If she didn’t get off him, she was going to turn and attack him full on, her mouth on his, and damn the consequences. He really had no clue how sexy he was, even though he was an ass usually. Why did bad boys do it for her? Because of the coma, her memories of her prior life were hazy and still came in spurts, but she did remember more than a couple of tough guys in her past.

“Grace? You still with me?”

“Yes.” Eek. Her mind had totally wandered. Heat from his body and the fire surrounded her, and the urge to snuggle into the safety of his iron hard chest was almost too much to resist. But he didn’t want anything to do with her, and she had to keep that humiliating fact front and center in her brain. No self-respecting woman wanted a male only because his brother had mated her sister and he’d agreed to do his duty and protect her. Taking a deep breath, she utilized whatever the heck healing cells were and fixed her wrist.

“Nicely done.” The approval in his tone washed over her skin, prickling awareness.

She opened her eyes. “For a weak and fragile mere human.”

He blinked, his eyes back to the full dark of night. “Weak? No. Fragile, yes.”

They really needed to get a couple of things straight. “Listen, Adare. I don’t like being treated as an unwanted responsibility, and you have to stop thinking of me as such.” She really should get off his thighs.

He studied her face, the impact of his gaze nearly physical. “You are my responsibility.”

“I am not,” she burst out.

He rubbed her shoulder, near her nape, probably unconsciously. “Of course, you are. I mated you, bite and brand, when you were in a coma. You didn’t have a choice, and your current circumstances are a result of my actions.”

What? She tilted her head. “You saved my life.”

“Aye, but you might’ve wanted to move on to the next one, and I took that choice away from you. Probably for a long time. So you’re here, in this life, and you can’t be mated to another being, and you can’t ever be physical with another male because of the mating allergy. It’s not an easy life I subjected you to, without your knowledge or agreement.” An emotion, a real one, glittered in his eyes for the briefest of moments before being snuffed out.

There was so much in that one statement, she didn’t know where to start. He felt guilty about saving her life? “You believe in the afterlife?” Might as well start there.

“Of course,” he said, moving to massage her nape and relieve the tension in her neck. “It’s impossible to think that this is all there is, right?”