torn-open stomach, chunks of flesh missing from her body. Even as hurt as she was, Vanessa used the energy she had left to call for help and save me from the Hunters.
Still, it was difficult to reconcile the two sides I’d witnessed today. The two sides of a Vampire. I didn’t know what was real or fake anymore.
Were Vampires the evil ones?
There was one thing of which I was certain. “She saved my life,” I whispered, forgetting everything else.
“She tried her best, but she couldn’t…” He paused, his chest contracting under my cheek. “You almost died, Natasha.”
“How?” I breathed, shaken by his statement. “The Hunters didn’t get a chance to?—"
“By choosing to shield the human and let Vanessa’s power assault you too.”
“I couldn’t let Debbie die because of me. She was innocent in all of this,” I defended.
“I don’t care about the human!” he seethed. “Vane warned you, and still—” The words caught in his throat, and his muscles jerked against me.
The unexpected agony pouring from him made my wolf howl inside me.
“I knew you would heal me,” I whispered, not a single doubt in my heart.
Dante’s anguish increased. “I didn’t, Natasha. Your wolf did.”
What?!
Pulse racing out of control, I sat up. “That is impossible!” I breathed. “I haven’t shifted into her yet, and every time I’ve even tried, we’ve done nothing but hurt each other. I can’t shift without the fire magic, and now that the ancient crystals aregone, I…” My head shook, he had to be confused. “That’s never happened before in our race, Dante. Shecouldn’thave healed me.”
“She found a way,” he assured, sitting up too. “Your wolf infused as much of her self-healing into you as she could to keep you alive until I got there. Your fingertips, your arm, and your side mended on their own, and she fought to keep your mind strong through the attack, while Kellan’s brain burst from it. Natasha, you not only covered Debbie’s ears to protect her, but you absorbed the sonar power that would have ended her life too. I’ve been feeding you my magic ever since, returning the strength you both lost with the feat, trying toget you back—if it weren’t for your wolf…”
He shut his eyes, nostrils flaring as he tried to calm himself, but his distress was palpable. Darkness churned around us, but it wasn’t the usually graceful and almost seductive dance his bands of shadows performed. Instead, they quivered and jerked violently as they coiled around his body, fighting the weight of his deepest fear from crushing him. His reaction to thinking I could have died was visceral, the tension clamping down on his entire body.
Lifting a hand to Dante’s cheek, I cradled it, my fingertips tracing the working muscles of his chiseled jaw. “I’m still here.”
When his bottomless green eyes found me once more, the entire universe shone inside of them, not just theTwilightthat fed his soul.
“I’m here…” I repeated, meaning far more than just my physical presence.
He remained silent, watching me as my fingers caressed their way down his neck, and his shoulder, once more tracing his tattoo sleeve. My admiring gaze fell to his bicep, focusing on the white wolf that stood proudly in the center of his magicalcosmos, looking at me. My she-wolf immediately swelled up at the sight, recognizing what I hadn’t the first time I saw it…
Powerful emotion flowed out of her freely, overwhelming my heart.
“It’s me, isn’t it? The white wolf…”
Dante wrapped his body around me in response, holding me fiercely to him, his face pressing against my neck.
“I cannot lose you, Natasha,” he rasped, his voice thick with need as it fanned my ear. “My entire life, darkness was the only thing that guided me. That fed me. That moved me. I thought it was my purpose, nevertheless, sometimes it felt like it was my undoing. There was this emptiness inside me, a need for something more. I never truly understood why Hecate herself chose me to wield her ancient magic, because being so powerful seemed shallow… meaningless.”
Pulling away from me, Dante lifted his hand from my back and slipped it into my hair, gripping it like he feared I would leave him, and tilting my head up enough to hold his gaze.
“And then the Viscountess showed me you. As my future played out in my mind’s eye, all the pieces of me that seemed meaningless, that were lost in my darkness fell right into place. Perfectly fitting together and showing me who I truly was. Who I was meant to be with you, for you. Nothing else mattered after I learned the truth. Nothing but you. You are my beginning and my end, Natasha. You are eternity itself.”
His eyes traveled to his tattoo, before returning to bore into mine.
“You are the center of our universe.”
