Page 46
My hands stilled. I pulled away and gawked at him.
“I know what’s in your head. The doubt, the uncertainty, the shattered self-confidence. How could anyone love me seeing me ruined?”
He shook his head. “All I saw was a survivor. A woman who’d gone through hell and fought until the very end. There has never been a single thing about you that would make me turn away from you.”
My eyes burned. “Cernunnos—”
He shook his head. Gods, he was beautiful. Golden skin and magic brimming from his entire body. The strong jaw and lean muscle, and the roughness in his words when he spoke. “I swore before I’d never make you choose, never lie to you. I’m afraid I must renege on that promise. Choose me, Moira. Even if you’re mated to that bastard, choose me.”
I stared at him. “You can’t be serious.”
He said nothing, only watched me with those ancient eyes.
“Cernunnos, we started this thing knowing we were entering into a mutually beneficial relationship. You can’t be in love with me.” I shook my head. My stomach had dropped to my feet.
“Are you?”
“I know I want to protect you with every fiber of my being. I want to be the one to make you smile. I want to be the one who has your back during every battle you fight.”
My heart felt like it was breaking into a million pieces. “But you don’t love me.”
“Does it matter?”
I let out a crack of laughter. “Of course it matters. If you don’t love me, we aren’t much more than friends, are we?”
“I am a god, Moira. I was born when worlds began. None of us love in the way a normal human or paranormal would. You saying how I feel about you is equal to a friendship is woefully inadequate.”
“So what. You want to get married and build me a white picket fence and have babies and watch Netflix together?”
His lips twitched. “If that’s what you wish.”
I sighed and tapped his chest. “Put me down.”
His grip tightened. “No.”
“Cernunnos. I’m serious.”
In response, he carried me across the apartment and into my bedroom, where he unceremoniously dumped me onto my bed. I let out an undignified squawk and glared at him. “What the hell?”
He crawled onto the bed and trapped me between his arms.
His voice turned dark and seductive. “Do you want me to build you a fence and watch Netflix with you, Moira?”
I blinked.
“Or do you want me to take you across worlds where danger and delight are equally shared?”
He reached for my hair and tugged on a stray piece. “I’ll do whatever you like. Be whatever you wish if you stay with me.”
I shook my head and reached up to cup his face in my hands. “I want you to be who you are. You should never change for anyone.”
“Exactly,” he murmured. “So why the fuck are you asking me about fences?”
I snorted and flopped back onto my pillows. “Why are you so insistent about this? Are you jealous of Ethan?”
Cernunnos moved up until he was on top of me, resting all his weight on his elbows. “I know you care about the wolf, so I won’t say what’s burning in my heart.”
I pressed my hand against his chest. “Thought you didn’t have one.”
