well she slept in her absence.”
Nor did Rogue for that matter.
Gathering her hand in his, he held it against his chest with his fingers just over her pulse.
“Sleep, brother,” Alfred told him. “I’ll keep watch.”
Rogue didn’t think he had it in him to sleep, there were too many variables to be accounted for, but the soothing rhythm of her pulse swept him away, and he let his eyes close.
For a little while.
Chapter 15
“Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.” - Carl Jung
The seismic shift with Alfred awaited me when I woke the next day and seemed to grow with each day after. Absurd as it may seem, I didn’t trust the change. Shocking, I know. Yet I couldn’t escape the sense that more than just I had changed. Maybe that should comfort me, but I wasn’t altogether certain I trusted it.
First, I’d woken after sleeping so hard, I was actually groggy when I awoke. Alfred stood near the window, sipping coffee as he stared over the landscape. The bed on either side of me was cool, so though I’d gone back to sleep sandwiched between Rogue and Alfred, they’d both risen before me.
“There is more coffee,” Alfred told me without turning around. The broad lines of his bare back held my attention as I brought my sleep gritted eyes into focus. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get the hang of being a vampire.
Or hybrid.
You know, whatever. I’d slept like I’d gone on a bender, drunk on…him? I grimaced at the thought. “I’d love some,” I said, then winced at the croak in my voice.
For his part, Alfred didn’t comment. Though he did move to where a tray had been set with a carafe and filled a large mug. He added cream and sugar to it. The temptation to snark at him scratched at the back of my throat, but fuck it. I wanted the caffeine too much. Well that, and the hot drink to go down my dry throat.
The faint quirk to his eyebrows suggested the swell of java-deprived lust flooding me was written all over my face. “Thank you,” I said, still hoarse, like I’d been screaming my way through a concert. His fingers brushed mine as I wrapped my hand around the mug.
“You’re welcome, Hellion. Shall I have breakfast brought up?”
I took a long swallow of the coffee and closed my eyes, in part to savor the taste and in part to block out the hint of tenderness in his gaze. Not quite up to that much of a shift, I would rather just down the drink and cobble my scattered braincells back together again. After the third swallow, I lifted my gaze to his stormy one.
Nope.
I wasn’t there yet.
Another mouthful, and I shivered. My nipples tightened against the chill in the air, and I glanced down with a faint smile.
Still naked.
The sheet had gathered at my waist, and there wasn’t a stitch of clothing on me. Running my tongue over my teeth, I tried to get my shit together. There was a little too much torrid emotion rioting in my system. Pushing the sheet back, I went to slide out of the bed, only to have Alfred catch my arm to steady me and the coffee mug.
“Thank you,” I repeated, and the words were odd on my tongue. He traced his fingers up my arm lightly, and those eyes of his saw way too much.
“You’re hesitating with me again.”
“I just woke up,” I argued, pivoting to head over to the fire with my coffee mug cradled in my hands. “Right now, my only interest is coffee.”
His soft chuckle traced over me like a caress as I stood in front of the fire. The heat left half of me warm. I should have expected it, but it was still a surprise when Alfred stepped up behind me and draped the robe around my shoulders and then helped me slide one arm, then the other into it. I took another sip of coffee as he tugged me around and then ran his fingers over my chest, then to my breasts and down to my hips, before he dipped his head and pressed a kiss to my forehead.
It was damn near sweet.
And not at all what I wanted.
Before he could straighten, I wrapped an arm around him and fisted his hair. I just caught the smirk on his lips as I pulled his mouth to mine. He tasted of the coffee