Dante finally shifted enough to gently pull free of my sensitive ass, but he didn’t roll off me at all. I was confused when he reached behind him to search out my right hand. I gave it to him and smiled when he manipulated my fingers until just my pointer finger was extended and then he placed it on his back. “Tell me again,” he whispered.
Except I knew he didn’t want to actually hear the words…he was too raw for that. So, I did as he asked and I carefully spelled out the letters for him on his back. When I was done, he lifted his head and kissed me. “I’ll be able to say it back someday. I promise.”
I smiled and nodded. “I know you will.”
I maneuvered him so he was tucked up against my side. We always started off with me on my back and him using my chest as his pillow when we first went to sleep, but come morning, I was usually wrapped around him from behind and his fingers would be clutching mine against his chest.
Dante was out within a matter of minutes, but it took me longer to drift off. I was looking forward to going home, despite not knowing what the future held. I’d managed to plan out a lot of things in the past few months as I’d prepared to make the move to Seattle permanent – a new job with the Seattle PD, a house that was close enough to my grandson’s that I could see him on a regular basis. But I hadn’t planned for this moment where I had the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with lying asleep in my arms.
I smiled as I realized nothing in this world could have prepared me for Dante Thorne. And fuck if that wasn’t a good thing.
Exhaustion settled over me like a cloak and I was dead to the world until I heard Dante’s phone ringing. His phone was on my side of the bed so I grabbed it. I’d just hit the Send to Voicemail button when Dante jerked around.
“Was that my phone?” he asked, sleep still clouding his eyes.
“Yeah,” I said. “You can call them back,” I murmured as I put the phone back on the nightstand.
“No,” he nearly shouted. “Let me see it.”
“It wasn’t Memphis,” I offered as I snagged the phone. “It was an unknown caller from Chicago.”
Dante’s eyes went bright as he ripped the phone from my hands. He frantically punched in the code to unlock it, let out a curse when he got it wrong and then tried again. The second he got it unlocked, a voicemail notification flashed.
“Oh God, please,” he whispered as he hit the notification button.
“Dante…” I began, because his panic was scaring me.
He shook his head as he hit the play button on the phone. I was glad when he put it on speaker instead of putting the phone to his ear.
“It’s…it’s me.”
The voice was that of a young man and I saw Dante’s hand cover his mouth as there was a burst of static on the phone. It sounded like the caller was on a train or subway because there was a lot of background noise and what sounded like the squealing of metal on metal.
“I found him. He’s alive.”
The call disconnected and Dante dropped the phone and let out a harsh sob. I didn’t need to ask who the caller was talking about because I knew there was only one person who could get such a reaction out of Dante.
Aleks.
Chapter Nineteen
Dante
Magnus’s voice sounded far away as I frantically struggled to catch my breath. It couldn’t be real, could it? I fumbled for the phone, but it was nowhere to be found. Panic ensued.
“My phone!” I shouted as I ripped away the blanket and then scrambled to my feet.
“Dante-”
“It was real!” I yelled to no one in particular. “It was real!”
Then why can’t I find the fucking phone?
“It wasn’t a dream,” I whispered.
“Dante, stop it!” Magnus snapped and he grabbed my arm and yanked me back down to the bed.
“Magnus, it was real, right? You heard it,” I said desperately.
His hold on my arm softened and I managed to focus on him to see his eyes full of worry. “It was real, Dante,” he acknowledged.
My entire body sagged with relief, but the feeling was fleeting. “I need to call him back,” I said as I began looking for the phone again.
Aleks is alive.
“Here,” Magnus said as he searched between us and pulled my phone out from the folds of the blanket. My hands were shaking as I dialed the unknown number.
“Put it on speaker,” Magnus said softly.
It rang over and over and I was certain it was going to voicemail, but finally someone answered.
“Hello?” a woman said.