Laughing, the tension in his body finally started to release.“Good point.”He gave me a short, hard kiss, then stared into my eyes.“Do you understand how disorienting it is to have your heart wandering around on its own?Going to work, getting involved in dangerous shit, feeding raccoons?It’s your heart.You need it to survive, but it’s out living its own life.”
Tears flooded my eyes.“I do, actually.”
He gave his head a quick shake.“Carter called me and I started running.”He glanced over his shoulder.“The house is probably wide open.”
“That’s what wards are for,” I told him, wiping at my eyes.
“Another good point.”Blowing out a long breath, he tipped his head forward so he could rest his cheek against mine and breathe me in.“Let me hold you for a little while.”
“You got it,” I laughed.“I was sick of standing and walking anyway.”
A throat cleared behind me.I heard a very gruff, “Sorry,” and knew it was Osso.“Can we get the footage of him attacking you?”
I sniffed, wiping at my face again.“You bet.”I tried to move but Declan, true to his word, needed to hold me.“But not right now.”
“When you can,” he said.“By the way, the paramedics say he’s probably broken his collarbone and arm.”
“Good,” Declan grunted.
“And if his kneecap isn’t broken,” Osso continued, “it’s been badly dislocated.”
“I should have thrown him harder,” Declan growled.
“While I understand, it’s probably better you didn’t.It needs to be believable.Arwyn, I’m going to need your statement.Monroe is being carted out to the ambulance now.Do you want to go to your studio?”
We did.Bracken was waiting at the door for us.I invited him in to hear what he’d missed.
Osso was kind, which was unsettling, but he let me get through it all.While he asked follow-up questions, I pulled up the security footage and we all watched our mayor pull a huge knife from behind his back and lunge at me, knife straight out.We also saw Declan tear in, heave Monroe into the air, and slam him down on hard concrete.
Bracken patted Declan’s shoulder.
“Nice and clean,” Osso said.“Good job.This will stand up in court, and it doesn’t look like anything more than a really strong boyfriend defending his woman.”
After the cops and Bracken left, I locked up and we walked home.We could have stayed in the studio, but I wanted our home.Plus, if Declan really did leave doors open, we should go close them.
As we walked along the side of the road, hands linked, a chill ran down my spine.I paused, trying to figure out what it was.
Declan drew up short because he was holding my hand.“What is it?”
I shook my head, looking up and down the road.“Not sure, but it’s something.”
Declan’s head snapped back, looking toward the gallery.“No headlights and coming fast.”He picked me up and ran for home.
An engine whined as the driver floored it, aiming right at us.I couldn’t see her face, but I knew who it was.Apparently, Milena hadn’t been arrested with Milo and Catherine.I flicked my fingers and the car spun, sliding off the road and into a huge pine tree.
Declan stopped and turned.“Your vision?”
I nodded, pulling my phone out.“Hopefully Osso hasn’t gotten too far away yet.”
When we finally, finally made it home, we locked up and went straight to bed.Even later when, exhausted, we slept, I dropped off like a stone.
In the morning, I woke to soft light coming through the blinds.Unlike our new pattern, Declan wasn’t cooking in the kitchen.He was sleeping at my back, his arm around me, his hand splayed over my stomach.Eyelids fighting their way open, I saw something directly in front of me and flinched.
Declan’s arm wrapped tighter around me.“It’s okay,” he rumbled, his voice deep with sleep.
I stared at what was sitting a few inches from my face: a ring in a ring box.But not some boring diamond.This ring matched my earrings.A large creamy pearl sat in the center, with dark, fiery opals surrounding it like petals on a flower.I pulled the box closer, examining it.The dark opals had lightning flashes of blue, green, and purple in them.“It’s beautiful,” I breathed.
“I wasn’t sure when to do this.I didn’t know if you’d even consider it, but hoping, I started to plan.One of the pack members is a jeweler.I wanted opals that matched your hair when it touches seawater and I asked your dad for the pearl.”
