Rose had never felt more alive, but it was more than that. As she looked around the greenhouse, all of the damage didn’t seem as important anymore. It wasn’t so dire. The hurt wasn’t everything. In fact, right now, it counted for very little.
She’d thought this place could never be a sanctuary again, but Talon had fixed that little broken part of her. He’d come in here and made this place mean something again.
And as he turned her slightly and looked at her rump with a smirk on his face, she broke into giggles again. He’d left a perfect pink handprint.
A greedy little part of her lioness wished it would never go away. “We took back the greenhouse,” she murmured breathlessly.
Talon’s dark, dancing eyes looking right into her soul made her heart thump wildly. “We sure did, Wildcat.”
****
You’re with Rose, aren’t you?
Talon read the text from Emerald twice. How should he tackle this one. He’d been sending her the ‘I’m fine’ texts for two days while he’d stayed with Rose, but Emerald worried. She cared about people deeply, and was sensitive, like her mother had been. She’d been asking over the past year if he would ever date again, but he didn’t want to get her hopes up with this.
Run.
The lion was a relentless asshole lately. The smell of coffee permeated the house, and Talon sat up and rubbed his hands down his beard. It was barely dawn, and hard to see in the dim room.
It was one of those happy scenes from a movie, where he should be lying here all happy and content, but…
Run. We’ve been here too long.
His phone screen lit up again. Dad, you are many things. A protective, shit-handling, intimidating, loyal old fart. But you aren’t an avoider. Are you having trouble dealing with what happened when you were with the Old Tarian Pride? We’ve always been able to talk, but you’ve shut down about what happened there. I would call, but I’m pretty sure you’re with Rose, and I don’t want to wake her.
He sighed, kicked the bedsheets off his legs, and rubbed his aching ribs for a few seconds before he responded. I’m helping her fix up her house. I’m alright. Stop worrying. And I’m not an old fart. I’m a very young fart. Dad. Send.
OMG why do you always sign your texts with Dad? I know who I’m messaging. *laughing face emoji*
Talon snorted. Little turd. He would now sign every text with ‘Dad’ because he could just imagine her laughing to herself. And his daughter deserved laughter after everything she’d been through.
This bed sure felt empty without Rose.
Run.
She’d gotten up early today, and he’d made love to her slowly. And after, she’d snuggled against his chest for a while, her freezing cold feet warming between his calves, and then she’d said she wanted to make him coffee. Sweet Rose. How had he gotten so lucky with her?
Run. It’s not lucky. She’s getting you addicted to this place. To this feeling of belonging, but we don’t belong.
Talon’s attention darted to the window for the tenth time since Rose had wrapped herself in the comforter and padded out of the bedroom. Bad news. That’s what roamers did. They started looking out windows and imagining the places they would go next. They started feeling trapped.
Run.
With a growl, Talon pushed out of bed and ran his hands through his hair roughly. Sometimes he wished he wasn’t a shifter at all. He and the lion didn’t always see eye-to-eye.
But from here, he could see the broken mirror through the open doorway to the bathroom, and a long, low growl rattled his throat. And it was times like these that he did appreciate the lion. Because as long as he was here, no one would ever hurt Rose again.
He looked out the window again and winced, shook his head. Why couldn’t he just appreciate this place for what it was? A safe haven with a woman he wanted to spend the rest of his years learning about. She had a million layers, and each one she revealed was more consuming than the last.
Talon pulled on a pair of sweats and followed the scent of fragrant coffee down the hall and into the living room. Rose wasn’t in the kitchen like he’d expected. When he saw her standing with her back to him, the comforter draped loosely around her shoulders, he drew right up and froze in awe. She leaned on the open front doorframe, her silver hair cascading down her shoulders, her face slightly turned and catching those first gray streaks of dawn on her high cheekbones. She said things sometimes that made him shake his head and chuckle because it was so apparent that she didn’t know how damn beautiful she was. Her eyes crinkled at the corners from years of smiling, and her skin had lost some of its firmness, but was replaced with a softness he couldn’t stop touching. Her tattoo ink, like his own, had lost the crisp lines over time, and now they had more character. He could see her shoulder bones as she stood there stoically, soaking up the dawn, a mug of steaming coffee cupped in her hands.
