“It’s all happening so fast,” I say, trembling as I rest my forehead against his. He pulls me into his lap and against his chest, so warm and comforting. “I don’t know how to handle it.”
“Just stay with me,” he says. “We’ll handle it together.” He pulls back to look down at my face, tilting my chin up gently to look up at him. “I know it’s a lot, growing up one way, finding out you’re another.”
“Yes, but it’s also like I had all these questions and just tried to ignore them and go on with life. And right now, it feels like I’m actually trying to be honest.” I sigh. “I really like you. I want to be with you. You’ll just have to be a little patient.”
His face tightens just slightly, but then he smiles, as if pushing all stress away. “I’ll always be patient with you. As long as you’re patient with me.”
I sit up slightly. “It’s not hard to be patient with you. You’re amazing.”
“Thank you.” He curls in around me, holding me tight. I love the feel of his warm body when it wraps me up, making me safe.
“So, um, what’s next?” I look at the clock. “It’s not that late. Did you want to go to bed yet?”
“Well, I think you’ve had enough of a shock, seeing your wings out, so I’m not going to take you to see the other fairies or try to help you pull out more of your power. I think it might be best to just rest.”
“Rest would be good.”
“All right.” He nuzzles into me. “I say we shower and you let me wash every part of you, and then we watch a movie together and I give you a foot rub before bed.”
I grin. “That sounds amazing. Keep it up, and you might not have to be that patient. I’ll be putty in your hands.”
He just laughs, picking me up easily and carrying me over to the shower.
24
Tanner
“There has to be something we can do,” I tell Chadwick the next morning when I have him on the phone.
I’ve been waiting for his call since I got into the office, but it’s not the update I’ve been hoping for.
“His father owns the majority share, and he isn’t interested in selling. Not at any price,” Chadwick says, trouncing all my hopes of a takeover.
“So there’s nothing we can do?” I rub my hands together, staring at the speaker phone.
“Look, some power can’t be bought. It’s handed down through families, and when humans get power, they tend to want to keep it.”
“But they give themselves no responsibility for that power,” I say wearily. “In the fae world, the more power you have, the more you’re held accountable.”
“Things aren’t like that here.”
“Then how am I supposed to protect my soul bond from someone like Bill Steinman?” I swear if anything happens to her, I’m going to cloud this world in darkness. “What if I have to go back to my world, and she won’t go with me? What if he hurts her then?”
“What do you mean go back to your world?”
I run a hand through my hair, which is already standing up messily due to stress. “I got another letter from my family this morning. Ian transcribed it to me over a call.”
“And things aren’t going well there?”
“No. Apparently not.”
“I’m sorry, Tanner.”
I feel drawn tight, like a string about to snap off a guitar, and the only thing that relaxes me is thinking about Eva, about the way she felt pleasure in my arms last night.
The way she smiled at me the rest of the evening. The way I was sure that, no matter where we ended up together, things would work out.
“What’s going on there, big guy?” Chadwick, who’s as perceptive as he is powerful, has been listening all through my silence. He and his mate, Bella, helped us adjust to this world, and I feel very comfortable telling him anything.
I sag in my chair. “It’s just this guy walking around with the power to hurt people and no compunctions about doing it. Then my kingdom, which seems to be falling apart. And then my soul bond, who loves this company and is about to lose her job, and I’m going to have to be the one to tell her.” I run my hand through my hair again, making it even more mussed. “She’s going to be hurt.”
“You can’t protect her from everything,” Chadwick says. “You just have to be there for her when she’s let go.”
“But she’s giving up so much. The world she could have as a fae princess, all for a company that is going to let her go.”
“You can’t rush this,” Chadwick says. “I know you’re stressed, but I promise if you try to override her, it isn’t going to work out well for anyone.”
I just feel so trapped. Something I never expected could happen, back when I was the unstoppable commander of darkness.
But I’m no commander here. Just a soldier trying to understand the human world while protecting and loving the woman of my heart.
“What if I arranged a call to your family?” Chadwick asks.
“That’s possible?”
“Difficult, but yes, possible.”
My heart jumps at the prospect.
Even just hearing their voices, letting them know I care, might strengthen them and help them in battle. Or I could give them advice for fighting chaos.
“I would like that,” I say. “How does it work?”
“I’ll set it up with the oracle,” Chadwick says. “We can’t do it often, because any link between our worlds has the potential to draw chaos, but if you’re that worried about your family, I think it’s the right thing to do.”
“Then thank you. I appreciate that very much.”
“Sure. And, Tanner?”
“Yes?”
“Be careful with this human, Bill. He’s the kind the company or the police need to handle, at least at this point. Not us. Don’t get in any more trouble than you have to.”
“You sound like Eva.”
“She sounds smart, then,” Chadwick retorts.
I laugh. “She is. You’d like her. Isabella would too.”
“Can’t wait to meet her when things calm down a bit.”
“That sounds nice.” I look up to see Bill Steinman, of all people, peeking through the window next to the door to my office. “Uh, Chad, I gotta go.”
“What?”
“That guy we talked about? He’s standing outside my door.”
“Be careful—”
But I hang up on Chadwick because I can’t afford for Bill to overhear anything.
I walk over to the door and open it. “What do you want?” I fold my arms as I glare at him.
“Can I come in for a second? I think we need to talk.”
I sigh as I hold the door open, then walk around the desk to sit back and glare at him, leaning away from his general direction but keeping my eyes pinned on his. “What is it?”
He’s the only person who doesn’t seem to get nervous around me, though he should be.
“Look,” he says, loosening his tie as sweat beads on his balding forehead. “I used to be a young gun once. You’re a hot commodity, Tanner. Everyone knows it. You listen to the employees, make them think you’re on their side. It’s a valuable skill as a CEO.”