Page 15 of Witch's Betrayal
Imagine a man being locked away for a life sentence, never being able to see or communicate with the woman he loves. He knows she's out there. He can still feel her in the depths of his black heart. He knows she'll come back to him one day. Now multiply that by a hundred lifetimes and it would touch a fraction of what I felt without her.
But now here we were, riding a high-speed train together in the twenty-first century. Her head on my shoulder and my lips against her temple, our fingers intertwined. Simple moments like these, not the ones that necessarily changed the world, were the ones I missed the most.
Her body shifted against me, wrinkling her nose in an adorable expression of disgust.
"I think I got some mud up my shirt when I fell," she said. "Probably gonna need a bath when we get home."
My heart soared at her referring to the house as our home. At another time, I'd have to bring up moving her in with us officially.
"Need someone to scrub your back?" I brushed my lips against her ear. Her breathy little gasp made me harden instantly.
"I promised to spend time with Ash tonight." She gave me an apologetic look. "Tomorrow?"
"Sure, beautiful." I kissed her temple. "Only If you want to. Don't feel obligated to see me if you and Ash need to catch up." I brushed a piece of her hair behind her ear. "And that wasn't innuendo. I honestly meant I could just scrub your back in the bath."
She sighed, closing her eyes softly. "I do want to see you, more than anything. But..."
"You want to see them just as much as me," I smiled. "I get it, honestly."
"I just want to be fair to all of you," she blurted. "I mean I care about you guys so much. I don't want anyone to feel like the odd one out."
"The only one you have to remotely worry about, and that's still not very much, is the one you're seeing tonight," I assured her. "Raum and I know we satisfy certain needs of yours and we have zero problems if someone else has your attention for a while. Ash on the other hand," I chuckled. "For being such an ethereal, perfect creature made out of sunshine or whatever, he has some very human flaws."
"I kind of like that about him," she admitted softly. "I mean I'm still human, too. Knowing that he gets a little bit possessive kind of keeps me grounded."
"See, Raum and I don't understand that at all," I said. "But I'm glad he gives you something that we can't."
"And that's why I'm so lucky to have you." She traced my jawline with her finger as the train slowed for our stop. "You're so selfless."
"What? It's not because I'd annihilate an entire army for you?" I demanded in mock anger, then pressed a kiss to her cheek.
She laughed and pulled away, keeping hold of my hand as we got off the train.
"Yeah, that might have a small part to do with it, too."
