"Don't tell me what I need."
He cursed some. Cursed some more.
"You know," she muttered, "if I add a sound track and some machine guns to this, we'd have a Die Hard movie. How did you find out, anyway?"
"My mother passed."
Ehlena gasped. "Wha...? Oh, my God, when? I mean, I'm sorry-"
"About a half hour ago."
She slowly shook her head. "Rehvenge, I'm so sorry."
"I called the clinic to...make arrangements." He exhaled with the kind of exhaustion she was feeling. "Anyway...yeah. You never texted me that you'd gotten to the clinic safely. So I asked, and there it was."
"Damn it, I meant to but..." Well, she was busy getting fired.
"But that wasn't the only reason why I wanted to call now."
"No?"
"I just...I needed to hear your voice."
Ehlena took a deep breath, her eyes locking on the lines of her father's handwriting. She thought of all she had learned, good and bad, in those pages.
"Funny," she said, "I feel the same way tonight."
"Really? Like...for real?"
"Absolutely, positively...yes."
Chapter THIRTY-SEVEN
Wrath was in a bad mood, and he knew this because the sound of the doggen waxing the wooden balustrade at the top of the main staircase was making him want to light the whole f**king mansion on fire.
Beth was on his mind. Which explained why as he sat behind his desk his chest was killing him.
It wasn't that he didn't understand why she'd gotten upset with him. And it wasn't that he didn't think he deserved some kind of punishment. He just hated the fact that Beth wasn't sleeping at home and he had to text his shellan for permission to call her.
The fact that he hadn't slept in days had to be part of the pissed-off as well.
And he probably needed to feed. But like sex, it had been so long since he'd done it, he could barely remember what it was.
He glanced around the study and wished he could self-medicate the urge to scream by going out and fighting something: His only other options were hitting the gym or getting drunk, and he was just back from the former and not all that interested in the latter.
He checked his phone again. Beth hadn't returned his text, and he'd left it three hours ago. Which was fine. She was probably just busy, or sleeping.
The hell it was fine.
He got to his feet, slipped his RAZR into the back pocket of his leathers, and headed for the double doors. The doggen just outside in the hall was putting a ton of elbow grease into the buff-and-polish routine, and the fresh smell of lemon that rose from his efforts was thick.
"My lord," the doggen said, bowing low.
"You're doing great work."
"As is my pleasure." The male beamed. "It is my joy to serve you and your household."
Wrath clapped a palm on the servant's shoulder and then jogged down the stairs. When he got to the foyer's mosaic floor, he went left, toward the kitchen, and he was glad that there was nobody inside. Opening up the refrigerator, he confronted all manner of leftovers and took out a half-eaten turkey with no enthusiasm whatsoever.
Turning toward the cabinets-
"Hi."
He jerked his head over his shoulder. "Beth? What are...I thought you were at Safe Place."
"I was. But I came back just now."
He frowned. As a half-breed, Beth was able to tolerate sunlight, but he stressed the f**k out every time she traveled during the day. Not that he went into it now. She knew how he felt, and besides, she was home, and that was all that mattered.
"I was making something to eat," he said, even though the turkey sitting on the butcher-block table was a dead giveaway. "You want to join me?"
God, he loved the way she smelled. Night-blooming roses. Homier to him than any lemon polish, more gorgeous than any perfume.
"How about I make something for both of us?" she said. "You look like you're about to fall down."
It was on the tip of his tongue to say, Nah, I'm tight, when he stopped. Even the smallest of half-truths was going to underscore the issues between them-and the fact that he was utterly exhausted wasn't even a little lie.
"That would be great. Thank you."
"Have a seat," she said, coming over to him.
He wanted to hug her.
He did.
Wrath's arms just snapped out, latched onto her, and pulled her against his chest. Realizing what he'd done, he went to let her go, but she stayed with him, keeping their bodies together. With a shudder, he dropped his head down into her fragrant, silky hair and gathered her up, molding her softness to the contours of his hard muscles.
"I've missed you so much," he said.
"I've missed you, too."
As she sagged against him, he wasn't a fool to think this moment was an instant cure-all, but he would take what he had been given.
Pulling back, he moved his wraparounds up onto the top of his head so she could see his useless eyes. To him, her face was blurry and beautiful, though the fresh-rain scent of tears didn't please him. He brushed both her cheeks with his thumbs.
"Will you let me kiss you?" he asked.
When she nodded, he cradled her face in his palms and brought his mouth down to hers. The cushioned contact was at once utterly, heartbreakingly familiar and yet something from the past. It seemed like forever since they had done more than peck-and that separation wasn't just what he'd done. It was everything. The war. The Brothers. The glymera. John and Tohr. This household.
Shaking his head, he said, "Life has gotten in the way of our life."
"You are so right." She smoothed her palm down his face. "It's also gotten in the way of your health. So I want you to sit down over there and let me feed you."
"It's supposed to be the other way around. The male feeds his female."
"You're the king." She smiled. "You make the rules. And your shellan would like to wait on you."
"I love you." He pulled her in tight again and just held on to his mate. "You don't have to say it back-"
"I love you, too."
Now he was the one sagging.
"Time for you to eat," she said, tugging him over to the country-style oak table and pulling a chair out for him.
When he parked it, he winced, shifted his hips up, and took his cell phone from his pocket. The thing skittered across the table, bumping into the salt and pepper shakers.
"Sandwich?" Beth asked.
"That'd be great."
"Let's make it two for you."
Wrath put his sunglasses back in place, because the overhead light was making his head pound. When that didn't go far enough, he closed his eyes, and although he couldn't see Beth move around, the sounds of her in the kitchen calmed him like a lullaby. He heard her opening drawers, the utensils in them rattling. Then the refrigerator cracked open with a gasp and there was shuffling, followed by glass knocking into glass. The bread drawer was slid out and the plastic wrap around the rye he liked rustled. There was the cracking of a knife going through lettuce...
"Wrath?"
The soft sound of his name brought his lids open and his head up. "Wha...?"
"You fell asleep." His shellan's hand smoothed over his hair. "Eat. Then I'm taking you to bed."
The sandwiches were exactly the way he liked them: overstuffed with meat, light on the lettuce and the tomatoes, plenty of mayo. He ate both of them, and though they should have perked him up, the exhaustion that had a death grip on his body just pulled harder.
"Come on, let's go." Beth took his hand.
"No, wait," he said, rousing himself. "I need to tell you what's doing at nightfall tonight."
"Okay." Tension crept into her tone, like she was bracing herself.
"Sit. Please."
The chair pulled out from under the table with a squeak and she settled her weight slowly. "I'm glad you're being up front with me," she murmured. "Whatever it is."
Wrath smoothed her fingers with his, trying to calm her, knowing that what he had to say was only going to make her more worried. "Someone...well, likely more than one, but at least one we know of, wants to kill me." Her hand tightened in his, and he kept on stroking her, trying to relax her. "I'm meeting with the glymera's council tonight, and I'm expecting...problems. All of the Brothers are going with me, and we're not going to be stupid, but I'm not going to lie and tell you this is a garden-variety sitch."