“Obviously my vote is not to have anyone I care about in danger, but that’s been taken out of my hands by the evil supernaturals who want us dead. It’s also been taken out of our hands by the people we care about, seeing as they’ve made it clear they won’t accept a decision that they don’t like. So I’m thinking we have no vote. Either of us. We have to give them what they need.”

“Which means they may sacrifice their lives?” he asked, but he wished he hadn’t when he caught her trying to fight a flinch.

His arms again grew tighter around her and he started stroking the skin of her sides with his fingers, something that worked and the flinch went away.

“That’s our sacrifice, baby,” she replied gently. “Our peace of mind for theirs. They need this to have peace of mind that they’re doing what they can do. To have all the time they can have with us, even if it’s short.”

On these words, she dropped her head and rested her forehead against his jaw. She took her own moments in her thoughts and Abel returned the favor, being silent and letting her.

After a while, she kept going.

“No one likes this situation. But the one thing we’ll all have as we go about navigating it is each other. So I guess that’s not a bad thing.”

She was not wrong.

And Abel had discovered something else about his destined mate.

Delilah Johnson was far from dumb.

Very far.

“Then we’re decided,” he muttered.

She lifted her head and looked into his eyes. “Are we?”

He slid his hands up to under her arms and clamped tight. “Not sure we have a choice.”

“No,” she agreed.

He rolled her to her back with him on top, murmuring, “Think I gotta fuck you again.”

“Gotta?” she asked, her green eyes, which had been tinged with sadness, starting to light with humor, something he liked a fuckload better.

“Prefer to have my mind on your tight, wet cunt than this shit,” he answered.

“With this I wholeheartedly agree. Though, for my part, I prefer you to have things in it, rather than your mind on it.”

He dipped his head and grinned against her lips. “Goes hand in hand, pussycat.”

“Uh…speaking of your hands…”

She let that hang.

He did as told.

And it worked. Being all about her and her body and her noises and her sweet, tight pussy while she was all about him and his body and making him growl with her growing devotion to his cock. It was much better than considering their future, which was clouded with an unknown threat.