Sometimes Rose called herself old, but that wasn’t right at all.
Her years were one of the most attractive things about her.
She was broken in just perfectly.
Unable to stand this far away from her, Talon walked up behind Rose and slid his hands up the soft skin of her back. He wrapped his arms across her chest in a silent promise to protect her as long as he was here. To be at her back until the moment they were separated. He rested his cheek against the side of her head and smiled when she melted back against him. And he stood here and watched the sunrise with her. No words were needed between him and Rose, but he had a favor to ask of his lion because for the first time in a long time, he wanted to belong somewhere. He wanted to belong to someone. He would give anything to belong to Rose, and to moments like these.
Let me keep her. Let me stay.
Chapter Five
“I need to get groceries,” Rose said over the Queen song blaring on Talon’s radio.
“You mean you need sustenance after all the horizontal exercise we’ve been doing?” he asked cheekily.
“Don’t be crass,” Rose said through a private smile as she held her hand out the open window of his Chevelle and caught the wind against her fingertips. It was still cold, but the sun was out, and she hadn’t stuck her hand out a window in ages. “But yes, I need sustenance.”
Talon chuckled and took a right onto New Tarian Pride territory. At the security station, it was Kannon’s shift right now, and he froze mid-bite of his burger and frowned at them.
Talon pulled up to the window and told him, “We need to pick up Rose’s snowmobile. Do you know where Gray parked it?”
Kannon was staring at Rose with an odd and unreadable expression on his face. He took a slow bite of his burger and chewed it like a cow chewing its cud.
“Cat got your tongue?” Talon asked him, his arm resting on the open window.
“No,” Kannon drawled. “But I’m pretty sure that cat has yours.” He pointed to Rose.
Utterly stunned, she didn’t even get a word out before Talon was driving them through the gate Kannon had buzzed open.
“Do you think he can tell that we’re…we’re…”
“Fucking like rabbits?” Talon asked.
“No! Together!”
Talon ran his hand down his beard and smirked. “Probably. We are giving off that sexy pen pal vibe.”
Oh. Rose’s heart dipped to the fragrant leather seats. She’d had so much fun and been so distracted the last couple of days with Talon, she’d forgotten about the pen pal deal. Forgotten he was leaving at all.
Now a selfish part of her wished the house would never be repaired so he would stay.
She was prepared to pout, but he reached over and wrapped his hand around hers, settling the upset emotions that were building like a storm in her chest. “We aren’t there yet,” he murmured. “Don’t start counting down.”
“Oh, you’re a mind reader now?”
He threw her a sideways glance and hit the gas, spinning out on the gravel road.
Rose laughed and swatted his arm. “You can’t get out of every serious conversation with a gas pedal.”
“I know that. I have other weapons, too.”
“Like?”
Talon waggled his eyebrows, and now Rose was snickering again. “Ridiculous man.”
But she forgave him and slid her hand to the inside of his elbow, her favorite place to rest it while he was driving the stick shift. He patted her hand there and then rested his palm over her knuckles as he pulled to a stop in front of the big cabin.
Everything was different. It was like the colors were brighter. Maybe it was just the sunny day that was making everything so brilliant. There were little green grass shoots poking through the melting snow. A bird in the tree nearest them had feathers on his chest the same color as the sun, singing a pretty little song that made her happy down to her soul, and even the stain on the cabin looked new. More orange than she remembered.
Ronin and Emerald were sitting on the porch stairs of the cabin. Ronin was tying his work boots and Emerald was wrapped in a blanket, cupping a mug of something hot and steamy in her hands.
“Hey, Dad,” she called with a wave. “What are you doing out so early?”
Talon eased to a stop and pushed his sunglasses to his silver hair. “Bringing this one back to pick up her snowmobile.”