Page 43 of Vex
The job was over.
But he had a fuckload of explaining to do.
22
Luisa was waiting for any of this to make sense.
The events of the last few hours felt like fragments of someone else's life. Her mind kept trying to process it all in logical sequence, but every time she reached the part where he'd called her his mate, her thoughts scattered.
Apparently, their suite was a disaster of broken glass and blood, so she and Vex had been given a different suite on a different floor. Smaller, but perfectly functional.
The new accommodations were elegant, cream-colored walls, expensive furniture that managed to look both luxurious and understated, and floor-to-ceiling windows that offered a breathtaking view of the mountain peaks. But Luisa barely noticed the decor.
Her entire focus had narrowed to the man who couldn't seem to stay still, who kept looking at her like she might disappear if he blinked.
Vex had draped his jacket over her shoulders, and every time she even thought about shrugging it off, she heard a growl in the back of his throat and pulled the lapels tighter.
The fabric still held his warmth, along with his scent—something clean and masculine with an underlying hint of smoke that reminded her exactly what he was. The weight of it around her shoulders felt like a claim, protective and possessive in equal measure. She should have found it annoying, this casual assumption of ownership, but instead, it made something deep in her chest flutter.
He'd lit the fire with a negligent flick of his fingers, sending a ball of flame into the massive fireplace.
Okay, that was impressive.
The casual display of power should have been terrifying. But she found herself fascinated by the fluid grace of the gesture, the way fire responded to his will like an extension of his body. This was what he really was beneath the expensive clothes and aristocratic manners, something powerful that could reduce the casino to ash without breaking a sweat. And he'd used that power to save her.
There hadn't been a room attendant when they got to the room, thankfully. Apparently, the Mountain was done spying on them.
The absence felt strange after days of constant surveillance, like a weight had been lifted. No more careful performances, no more coded conversations designed to mislead eavesdropping ears. Just the two of them and the truth hanging between them like a sword.
Or she was fooling herself and the room was chalk full of bugs.
Luisa's hands were still shaking with the adrenaline come-down, and she didn't have it in her to find her scanner and sweep the room.
Her fingers trembled as she pulled his jacket tighter, the fine tremor a reminder of how close she'd come to dying out there. Death had been minutes away, maybe less, and only Vex's intervention had saved her.
What did it matter? Their covers were blown. They'd won the day.
And Vex said she was his mate.
The word echoed in her mind with the weight of absolute certainty, as if something fundamental about the universe had shifted and she was still trying to catch up.
Mate.
Not girlfriend, not lover, not partner.
Mate.
Like they were two halves of something that had been split apart and was finally whole again.
That still didn't make sense.
"How?" Her voice was almost swallowed by the crackling of the fire.
Vex moved through the sitting area like a caged predator, his usual composed control replaced by restless energy that made the air itself feel charged. He kept glancing at her, his eyes tracking her every movement, and she could see the tension in the rigid line of his shoulders.
Everything about his posture suggested a man who wanted nothing more than to cross the room and gather her into his arms, but something was holding him back.
The space between them felt impossible to bridge, charged with too much emotion and too many unspoken truths. Luisa drew her legs up onto the sofa, making herself smaller. She felt fragile, like the wrong word or gesture might shatter her completely.
