Aster appeared a few minutes later. Though her eyes were still damp, the adoration beneath the gleam ripened my hunger when she neared me. “Dade has taken Opal home, but he said he will return.”

I nodded and waited.

Finally, she sensed what I wanted and erased the tiny distance between us to fold her arms around my waist. The ache in my muscles melted as I held her close and laid my mouth and nose atop her head, breathing her into me.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered to my chest.

I fucking loathed that she felt the need to say such a thing. “You have nothing to apologize for.”

Pulling away just far enough to gaze up at me, my heart gave me a sad smile. “I have to see him,” she said, and I tensed, ready to say that no, she absolutely did fucking not need to, when she rasped, “I won’t be long, but Scythe…” Rubbing my hips, she whispered, “It’s something I must do.”

Torn between the desire to leave right away, to never let him lay eyes on her again, and the desire to ensure she had as much closure as she needed to move forward without ever looking back, I found myself unable to speak.

Stepping back, Aster placed her palm over my cheek, her mouth pinching as her fingers brushed the corner of my scarred eye. My throat tightened, bobbing painfully when I swallowed, and she flattened her hand over my racing heart.

“I won’t be long,” Aster repeated and captured my hand. She lifted it to lay a kiss upon my palm. My warmed skin grew cold as she released me to walk away.

Aster turned right before I caught her by the waist when she neared the stairs.

She smiled as I pulled her back into my arms. My lips seized hers, and she instantly softened beneath their claiming caress. Her hands splayed over my chest, fingers curling into my shirt, as she yielded to every taste I had to have.

Breathless, she blinked up at me in a beautiful daze when I broke away to roughly warn her, “I’ll be counting every fucking second.” Then I traced her damp, luscious mouth with my thumb. “But I’ll wait as long as you need me to.”

Her gray eyes flooded, and her lips trembled.

Before I changed my mind, I released her and forced myself to walk back toward the dining hall. Forced myself to keep from so much as looking over my shoulder as the beast pressing at my skin writhed with the desperation to do what we needed. As my wolf whined for us to take her and get the fuck out of here.

Minutes that felt like hours later, the air warmed with his impending arrival.

I ceased pacing by the window at the end of the hall.