"I'm sorry." He was, to the bottom of his soul, so bleakly sorry that she had taken that bullet instead of him. He would give his life to trade places with her. He had offered his life to God to take him instead. He had prayed, bargained, raged, and begged the Almighty not to take his sunlight. The father nodded once. He moved forward then, drew his wife from Matthias's embrace, pulled chairs back from the table for both of them, and introduced Grace's family to him. As though he weren't the enemy. As though it was important he know who they were.
"Not the first time she's been in surgery." Joe cleared his throat, as he sat beside his wife and wrapped his arm around her. "Remember when she was six, Janet?" He cleared his throat as Matthias stared back at him in confusion. "She fell out of that tree and started bleeding internally. I thought we were going to lose her then."
The three sons nodded, the women smiled watery smiles.
Matthias stared at them. "I have money." He clenched his hands on the table. "I have some small connections." They stared back at him questioningly. "I know I didn't protect her well this time." He stared at the blood on his hands. "I'll do better." He lifted his gaze to the father. "I'll make certain I do better in the future." His teeth clenched. He had sworn he would beg if he had to. "Don't take her from me."
Joe blinked, lowered his head, and shook it.
"I won't let it happen again."
Joe lifted his eyes once again. "Matthias"
"I can't live without her." He meant to beg, but it came out as a growl of fury. "She would be torn between us. I don't want this"
"Matthias." It was Janet that reached out to him. She placed her hand on his, over Grace's blood, and caught his eyes with hers.
"We all love Grace. And if she loves you, then you're family. You don't buy acceptance, son. You don't bargain for it. It's there or it's not. You love her, and we accept you because of that. But, she loves you. Because of that, you're family."
"You don't know me." He shook his head, terrified and confused, certain they had to hate him. They had to be hiding it, for Grace's sake.
"We'll get to know you." Joe's voice was a warning.
Matthias latched onto that. A warning. He knew how to handle that. He stared back at the father, whose lips suddenly quirked with hidden knowledge. "Trust me, we'll all get to know each other. Grace will make certain of it."
He could handle that. Matthias nodded sharply before sliding his hand back from Grace's mothers touch. He breathed out roughly, stared around the room, then froze as Dr. Armani, the head Wolf Breed doctor and scientist entered the room with her feline counterpart, Elyiana Morrey. He jerked to his feet. Their expressions were pale, their lab coats wrinkled, and exhaustion marred their features.
"Nikki." He took a step toward her, then froze again.
They were watching him quietly, their gazes flickering over the family, who finally also came to their feet.
He had prayed over the past hours. He had bargained with God. He had begged for just one more chance and offered his life for hers. He had pleaded with a being that hadn't created him, but one Matthias prayed would bless him.
"It was close," Nikki finally said, a smile creasing her dark, exotic features. "But she's alive, Matthias" Two months later
"I told you to wear jeans." Grace was laughing at him, her gray eyes shining with happiness, as tears of mirth rolled down her cheeks. "Didn't I warn you to wear jeans?"
"Shut up, Grace," he growled, attempting to peel the wet leather from his legs as he stood in the middle of their bedroom, dripping from sweat and the pain. "Those brothers of yours are f**king insane," he snarled violently. "Have I ever mentioned they are f**king crazy?" His voice rose at the accusation. She was laughing. She was standing in the middle of the floor, her arms across her stomach, and she bent over, struggling to breathe as she laughed at him.
She was barely healed from the wound she had taken the night the coyotes attacked them. It had been slow progress, until Dr. Armani had given her a transfusion of Matthias's blood. After that, her recovery had moved quickly. Although the blood they had given her in surgery saved her life, her body had attempted to reject it. The unique qualities of the hormones in her body had fought it, and fought her recovery, until Matthias's blood had been added to it.
It shouldn't have worked. Their blood types didn't match, and his Breed blood should have been an instant poison to her system. Instead, from the moment it was introduced, she had begun to heal. Now, two months later, she was standing here laughing her ass off at him because he was coated with mud and grime and struggling to get his damned pants off.
"I told you, jeans," she reminded him, finally straightening. "Geeze, Matthias, you need a shower." Another peel of laughter left her, as a mud-sodden hunk of hair fell over his face. He swiped it back and glared at her.
"Poor little wolfie," she crooned, as he kicked his pants free and stood before her, naked. And aroused. Horribly aroused. He had felt the mating heat returning in the past week, tormenting him with the need to possess her. To taste and touch her.
In the weeks since her surgery, as though her body recognized its need to heal, the heat had only been a slow simmer inside them both. Now it was blazing inside him, and the scent of her heat filled his head. His lashes lowered, as he flicked a look over the shorts and T-shirt she wore.
"Shower with me." He moved toward her, his body tightening with hunger. He had been like this for days, and it was killing him. If he didn't touch her, take her, he would go insane. Her tongue swiped over her lips, as she pushed her hair back from her face, sensuality marking her features.
Grace hadn't forgotten for a second what she had almost been taken from. Over the past two months she had made certain Matthias became an integral part of her family, so that, should the worst ever happen, he wouldn't be alone.
He fought her, of course. He knew what she was doing. But when she awoke in that hospital room, saw his pale, haggard features and his agonized whiskey eyes, she had known. Had she died, Matthias wouldn't have been long behind her. His soul was a part of hers. She wondered, even now, if either of them could survive without the other.
God she loved him.
She leaned against his damp, muddy chest, her eyes closing, as she felt the warmth of him surrounding her. She loved him like flowers loved the sunshine. They embraced it, drew in its heat, and basked in its approval. That's what she did with Matthias.