The humming stopped, and her laughter echoed off the tiled walls of the shower. She pulled the curtain back enough to peek out at me and grinned. “Good to see you, too.”
I kissed her before she could draw the curtain again, her lips wet and delicious. My eyes met hers. “Am I in time to wash your back?”
Sasha started to smile. “Actually, I was just finishing up. How did it go with Adam?”
Hearing my brother’s name was like stepping into a cold shower. For a moment I’d been so happy to come back to Sasha that I’d managed to forget about the rest of the world. “It was really…surreal.”
She turned off the water and pulled her towel down from the curtain rod. “Surreal? What happened?”
I leaned back against the sink, trying to focus while she dried off. Damn, the woman was sexy. I told her about Miller Sloan’s surprise appearance in Adam’s driveway and his interest in Fonthill.
Sasha dried off and sat down beside me. “Do you really think he can help with Fonthill?”
I shrugged. “I’m not ready to trust him after one meeting, but I figured if Fonthill knows him, it couldn’t hurt to try to talk him down.” I should’ve told her about using Nadya to lure him out, but instead I bought some time. “How did it go with Sebastian?”
She told me about her meeting, but when her eyes met mine, my kick-ass mate seemed vulnerable. It made my chest fill with the sudden urge to beat the shit out of Sebastian. I took her hand. “I’m sorry he didn’t give you the answers you were hoping for.”
Watching our hands she said, “He told me he would have given me the world.” Sasha shook her head and tipped her chin up to gaze at the ceiling. “I never asked for that. All I wanted was a partner. Someone I could trust to have my back, you know?” She met my eyes. “Like you.”
I kissed her, our lips brushing slowly as I savored the way she tasted and the scent of her freshly washed hair. This was the woman I wanted to spend my life with. If she was there, then I was home. And I needed to tell her. About everything.
But taking down Fonthill needed to be first.
I pulled back and lifted her hand to kiss her fingers. “There’s something else we need to talk about.”
I filled her in on General Sloan’s opinion about bringing in new bait and waited for her to digest it.
Sasha let go of my hand and shot up from the bed. “You’re not suggesting what I think you’re suggesting.”
“If you have a better idea, I’m all ears.”
“No way. We can’t toss Nadya into this.” She pulled her wet hair back from her face and shook her head. “There’s got to be another way.”
“I wish there was.” I rested my elbows on my knees. “We’ll be right there, Sash. Adam’s working on putting together a team from the Pack right now, and the general will be there too.” I looked up at her. “Hell, once Fonthill’s in sight you could take him out with one shot.”
“I can’t do this, Aren.” She went to the window, staring down at the lights below. “I’m supposed to protect her. What if he…”
Her words hung in the silence. I got up and stood behind her, sliding my arms around her waist.
“We’ll keep her safe. He’ll come for her. He won’t be able to resist. Then we’ll have him, and this will finally be over.”
She rested her head back against my chest. “I’ve seen well-planned sting operations go south. This is my sister.”
“We haven’t said anything to Nadya.” I paused to kiss her hair. “If you don’t want to go through with it, I’ll tell Adam we need a different plan.”
I took a deep breath and waited. Finally Sasha turned in my arms, lacing her fingers behind my neck as she met my eyes. “I need to talk to Nadya first. And if I get a bad vibe at all, I’m pulling her out of this. We’ll have to find another way.”
“I’ll back you up no matter what.” I bent to kiss her lips, then whispered, “No one wants Nadya to get hurt.”
Her soft lips caressed mine, lingering as I breathed her in. “Thank you.”
“For what?” I loosened my hold on her as she took a step back.
“For understanding why I can’t agree to this yet.”
“As much as I want to end this mess with Fonthill, I’m not going to let anyone pressure you or Nadya into anything. I remember how it felt to worry about my brother when I followed Adam down to San Antonio…” I stopped myself, but not before I saw her posture tense. She started to turn away from me, and I caught her hand. “Wait. We need to get past this.”
When she turned back to face me, I recognized the way she lifted her chin, the calculated expression of indifference in her facial features. “How exactly can we get past the fact that I would have killed you and your brother to get to Lana if I’d had the chance? Explain to me how I can ever make that right?” Her voice trembled, but her face showed no sign of emotion. “Will sacrificing my sister make us even?”
“No one is asking you to sacrifice Nadya.” I was doing my best to keep my voice level and calm. Even though I’d been expecting her verbal attack, she still managed to surprise me with her angle. “Is that what you think this is about? You think we’re asking you to put Nadya in harm’s way to settle the score?”
She broke eye contact and started pacing the floor, talking with her hands as well as her voice. “I don’t know what to think. One minute you’ve got my back, and the next you’re comparing my concern for Nadya with how you felt when I was after Lana. Tough not to believe this is some way to get even.”
I brushed my hand down my face trying to find a trace of calm. “I
“Flipping out?” She spun around like an agitated jungle cat, her eyes narrowing. “You think I’m flipping out?” Her hands balled into fists at her side, and she took a step closer. “More like I’m pissed, Aren. If you and your Pack have a problem with me, then take it up with me,
“No one is atoning for anything.” I held back an expletive that wasn’t going to help me in this fight. “You know, if you hadn’t come after me that day in San Antonio we never would have met. It doesn’t matter to me why you were there. I’ve gotten past what happened, Sash. Why can’t you?”
I could almost see all the anger drain from her body, and pain replaced the fury in her eyes. “Because I care about you, Aren.”
Would I ever understand this woman? “That makes no sense.”
“Sure, it does.” She pressed her lips together and took up her post at the window again. “I watch Nadya holding those babies, and see you with Lana and Adam…” She paused and I ground my teeth together to keep from speaking. “I want Nadya to have a family again.
“It’s my fault too.” I went on before she could deny it. “That afternoon we fought in San Antonio, you were in black leather, even gloves. I remember wondering if that was to keep the bodies from having any DNA clues left behind or because it made you look even more deadly. Anyway, I told you that when a werewolf touches his mate, skin to skin, the wolf inside will recognize her. Imprint on her.”
I watched her face as I went on. “I was trying to get you in a hold so I could dislocate your shoulder. Once you were incapable of fighting me, I’d break your neck. I’d beaten other jaguars using that same move, but as I got a grip on your arm— ”
“I head-butted you.”
I nodded and felt a smile start to creep over my features. “Right. And the second you did, something exploded inside of me. I lost the ability to fight you because the wolf inside was trying to memorize every detail of its mate.”
“That’s when Adam found us…”
“And when you ran off, you left me behind in a fog of insanity. I wanted to be sure I hadn’t hurt you, that you were safe.” I shook my head, lost in the memory for a second. “If you hadn’t cracked my skull with your forehead when you did, I would have killed you.” I moved to stand beside her at the window. “When you caught up
