“Why the hell are you laughing?” I demanded only for him to crack up even more.
“It’s your face,” he chuckled, pulling me down to his lap as he sat on the bed. “There is nothing for you to feel guilty about. I don’t care that you were in his room, alone, with him.”
My cheeks flushed at the way he said it, but he truly seemed not to care. “But I was in his bathroom.”
His eyebrow arched with the news, as though theTwilighthadn’t exactly told him that part.
“It was an accident,” I blurted, wide-eyed.
“So, how exactly does one walk past the entry, into his office, and across his room to his bathroom by accident?” he asked, mouth twitching in amusement.
“I swear to the Goddess, Dante!”
Laughter burst from him, and I smacked his arm again. “Natasha, Iwant youto hit me. That’s not a punishment. How haven’t you realized that by now?”
I chuckled when he pulled us both to lay down on the bed, tugging me against his body. My face rested on his bare chest, fully enjoying his warmth against my cheek, and my body naturally curled around him.
“You really aren’t mad?”
“No,Cuore mio. But I want you to tell me what happened because something scared you, and I need to know what it was.”
His finger curled under my chin, gently lifting my head so I would look at him. I considered telling him about my wolf, but I wasn’t sure how he would feel about her claiming D after I’d mated with him already.
“You can tell me anything,” he promised. “I’m always going to understand.”
His eyes shone with the entire cosmos inside them, but more than that, they shone with sincerity, and I truly felt like I could tell him the truth. So, I did. Taking a deep breath, I told him everything. Even if it could cost me him.
20
DANTE
Natasha’s cheeks grew pink as we lay on the bed, with that beautiful flush they always got when she was embarrassed or aroused. In this case, it was both, the gesture telling me everything she still didn’t dare to say as she recalled her encounter with D in his bathroom.
Pensive, I glanced down at her while my fingers slowly traced the sensitive curve of her neck, helping her relax. “Why did you go into D’s room?”
“Because my wolf wanted me to,” she breathed. “She wanted us to see him.”
Relief coursed through me. It meant the world to me that Natasha trusted me enough to admit that. From what she knew, she was only meant to mate with one person… She had no idea she was different. Not yet… but soon.
“Dante…” she suddenly called, uncertainty staining my name on her lips.
I did not like that.
“What is it?”
“I need you to tell me the truth.”
A burdened breath tightened my chest because I knew what that meant, and I knew Isis hadn’t been able to speak to her yet due to her condition, but I was done keeping things from her. “Whatever you want to know, just ask.”
She bit her lower lip, as though it was difficult for her, and she might not want the answer. “Why does D have me on his skin too? Why does his arm have the white wolf tattoo.”
Fine, maybe I didn’t know. That was certainly not what I’d expected her to ask.
Glancing into her trusting eyes, I lifted my touch to her jaw, stroking it. “Because you are his too, Natasha. And Hannes’…”
A small gasp left her lips, eyes churning with bewilderment, but also recognition. Like a huge mystery had finally been revealed, and I surmised it had to do with her wolf’s needs. “Hannes has my wolf on his arm too?”
“Yes,” I smiled at her, feeling relieved to finally be able to tell her that. We desperately needed her to understand, so we could all be together once and for all. “We are all yours,Cuore mio.”
