She nodded.
"Okay then." He moved to stand just in front of her. She tilted her head to the side and pulled her hair off her neck.
Wulf put his hands on her waist.
He hesitated.
"Well?" she prompted.
He opened his mouth and placed his lips on the warm skin of her neck. Wulf closed his eyes as he felt her heartbeat in the vein and he grazed her skin with his teeth.
Mmm, she tasted good. He loved the way her skin teased his lips.
Cassandra cupped the back of his head with her hands. "Hmmm," she breathed, "you're giving me chills."
His body erupted at her words and the image he had of her naked in his arms.
Bite her...
He added pressure with his teeth.
She tightened her grip in his hair.
Do it!
"I can't," he said, pulling back. "I'm not a Daimon or an Apollite."
She looked up at him from underneath her lashes. "Now you understand what I meant when I told you that I couldn't cross over."
Yes, he understood.
But so long as neither of them was willing to do this, Cassandra was destined to die.
Wulf was in the nursery with Erik. He sat in the antique rocking chair with his son asleep on his shoulder while he stared idly at the wall in front of him. It was covered with pictures of babies who had been born to his family over the last two hundred years.
Memories poured through him.
He glanced down at the baby he held. The thatch of black hair and the serene, tiny face. Erik's mouth worked in his sleep and the baby smiled as if in the midst of a happy dream.
"Are you talking to him, D'Aria?" Wulf asked, wondering if the Dream-Huntress would watch over his son as well as him.
He touched the tip of Erik's nose. Even while asleep, the baby turned to suckle his finger.
Wulf smiled, until he caught the faint scent of roses and powder on the baby's skin.
Cassandra's scent.
He tried to imagine a world without her. A day when she wasn't there to brighten everything. To place her silken hand on his skin, to run her long graceful fingers through his hair.
Pain lacerated his chest. His sight dimmed.
You're a wandering soul, looking for a peace that doesn't exist. Lost you will be until you find the one inner truth. We can never hide from what we are. The only hope is to embrace it.
At last, he understood the seer's words.
"This is bullshit," he said in a low tone.
There was no way he would let go of the best thing that had ever happened to him.