I push through the security team standing beside me and reach for Raya as she bursts through the doors. Camera flashes go off behind me, so I curl around her, tucking her slight body into my arms and shielding her from the reporters as best I can. She’s trembling, and it nearly breaks my heart.
I never wanted to worry her, but I knew some amount of it was unavoidable. She pulls me back through the front doors, and I continue to cover and block her from view as best I can. The last thing I want is for her to get sucked into the media drama is that is sure to unfold.
We tuck ourselves into a side alcove as soon as we’re out of sight and I scoop her up, needing to feel her against me. Raya’s hands are nearly frantic, smoothing over my shoulders and arms, touching every inch of me she can reach.
“Are you okay?” she asks.
“Yeah, sunshine, I’m okay,” I say, then clear my throat. “I’m so sorry I didn’t warn you. Are you okay?”
Raya nods, but I’m not sure I believe her. Her beautiful brown eyes are glassy with unshed tears, and pain stabs in my chest.
“What is it? Talk to me, please,” I say.
“I was just so scared. When I saw you up there, with them,” her voice cracks and she looks away.
I tuck her head into my chest and rock us back and forth.
“You thought I was going back to them?” My heart cracks again, partly because I thought she knew me better than that, and partly because her pain is my pain.
“I know you don’t want to.” She sniffs and swipes at her nose. “But I thought maybe you didn’t have a choice. That there was no other option. I would never want you to give up your life for mine, Asher.”
My body goes preternaturally still, in the way only vampires can. So she didn’t doubt my integrity, she thought I was doing it toprotecther. In that sense, she’s correct. I would do anything for her, even rejoin my family if it was the only option.
“No, love. My sweet ray of sunshine, I will never go back to them. I found another way.”
She nods against my chest and I pull back, gazing down into her eyes.
“So, what did you do? I was mostly panicking, and didn’t catch much of what you said.” Her shoulders curl in and I swipe my thumbs along her cheekbones.
“That’s okay. I’m happy to tell you everything. The quick version is that I found out they, Claude and Estelle, had bribed most of the board and that’s how they acquired their positions. I decided to use that massive inheritance I haven’t touched to become a majority shareholder, which allowed meto call for a vote of no confidence, nominate new board members, and basically means I was able to take control, elect a new board, and oust the Waltons.”
Raya’s eyes grow bigger and bigger as I talk, and the words fly from my lips. I’m ready to be done with it. I don’t want to eventhinkabout this situation anymore. I want to move on, me and her, working together, living together, loving each other.
“Why did they seem so happy to see you then?”
My mouth tilts up. Smart little shifter.
“I have been… slowly ingratiating myself to them over the last two weeks. I replied to a couple emails they sent, made it seem like I was giving in. So when I showed up and stood next to them…”
“They thought they won,” she breathes.
“They thought they won.”
Raya jumps into my arms, a wide grin on her face, and my hands go to her ass, holding her against me as she wraps her legs around my hips.
“My devious vampire,” she says, her eyes sparkling as I push her back against the wall.
As I lean in to kiss her, Raya shoves me away. I’m not expecting it, so I fall to the side, and a flash of beige and black catapults away from me. I catch myself with a hand against the wall and my body twists with Raya’s motion as she jumps—in full jaguar form—around me.
I shake my head, having no idea what’s happening.
“Ray—” my voice cuts off before I can finish calling her name, and my confusion turns to lead in my gut as my heart stops.
Raya takes one massive leap, her strong jaguar body bunching and stretching as she pushes off the floor, straight into Chadwick as he’s blurring toward us. Her massive feline body collides with his, and they tumble through the air.
Their limbs tangle as they fight for dominance and control, their bodies flying one over the other with neither letting go as they swipe and growl at each other.
I have no idea how she saw him coming, how she sensed him before I did, how she shifted so quickly or got to him before I even turned around. My brain scrambles to catch up, but it’s like everything is happening in slow motion as Raya’s life flashes before my eyes.
