to last, that she wasn’t going to find herself alone in a few years or even months because he had grown bored with her.
Or had failed to fall in love with her.
Like she was in love with him.
His white eyebrows knitted hard above eyes that revealed so many feelings to her as they softened further, as they warmed and held hers.
She felt loved when he looked at her like that, as if she was his entire world and the sight of her in pain was killing him, filling him with a need to do something about it even when he no doubt knew he couldn’t.
He brought his other hand up and framed her face, his gaze earnest as he looked down into her eyes. His palms were cool against her cheeks, but she felt warm from head to toe.
“I couldn’t lose you,” he husked, his voice a sultry whisper that teased her ears, his words and the feelings she could read in his eyes lifting some of the weight from her heart. “I didn’t think about the consequences… I only thought about how much I needed you… and now…”
He trailed off into a sigh.
Brushed his left thumb across her cheek.
Smeared cool dampness into her skin.
She blinked away her tears, ashamed of them and not wanting to hurt him. She had done enough of that for a lifetime.
“Tell me what’s wrong. Talk to me.” His eyebrows furrowed as his eyes darted between hers, the look that filled them drawing the words up from her heart because he honestly looked as if he wanted to know. “Whatever is on your mind… you can talk to me.”
She couldn’t remember anyone other than Eric bothering to take the time to just listen to her woes and her worries.
It felt so nice to have someone who would do that for her.
Someone who looked as if he would move heaven and earth to make her feel better.
“They’re my family… Were my family. This is going to take a little getting used to and I’m…” She glanced at his chest as her courage faltered, and then blew out her breath and lifted her gaze to lock with his again, because she needed it out there. If she held it inside, it would fester and rot, eating away at her. “I’m… afraid… I’ll find I made a mistake in turning my back on them.”
His face darkened slightly, a brief hardening of his features that lifted a moment later as his eyes softened again, like a storm cloud passing over the sun.
He sighed. “You think I’m going to leave you.”
Before she could say a word to defend herself, he shook his head and sighed again, drew his hands towards him and lured her closer with them.
He stared down into her eyes, his swirling with white flakes that looked like the blizzard he had caused at the coven, tempestuous and wild.
“I’m not going to leave you, Cass. What I’m feeling…” He swallowed hard. Hesitated. “What I’m feeling isn’t going to change. Never. This feeling… This is forever.”
Another’s words echoed in her mind as she stared up into Daimon’s eyes.
Eric.
Asking her if she had ever been in love. She had told him never.
Eric had said that never was a long time and one day she would fall in love and realise what he had—that true love was forever.
Cass had countered that forever was a long time too—a long time to be stuck with the same person.
But as she looked at Daimon, as she realised that she was already in love with him, she finally understood Eric.
“Forever with you doesn’t seem long enough,” she whispered, feeling on edge as those words slipped from her lips, anxious as she waited for him to say something, fearing he would ridicule her.
Daimon tilted her head back, brushed his thumbs over her cheeks and smiled down into her eyes, one filled with love. “Doesn’t seem long enough for me either. So we’ll make it forever and a day.”
He dipped his head and kissed her, a tender exploration of her lips that had warmth rushing through her, had her insides lightening as she leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He bent at the knee, banded his arms around her backside and lifted her.
Her legs fell open, his hips nestling between them as he walked with her, carrying her inside his home.
She kept kissing him, her lips dancing over his, feelings bubbling to the surface, ones she no longer wanted to fight.
Ones she no