"No, he won't.” He forced himself into an upright position. Even such a small amount of movement had him puffing like he'd run a marathon and as dizzy as hell.
"You lost a lot of blood last night. You need rest, not exertion."
"I need to find out who this killer is.” Needed to be with her as much as possible, while the moon was on his side.
She walked across to the bed, her steps a tattoo of sound that seemed to echo through his head. “Stop the macho act and just be sensible.” She pressed a hand against his shoulder and pushed him back. The ease with which she did it spoke of his weakness. “If you rest, you can be out of here tonight."
He caught her hand and raised it to her lips, kissing her fingers. Desire stirred the air—his and hers. “I intend to be. We have a night to make up for."
She raised an eyebrow, a teasing light in her eyes. “You've been shot, we have no idea who the killers are, and you're worried about sex?” She shook her head. “You're incredible."
He grinned wolfishly and tugged her towards him. She resisted for a fleeting second, and then she allowed herself to be pulled onto the bed. Her body pressed heat into his side, and even the muted aches gave way to the quick burn of need for her.
"Oh, I intend to be incredible,” he said softly, the rich scent of summer flowers filling his nostrils as his lips brushed hers.
She raised her free hand and ran her fingers down his cheek, her touch as tender as her expression. “You always were."
"Then why did you keep going to Jontee?” Even as the words left his mouth he realized his stupidity. Yet it was a question he needed the answer to.
She pulled away, her tender expression fading as quickly as it had appeared. “Because I made a promise."
"You made a promise to me, too."
"Yes, but my promise to Jontee predated the one to you."
He shifted position, trying to get comfortable, trying to control the instinctive anger running through him. If he let that anger loose, he'd never get an answer to the one question that had haunted him through the years.
"If what we shared was so good, why did you even need to fulfill your promise to Jontee?"
"Because I don't believe in breaking promises."
"Even at the risk of losing something that could have been special?"
She studied him for a moment, her expression giving little away. Yet he could feel the tension in her, the indecision. “Was it special?” she said eventually. “For you, I mean."
"It was good,” he said. “Good enough that I didn't want to share it, or you, with anyone else. Yet you made me.” His gaze caught and held hers, demanding that she answer and put to rest the one question he'd silently asked every night for the last ten years. “I just need to know why."
She crossed her arms. “I was at Rosehall for six months before I became one of Jontee's true believers. Part of the ceremony was a promise to share his bed for a year."
"Was it a magical bond?"
"No. But Jontee was very powerful. Very ... hypnotic. You wanted to please him, wanted to do as he asked."
"So why make a moon promise with me?"
She didn't answer for several minutes, just stared at him, as if debating within. Then she blinked and looked away. “You have to understand,” she said softly. “I wanted to be with just you, but I was also very afraid."
"Of what? Me?” He couldn't help the incredulity in his voice. “While you and I might never agree as to whether my reading your mind that night had been a form of rape, you surely had to know I'd never actually hurt you. Not physically. And not even mentally—not intentionally, anyway."
And he would have killed any man who did.
Her gaze returned to him. “I wasn't so much afraid of you, but what I was feeling. What I was doing. I was eighteen, for Gods sake, and just beginning to explore my sexuality. What I found with you—the sheer power of what was going on between us—scared me. So I guess I hedged my bets and kept seeing you both."
"And yet you claimed to love me. That's a strange sort of love, Savannah."
Something flickered in her eyes, something he couldn't identify. “I thought you didn't hear me say that."
"I heard it. I just didn't believe it."