I opened my mouth, but for once, Mab hung up on me.
I closed the cell phone and turned to face my friends. If they'd been shocked before, they were simply horrified now-eyes wide, mouths open, faces pinched white with fear for me and what I was about to do.
"What did Mab say?" Finn asked. "Will she go for the trade?"
I handed his phone back to him. "She'll go for it. She wants to kill me too badly not to."
"You're not actually going to go through with it?" Eva piped up from her spot on the couch. "It's suicide, Gin!"
I shrugged. "No more so than any of the other things that I've done over the years."
Roslyn, Xavier, Finn, Eva, Violet, Warren-they all tried to talk me out of it, of course. They listed all the reasons why meeting Mab would result in nothing but my own death, along with Bria's. They ranted and raved up one side and down the other that I was being foolish, stupid even, if I thought that Mab would let either one of us live.
But they didn't change my mind.
If I had to sacrifice myself to save Bria, so be it. I didn't care anymore as long as she was safe. It was all I'd ever wanted since this whole thing had started.
Jo-Jo and Sophia didn't join in the others' protests. Instead, the two dwarven sisters stood still and silent by the fireplace. They both knew that there was no use trying to talk me out of meeting Mab. Hell, maybe Jo-Jo had seen this was what was going to happen, thanks to her Air magic and the precognition that went along with it.
Owen was quiet too, not joining in the Greek chorus. Instead, he slung his arm over my shoulder and stood by my side while the others alternately bullied, threatened, and tried to cajole me into abandoning my plan. I leaned into his body just the smallest bit, letting him take the weight of the moment.
Finally, when the others realized that they weren't going to change my mind, they quit grousing and drifted off to bed. Jo-Jo shepherded the crowd and made sure that everyone had enough pillows, sheets, and blankets for the night. I took a long, hot shower to wash the blood and grime from my body, then grabbed a spare set of pajamas from among the various clothes stashed at the cabin.
Owen and I took the bedroom on the ground floor, while everyone else trooped to the upstairs bedrooms. I wanted to be downstairs, wanted to be the first line of defense, just in case any of the bounty hunters traced us here. The odds of that happening were next to impossible, especially since on paper the cabin was owned by Nick A. Medes, which was one of Fletcher's rock-solid aliases. But Sophia had volunteered to stand watch, just in case. I would have done it myself, except that Jo-Jo bullied me into getting some rest.
I was tired-so tired-but I couldn't sleep. Instead, I paced back and forth across the bedroom, the wooden floorboards creaking under my bare feet. Owen watched me from his position on the bed. He didn't say anything, but his gaze never left my tight face.
"I'm sorry," I said, finally stopping to turn and look at him.
"For what?"
I threw my hands out wide. "For all of this. For the fact that you and Eva are now on the run because of me, because of my being the Spider."
Owen sighed. "There's nothing to be sorry for, Gin. I knew that this was a possibility when we got together. I knew that you were going after Mab, and I knew that it might come to this."
"Yeah," I said, flopping down on the bed beside him. "But it's not exactly what you signed up for, is it?"
Owen shrugged. "Maybe it's not, but I wouldn't trade it-or you-for a second. You know how much I care about you, Gin. You know how much I love you."
He'd finally said the words that I'd been dreading and longing to hear.
And I wanted to say them back to him.
My mouth opened, but the words-the damn words-just wouldn't come out. They snagged in my throat, choking me, even as the syllables squeezed my heart like a silverstone vise cranking tighter and tighter. My emotions were just too raw from everything that had happened tonight and all the awful things that might happen tomorrow. I couldn't speak, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't do anything but just feel-feel all the love I had for Owen.
Part of me knew that my gaped-mouth silence was stupid. I should tell Owen how I felt now, tonight, before another second passed. But part of me wanted to wait. When I told Owen I loved him, I wanted the moment to be about him, about us, and what we had-not because Mab was more than likely going to kill me tomorrow.
But try as I might, I just couldn't force out the words. Agony welled up in my aching chest, and a crazy, feverish sort of passion gripped my body. So I did the only thing that I could do-I leaned forward and kissed Owen.
My tongue drove into his mouth, over and over again, even as I started tearing at his clothes. Maybe I couldn't say the words, but I could show Owen how much he meant to me. I needed to-I was desperate to.
I didn't want to think tonight. I didn't want to think about the fact that Mab had Bria. That the Fire elemental had already tortured my sister, would torture her even more before the night was through, and that there was nothing I could do to stop it. No way to rescue Bria. No way to break into Mab's mansion without getting myself and everyone else killed in the process. No, I didn't want to think tonight.
But for once, I couldn't bury my emotions, my feelings. Couldn't pretend they didn't exist or that my heart wasn't breaking for Bria, even as it swelled with love for Owen. Everything I'd been through tonight-fighting Mab, feeling her Fire burn me, battling the bounty hunters, losing Bria in the woods-roared up inside me, a tidal wave of emotion that I just couldn't fight any longer. It needed a release-now, before it consumed me.
Owen let out a low growl, wrapped his hand in my hair, and pulled me down on top of him. His tongue met mine, dodging and darting just as fast and hard as mine did, even as we sucked the air out of each other's mouths. Owen raked his teeth across my earlobe before his lips dipped lower, nipping at my neck.
"Mmm," I murmured, feeling my desperation melt into a far more pleasurable form of agony. "You know how much I-I love it when you kiss me there."
"And you know how much I love you," he rasped against my neck.
I responded by ripping open the flannel shirt he'd changed into after taking his own shower. The buttons flew everywhere, landing on the wooden floor, but I didn't care. I was already leaning forward, tracing my tongue down his broad, muscled chest. Owen kneaded my back, urging me on, letting me take the lead. But I was feeling too much, too hard, too fast, and my hands shook as I tried to work the button on his jeans, my fingers slipping off the smooth metal.
"Here, let me," he murmured.