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I knew which room was hers without having to ask, but as soon as I sat on her bed she turned and headed in the opposite direction.

I found her in the kitchen setting up to bake. I sat at a small table by the window and watched her. “I like your place,” I told her. “Do you live with your sister?”

“She has an apartment above this one.”

“So you’re alone?”

She didn’t look at me, busy measuring some flour into a bowl. “Usually. Right now you’re here.”

She was wearing a fitted black skirt that went to her knees with a tidy white shirt tucked into it. She’d kicked off her shoes when we walked in the door and put on a short white apron before she started cooking.

I stood up, crowding her against the counter, my front to her back. I towered over her barefoot. It was a heady experience, being alone with her and knowing that nothing was standing in my way.

I pressed against her, hands at her hips, and kissed her neck.

She was frozen. She hadn’t moved a muscle since I’d touched her, and I wished I could see her face.

I fondled her and bit her ear. There was some movement now, her ragged breath in and out. “What are you doing?” she asked unsteadily.

“Did you think we came here for cake?” I asked her, pinching her nipples and biting tendon between her neck and shoulder.

“Domhnall,” she said sternly, though her breath was unsteady. “We can’t—”

“Why not? No more excuses. If you don’t want me, say it now, but no more bullshit about my age.”

She moved her body to turn around, and I dropped my hands to my sides. She pushed me back far enough to look up at me with her hands on my chest.

Our eyes met and she tilted her head sideways at me. I could read her movements, I’d been studying her closely, but I couldn’t read her eyes just then other than to capture them with mine. She touched my cheek. “Your eyes…” she trailed off.

“Do they disturb you?”

“Not at all. I love them too much. They’re captivating. Right now they’re glowing, especially the wolf eye. Domhnall, are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

In answer I bent down and kissed her like I’d been waiting my whole life to do it. The world stopped. I’d found her too young, but she was my eternity. Every cell in my body knew it. I held nothing back.

She trembled, shudders that racked her body as though her walls were coming down, one barrier crumbling after another with tremor after tremor.

And at last she kissed me back, hands digging into my hair, a little noise of surrender sounding in her throat.

She pulled back eventually and looked deep into my eyes. She touched my cheek, traced an elegant finger under my wolf’s eye. “Just don’t fall in love with me, Dom. I’m a lost cause. Even if we built something together, in the end, I only know how to destroy.”

“We’re well past that,” I said, picked her up, and carried her to bed.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

IT GETS WORSE

I hadn’t lost much time in real life from The Grove, which was lucky because Caleb and Christian were close to escaping and leaving a trail of lackey druid bodies in their wake.

I arrived just in time to talk them both down from murder. They liked cages about as much as I did.

“What the fuck happened?” Caleb asked me.

“Why are the druids holding us prisoner?” Christian asked.

I tried to be diplomatic, but everyone in the room knew it wasn’t one of my strong points. “You guys failed. You were both bespelled by Drake and brought here. They were just holding you until you could be debriefed.”

“You sound like one of them,” Caleb said flatly. Like a druid, he meant, and it was an insult.