protect us all. She’s not strong enough after what happened yesterday. She needs an extra boost,” I said, pleading for him to understand. “I might be able to be that boost.”
“You’re not a fucking battery, baby,” he snapped, walking around me and further into the room. “We don’t know what this will do to you.”
“Lulu said—”
He glared at me. “I don’t give a damn what Lulu said. I don’t know her.”
“But I do,” I insisted, crossing the floor to stand in front of him. “I trust her. And after what she did for us in Long Mesa, isn’t that enough?”
His hands came up to frame my face. “Not when you’re involved. You’re asking me to trust someone I don’t know with your life. That’s not a jump I’m ever going to be comfortable making.”
Irritation shot through me. “Remy.”
“I’m sorry, babe. I can’t let you do this.”
I jerked out of his hold. “I’m sorry. Did you say let me?”
His gaze darkened. “Skye—”
I held up a hand to stop him. “No. Let’s get this straight right now, okay? I love you. I’m here, willing to try and find a compromise because I value your opinion. But last I checked? I was an Alpha, too, and the people on their way here are because of me. Lulu is here because of me.”
“I know,” he ground out.
“Then maybe start acting like it,” I shot back. “This gives all of us the best chance. Blackwater, Windale, those missing girls … All of us, but most especially you. You don’t get to throw yourself into an Alpha challenge again and again and expect that I’m just going to sit by and do nothing.”
He exhaled slowly and rolled his neck, cracking it audibly. “I’m not asking you to do nothing.”
“No, you aren’t,” I agreed. “You’re the one always saying how strong I am and how much I value, but that means crap if you tuck me away on a shelf when things get hard.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing?” he whispered, stunned. The hurt in his eyes was palpable.
“Not intentionally,” I hedged. “I know you want to protect me, but that means I get to protect you, too.”
“And this is how you do that?”
I closed the distance between us and framed his face with my hands. “We can’t get to Windale without Lulu’s help, and she’s too weak to make enough charms to protect us all. We have to be able to sneak people past Damien before he realizes what we’re doing for this to work.”
“Then we send less people,” he tried.
“You know that won’t work,” I replied sadly. “There’s too many people on Damien’s side now. We need all the manpower we can get to make this anything close to a fair fight. Remy, we can’t do this without Lulu, and she can’t do this without me.”
“We’ll ... wait for her to get stronger.” He knew that wouldn’t work either, but he was grasping at straws in an attempt to save me.
God, I loved this man. I loved how insufferably stubborn he could be, especially when it came to how he wanted to protect me.
But right now, I needed him to get over it and get on board with the plan.
“We can’t wait. Griffin needs our help, or we’re going to lose them. You said it yourself. Damien won’t wait. He’ll attack Windale, and we both know it will be a bloodbath. Griffin won’t roll over like the other packs Norwood took. He’ll fight back, and he’ll lose.” I swallowed, begging him to understand with my eyes.
He flinched, his jaw tight. He knew I was right, but he wasn’t going to admit it.
I sighed, kissing the inside of his wrist. “Remy, a lot of people are going to die if I don’t do this. It’s the only way.”
One of his hands slipped from my face to the back of my head. He hauled me forward, crushing his mouth to mine.
My hands fisted in his shirt as I clung to him, holding on for dear life as he dominated the kiss. He tongue licked into my mouth, hot and demanding, until my knees trembled and my head spun.
“Fine,” he whispered against my mouth. “I hate this, but fine. If you really think you need to do this, then I’ll support you.”
I opened my eyes, more than a little dazed. I had lost count of how many times Remy had kissed me, but they never failed to leave me craving more. I would never get enough of