“She looked really upset when she came to see me earlier.” Julie felt her eyes sting but refused to cry. She gave up crying a long time again. It showed vulnerability and didn’t help anyway.

“Scarlet doesn’t feel anything for me, not really. She liked the idea of being mated to a prince, that’s it. I don’t love her. I wasn’t sure I believed in love.”

Julie tried to shrug him off but Coal pulled her closer. Why did he have to be so damned gorgeous? No! he’s a savage. A barbaric murderer. Torrent moaned again, reminding her that he wasn’t dead. “I can’t believe you did that to him.”

Coal’s whole demeanor tensed. “He should never have taken you.”

“He wasn’t thinking straight.”

Coal had the good grace to look embarrassed. “I wasn’t thinking straight either. I didn’t mean to hurt him so badly. I saw red.” His Adam’s apple worked as he swallowed. “I’ll apologize to him when he comes around. I should have told you about Blaze tasking me to mate a human.”

“Against your wishes. You hate humans. You were forced to win me and claim me and—”

“I was never forced to love you and the fact of the matter is that I do love you very much. I expected it to be a hardship but it wasn’t.” He stroked her cheek.

“You have blood on your hands.”

“I just told you that I love you.” His eyes narrowed into hers.

She huffed out a breath. “You shouldn’t have lied to me.”

“I didn’t want to scare you off. Everything I told you about my feelings, about trusting me, I meant it. You can trust me. I’ll come for you, be there for you and I always will. You are everything to me. You are a part of me. To hurt you is to hurt myself.”

“That’s so sweet.” Julie had to smile. “Next time you’ll listen when I tell you to stop. Poor Torrent. Good thing I have an idea of how you can make it up to him.”

Coal pulled her flush against him. “Anything you say, sweetheart.”

“Good. You’re learning. Let’s go home.”

“Back to the fire lair?” Coal seemed to be holding his breath.

Julie nodded. “Yes. It’s where I belong. I belong with you, Coal. You might be a savage caveman but you’re my savage caveman and I might, sort of, love you a little bit.”

“You do?” He kissed her softly.

“Yes, I do.”

He huffed out a breath. “You love me a whole lot.”

“A little.”

“A lot,” he growled.

“Let’s argue about this at home.”

“Does this mean you’ll mate me?”

“I’ll think about it.”

“We don’t need to have children. I just want you.” He put his forehead against hers and her heart just about burst.