Page 69 of Pack Ruin
“What happened to him? Your son?”
He closed his eyes. “I failed him in every way but one. I gave him to a family that loved him, and allowed him to live without anyone knowing who his true father was.”
“Is he… Is he still alive?” If Grigor was who-knows-how-old, I had to assume his kids might be just as long-lived.
“No. He died too young. But his human wife survived, and their children, and theirs, and so on. I made certain all of my linehave never lacked for wealth. But the true gift I’ve given them all is anonymity. No one knows they are mine. Not even they do.”
“Maybe you should give that gift to Flor,”Glen muttered.
“If I could have done so, I would have,” Grigor admitted, but something in my face must have alarmed him, because he grasped me tightly. “Foryoursake, my queen. Your safety. You should refuse me, though I must warn you that I cannot let you go, no matter what you decide. Whether I worship you in the light or from the shadows. Whether I am allowed to stand at your side, or fight without any recognition. I cannot regret what I have done. I would do far more for you; my wolf would demand it.”
“Your wolf?”
“You are his mate, Flor. His true mate. When they killed Anya, only he kept my witch side alive. Only by allowing me to kill everyone who needed killing.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. “Needed killing? You know you sound really crazy, right?”
He made a noncommittal sound. “I do not pretend to be sane. My wolf has waited in madness for you, has kept us alive for this moment. Anyone who would hurt you—human, wolf, or witch—he would snuff their lives out.”
He went silent, since I’d climbed up on the sofa, onto his lap, and was kissing his mouth. I held his face in my hands, tasting him. It felt a little like kissing a winter storm, or the ocean. Like I was flirting with death just by being this close to him.
But it wasn’t my death I was flirting with. It was that of anyone who tried to hurt me or mine. This future mate would do anything to protect me. To protect the ones connected to me.
And his “anything” was something any shifter should fear, even a whole corrupt Council full of them.
“Grigor Dimitrivich?” I announced, ignoring Glen’s muttered, “Call him Joaquin,” as he slipped into the bedroomand closed the door softly. “You may be crazy, but you’re my kind of crazy, aren’t you? I guess I ought to give you a chance. I’ve gotta let you know, I don’t think Brand’s gonna be so easy to convince.”
A smile slid across his face, as his hands lifted to hold my cheeks as well, both of us gazing into each other’s eyes, the house shaking slightly as he pulled my face to his for another kiss. “I’ll work some magic, little queen.”
31
Dirty Moves
FLOR
Grigor’s kisses were like dark chocolate. Smooth and addictive with a slightly cold edge, the invisible wind that I’d always felt when he touched me somehow moving through my veins.
“Sure you’re not a vampire?” I muttered as he moved his hands through my hair. It had grown far faster than it normally did since I’d cut it in this house months before, and fell past my shoulders now. He lifted it with one hand and used the backs of his fingers to trace the outline of my ear, ending up at the top, at my tag.
“Why do you still wear this, my queen?” There was no judgment in his tone, only curiosity.
“It’s a good thing I kept it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to get into the dorms.” His eyes narrowed, a predator waiting. “Okay, it’s dumb, but… I’m kind of attached to it. It reminds me of Del.”
He frowned, then smiled gently. “Del? Your true father. The one you loved. He left a mark on your soul.”
“Yeah.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “When I first got this tag, I was little. I cried, and begged Del to take it out. Of course, he wouldn’t. They would’ve killed us both if we’d broken that rule. I told him I didn’t want the other kids to see it and know what it meant. That I was weak.”
“You were never weak, little mate.”
“That’s what Del said, too.” Here, in his home, it was almost like I could hear his voice again, saying the words he’d whispered in the kitchen when I’d come running to him after a group of the older boys at school had taunted me for being unranked trash.“He told me, ‘They want us to be weak, girlie. They want us to believe they can define us. But you know what I see when I look at your tag? A full moon, shining silver. Power that can never be contained.’ When I look in the mirror, I see the way he saw us. Valuable, powerful. Children of the moon, like any of the others, whether we held rank or not.”
“I would have liked your Del very much.”
I snorted. “He’d have kicked your ass from here to the ocean, one leg or not. He was more protective than any dad I knew.”
“That is exactly what I would have liked most about him. I might have allowed him to get a few good hits in.”
I pretended to be offended. “Allowed? Someday I’ll show you what he taught me.”
