He was already running toward her. When Gentry tossed him the blanket from the floorboard in his jeep, Roman caught it without missing a step.
“I don’t feel good,” Mila said helplessly, but he was already wrapping her up in the blanket.
“It’s okay. I’m gonna make it better.”
“H-how?”
“Do you trust me?”
She wrapped her arms around her stomach and whispered, “I shouldn’t.”
****
Mila had hurt him with those words. She could tell, but it had come from an honest place. He had left her without saying goodbye and hurt her deeply. There wasn’t an apology for abandoning her to this life without an explanation. There was no closure. Roman could disappear in a moment, just like the ghosts she was pretty sure he could see.
Roman’s frown was completely at odds with his normally smiling face as he walked her to the car, tossed Asher the keys, and pulled her onto his lap in the passenger’s seat.
Her stomach hurt so bad, as if she’d drunk a gallon of gasoline and swallowed a burning match. Being in the car with all three Strikers made it even worse, but she drew comfort from Roman’s strong arms around her. He pointed the heater vents right at her. He was colder than normal, but he was giving her all the warmth he could.
The trip to the Hunter Cove Inn was a silent one. Roman wouldn’t look at her, but instead kept his gaze fixated on the white woods that blurred by outside. She wished she could say something witty like he always did. Something to make him laugh and ease the tension she’d caused with her admission.
Asher pulled to a stop in the frozen parking lot between the three cabins that made up Hunter Cove Inn. Gentry pulled Blaire from the back seat and carried her toward one of the smaller cabins. Asher made his way to the smallest, dilapidated cabin, and without a word, Roman slammed the jeep door behind him and carried Mila toward Noah Striker’s old cabin—the one he used to refer to as ten-ten. Noah had always said there was magic in the number, but she’d always thought he was full of it. It was just an address. Good magic didn’t exist.
“You live here now?”
Roman made a tick sound behind his teeth like he was frustrated. “Gentry, that dick muffin, made me take it after he moved into Blaire’s cabin. He said it didn’t feel right living in Dad’s old cabin, so I got it by default. Lucky me.”
Weakly, Mila smiled. “Noah always said the cabin was magic.”
“Yeah well, magic just sucked like twenty years off all our lives, so I’m not a fan of otherworldly mojo, if you catch my drift. Mila, why shouldn’t you trust me?” he asked suddenly.
So she had hurt him. “Because you’re a leaver, Roman Striker. And thanks to Odine, I will always be a stayer.”
Roman shook his head and gritted his teeth hard as he set her on her feet inside and closed the door behind him. It was warmer in here, but Mila still felt as cold as ice. She couldn’t stop shivering.
Roman turned, and he was on her fast. His hand cupped her neck as he leaned down. His lips were urgent against hers, but she was so shocked she just stood there frozen. The sickness in her middle eased, but that made no sense. She was closer to Roman than ever. How many times had she dreamed of this moment when she was younger? How many times had she wished more than anything that Roman would kiss her like this? Mila softened her mouth and sucked on his bottom lip. A long, low growl rattled from Roman’s throat. It should’ve terrified her, made her inner wolf cower, but right now, the fire that had been burning up her middle had transformed into a different kind of heat. Roman brushed his tongue against her lips, and she opened for him. The second his tongue touched hers, she let off a helpless whimper in desperation for more. Mila opened up the blanket and wrapped her arms around him.
His hand was strong and steady against the side of her neck, his thumb stroking her cheek as though she was precious. Nothing in the world had ever felt this right. Roman leaned down and lifted her up, wrapped her legs around his waist, then strode to the couch and settled on it. She thought he would grind up against her and start pushing for more. She wanted that, too, but he did something more profound. He slowed their kisses, slowed their pace, and ran his hands gently up and down her spine, trailing heat with his touch until she stopped shivering. He tasted so good. Smelled like cologne. She was so exhausted, she felt drunk with it, and her usual nerves were suffocated by the fatigue. She simply didn’t have the energy to overthink this.
Roman shortened his kisses, made them softer, gave her tiny, sweet pecks until he eased away from her mouth and immediately pulled her against him. And they just sat like that, all wrapped up in the blanket together, their heartbeats racing, sharing warmth, as he massaged the back of her neck and pulled her hair gently as he petted her.
“Don’t call me a leaver again,” he murmured low. “I’m sorry I left before, but I’m not the same person I was back then. I was hurt, angry, and you scared me that night.”
“What night?”
“At Jack’s. I was already planning on leaving, and you were making me want to stay in that empty life. Stuck in a small town, unable to join the pack, always being on the outside. I couldn’t do it, Mila. And Asher was offering me a way out. He was kicked out, too, was leaving town, was starting from scratch, and it wasn’t so scary because I wouldn’t be alone. But if I stayed with you, figured out how important you were to me, to my wolf, all of it, you were going to realize what a fuck up I was, and I would be alone anyway. I had a chance to make a life, and I took it.”