"You heard her," said Darryl, amused.
"We'll have to wait for her revelation.
We have a prophet for our Alpha's mate." I waved at him irritably.
Then looked up at Adam, whose eyes were, quite properly, on the road.
"Do you love me?" I asked him, pulse pounding in my ears.
He gave me a curious look.
He was wolf, he knew intensity when he heard it.
"Yes.
Absolutely." "You'd better," I told him, "or you'll regret it." I looked over my shoulder at Aurielle, holding the full force of my will close to me.
Adam was mine.
Mine.
And I would take up all the burdens he could give me, even as he did the same with mine.
It would be an equal sharing.
That meant he protected me from the vampires ...
and I protected him from what problems I could.
I stared at Aurielle, met the predator in her eyes with the one in mine.
And after only a few minutes, she dropped her eyes.
"Suck it up and deal with it," I told her, and I put my head on Adam's shoulder and fell asleep.
IT WAS, SADLY NOT VERY LONG BEFORE ADAM STOPPED the car.
I stayed where I was, half-awake, while Darryl, Aurielle, and Paul got out of the car.
We stayed where we were until I heard Darryl's Subaru fire up, and Adam started for home.
"Mercy?" "Mmm." "I'd like to take you home with me." I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and sighed.
"Once I go horizontal, I'm going to be out like a light," I told him.
"It's been days"--I tried to remember, but I was too tired--"several at least since I had a good night's sleep." The sun, I noticed, was brightening in the sky.
"That's all right," he said.
"I'd just ..." "Yeah, me too." But I shivered a little.
It was all very well and good to get hot and heavy over the phone, but this was real.
I stayed awake all the way to his house.
AN ALPHA'S HOME IS SELDOM EMPTY--AND WITH THE recent troubles, Adam was keeping a guard there, too.
When we came in, we were greeted by Ben, who gave us an offhand salute and trotted back downstairs, where there were a number of guest bedrooms.