The words seemed dragged out of him. “And I planned to let you go. But that was when I confused your actions for mine, or what mine would have been. I expected you to take revenge and instead … You…” He hesitated, something like awe in his eyes. “Rose, I need to keep you safe.”
The words caused an ache so deep in her, she almost faltered as she withdrew the shampoo bottle she knew he’d been using to trace her. Instead, she leaned into his hard body and pushed up onto her tiptoes, relieved when he bent his head toward hers.
Her lips brushed his, tingling with sensation, causing her hormones to beg her to kiss him again.
But she fought against the attraction she now blamed on the mating bond, let her hand slip to the silver box in his as she whispered against his mouth, “Too bad.”
Rose blinked, and he was gone.
She stood beneath the steps at the Bavaria Statue, a towering bronze female that symbolized might.
In Rose’s right hand was the shampoo bottle and in her left, the silver box.
Fionn knew where her parents lived. She had no doubt he’d go there, find a personal item of hers, and use it to trace her. However, that would take time. Time that allowed her to hide An Breitheamh so that when he came for her again, she’d keep him distracted, searching for it.
Hopefully long enough to work out her rage and betrayal.
Long enough to prevent the end of the world.
25
She’d done it again.
Rose had bloody well blindsided him.
As he drove his rental to Munich Airport, he shook his head in utter disbelief. At himself. Not at her. Fionn should have seen that maneuver coming.
Yet, somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to be furious. He was pissed off, for certain, but once a woman takes an iron blade to save your life, it becomes damn hard to be anything beyond angry with her. Rose wasn’t a vengeful person. She wasn’t him. She was better than him.
No, the fury churning in his gut had nothing to with Rose taking the shampoo bottle and An Breitheamh. It was about the O’Connor Coven.
After traveling out of the apartment before the German authorities turned up, Fionn had called Bran to find out how in the hell the Irish coven had tracked down Rose. When he’d realized she was in Munich, it had aggravated him beyond belief because the city was now the heart of the Garm’s territory under the leadership of William “The Bloody” Payne. Bran had called Fionn just as he was arriving in Munich to tell him an incident was reported at Munich Central Station—word on the street it involved the Garm.
He’d expected when he’d used that shampoo to travel to where Rose was that he’d find her fighting off the Garm—not the O’Connors.
They’d come in force too.
When he thought Rose had taken that blade in the heart …
Fionn gripped the steering wheel, the emotions too overwhelming to stand. For centuries, he’d tried to be numb to everything but vengeance, and mostly he’d succeeded. There had been women he’d felt a fleeting affection for, would even have been dismayed to discover they’d met an untimely death. Yet Fionn never thought he’d feel again the way he’d felt as a human man, never mind that he’d feel beyond his human capacity.
Seeing Rose crumble to her knees, iron dagger in her chest, was like watching a black hole swallow his entire fucking universe. His rage consumed him and in turn, he’d wiped out every single magic-wielding human in that goddamn room.
The relief that Rose would be okay was enough to make him tremble—literally shake as he reached to pull that dagger out of her. The urge to haul her against him, keep her there forever was strong, but first he had to know why she’d sacrificed herself for him.
Fionn still didn’t have her answer … although the mating bond seemed like the obvious culprit.
No one had ever sacrificed themselves for him and in doing so, Rose changed his plans.
He’d keep her with him, bring her to Ireland, to his secure home, have everything put in her name and so that when the time came to take his revenge, he’d know that his mate would be safe without him.
His mate.
Fionn couldn’t think about what it meant to leave her. Not yet. He’d deal with that later, once he bloody well found her again.
As soon as he heard his mobile ring, Fionn hit the answer button and then