What he'd consigned himself to.
With a hesitant smile on her beautiful face, Aimee met him at the kitchen door. Her T-shirt was a bit tighter on her body today and it caused a vicious wave of lust to consume him. Thank the gods something overrode his pain.
Before he even realized what he'd done, he reached out to her and put his arm around her shoulders. She wrapped her arm around his waist and helped him through the kitchen and back up to his room.
Fang didn't speak the entire way up the mahogany stairs as the lavender scent of Aimee captured him.
Once in his room, he lay back in the huge tester bed while she covered him with a brightly colored quilt.
Her gaze suspicious, she paused by his side. "I know something's wrong with you, wolf. You're never this silent."
Fang snorted at her poor attempt for humor. He probably shouldn't mention any of this and yet he found himself confiding in her even against his better judgment. "If my mother's defeated and Stefan is down there in the bar with Vane and Fury and not fighting them to the death . . ." He didn't finish the thought. He already had a good idea of what that meant.
Someone was now in charge of those two clans.
And it wasn't him.
That stung him deep inside. Things had changed so dramatically and he felt all alone. Disassociated. Stunned. Most of all, deeply betrayed. Maybe he should have stayed in the Nether Realm. It was obvious that no one here needed him anymore. Vane had moved on with his life.
Their entire clan had restructured under someone else's leadership.
What was he going to do now? He felt lost and he hated that sensation.
Aimee felt Fang's turmoil and it made her want to cry that she couldn't help him. She couldn't stand feeling so helpless. Most of all, she didn't want to see their family splintered at a time when they needed one another the most. "You know your brother checked on you every day while you were out of it. Even today, he made sure to come see you. Fury was here too."
"I know."
And still he was so sad.
Without thinking, she curled up on the bed beside him and wrapped her arms around him to hold him close. It was the only way to comfort him that she knew.
Fang closed his eyes as his heart pounded from the warmth of her embrace. No one had ever held him like this before.
No one.
There was nothing sexual about it. It was a hug meant to comfort him. And may the gods have mercy on his worthless soul because it did.
Placing his hand over her much smaller one, he felt something inside him shatter and in that moment, he knew a truth that scared him even more than the demon that was living inside him.
He loved her.
It made a mockery of what he'd thought he felt for Stephanie all those years ago. This wasn't the crush of a young wolf fascinated with a beautiful wolfswan who was coveted by the pack. This was the bloody and bruised heart of an animal that had never really been opened before.
Aimee had come for him and she had stood beside him when no one else had. She alone had fought to save him from hell.
Even now . . .
Gods help me. He shouldn't feel like this. He should shove her out the door and yet he couldn't bring himself to destroy the serenity of this moment with her. The tenderness inside him that her touch awoke.
For the first time in his entire life he was at peace.
Without a word, she trailed her hand up to brush through his hair. His body was white-hot, reminding him of the fact that it had been literally months since he'd last been with a woman.
And he wanted her with a madness that was consuming. A madness he had to deny for both their sakes.
"As much as I'm enjoying that, Aimee, you're going to have to stop."
"Why?"