Ch 72

Ch 72
“Sir”
It was Philips' voice that brought Ian back to earth; he'd just lost the most important person in his life.
“Sir." Philips insisted in the face of his master's silence.
 "I'm sorry to disturb you, but we await your orders. It's getting dark, the current is preventing us from crossing and continuing our search, so I think it's best to go back inside, get warm, regain your strength and start again tomorrow. Also, you'll have to prepare for the worst, sir, with the low temperatures and the cold.”
“Are you mad?” Ian asked, his voice full of fatigue but above all full of bitterness. 
“Excuse me, sir?”
“My wife has just been carried off, I don't know where she is or what state she's in, and all you can tell me is to go home, get warm and prepare for the worst. So I repeat, ARE YOU CRAZY?”
“I'm sorry, I…”
“Enough... Send Jem to tell my Aunt and Alexis to take care of Amara. Then gather all the men near the clearing with the best hunting dogs you can find. I want everyone to get to work, we need to find my wife and the sooner the better.”
5 hours had passed since Eden’s disappearance, and everyone on the estate was out looking for her, fearing the worst for their mistress. 
Ian was trying as best he could to keep his head on his shoulders.
"Where are you, my angel? Please hold on, I can't live without you" were the words they kept repeating to each other to hold on.
Everyone was tired, it was getting darker and darker, and the thick fog made the search even harder. 
Everything was going wrong and Ian was afraid of losing hope when he thought he heard a voice whispering
 "Over here, help me", but the barking of the dogs prevented him from knowing where the whisper was coming from.
\-Quiet, everyone," shouted Ian. 
“Is there a problem, sir?”
“I said silence, I thought I heard someone.”
For a brief moment, no one spoke, only the sound of running water when suddenly
“Ian? Can anyone hear me?”
The voice was weak and shaky, but Ian could recognize it a mile away. 
It was Eden’s voice. His omega was still there, his Eden was alive.
“Eden? Eden? Where are you, my angel? I am here.”
Eden was lying by the stream formed by the heavy rain, her skin pale and his lips even bluer than the last time Ian had seen her.
“I knew you'd come," she whispered.
“ I always knew. All I had to do was be strong enough to make it.”
Ian took her feverishly, desperately in his arms and replied.
“I'll always be here, always. For you. For both of you.”
Ian held her back to the castle.
 The castle servants were there now, with towels, blankets and hot water. 
Ian was half-naked in the icy fog, but he felt nothing but the presence against him of the one he loved. 
As Eden was wrapped in blankets, he moved his hand forward to stroke her cheek.
 Eden buried her face in his palm and kissed him.
“I'm sorry, Ian . I just wanted to find Selene and then... take some time to think. And I should have listened to you.”
“ Don't worry, everything will be fine.”
Ian wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her to a car where Gwen was waiting with more blankets. 
Alexis was already there, cradling Amara. But Eden wanted to take the baby in her arms as soon as she was settled.
“Hot baths for everyone, Gwen, quick!" ordered Ian as he closed the car door. 
Then he quickly checked that everyone was safe and sound and got back in the saddle, galloping behind the car taking his omega and his daughter.
 He'd almost lost them both. Now that it was all over, a terrible terror gripped him as he imagined what might have happened. 
He wanted to scream and cry like a child.

Eden was in the bath when Ian entered her room, still dripping with sweat. 
Gwen wanted to stop him, but it was Eden herself who called her husband.
“Amara is fine," he said. “We've been able to warm her up and put her to bed.”
Ian knelt by the bathtub and picked up the big towel that Eden had been modestly, but unsuccessfully, trying to cover herself with. 
Gwen had tied her turbaned hair in a towel and her skin was pink from the heat of the bath.
“You need to dry off and get into bed too," he said gently. 
“Look at your fingers, they're all crumpled, like a linen maid.”
Ian took her hand to show them to her, and then a terrible image came over him. 
He saw her dead in the river, her long hair splayed out in the water, and the image suddenly overcame his defenses.
“Eden... I..." he began, but his voice cracked.
Eden pulled him against her.
“I know... It's all right now”
Ian could feel the tears rolling down his cheeks. Eden held him close, cradling him like a child, as if it was she, not Eden, who needed comfort.
“I love you, Eden. I love you”
The words sounded so clear in his head that he thought he'd actually said them. 
He turned sharply to grab a towel and wipe his face. 
Then he saw it. Ian had pronounced them right.
“Ian... Do you... Do you love me?”
Ian gazed into her amber eyes, which seemed to see right into the depths of his soul.
“I love you. I love you like crazy. I can’t imagine that you loved me too.”
It took a moment for the words to sink in. 
Ian leaned forward to take his lips.
"Does she love me? Eden loves me?"
“I  just realized it, because I almost lost you. I didn't know how I felt, Eden. How could I have been so blind?”
“I've been blind for a long time too. I finally knew I loved you when I discovered your family vault. That's when I realized that what I felt for you was so strong, so different from what I felt for Ivan, that it couldn't be anything other than love. And then... in bed…”Eden blushed.
Ian continued for her:
“I should have known that a woman like you only gives herself so eagerly, night after night, if she loves you... “ Ian felt both drunk and perfectly lucid.
 It was wonderful and a little terrifying. 
“I only thought I had the chance to give you pleasure.”
Eden laughed.
“Oh, Ian. Do you realize that we never made love knowing that we loved each other?”
Ian looked at her thoughtfully, eyes heavy with unspoken desire, and Eden felt herself melt from the inside out.
“That's an interesting observation, my love," he murmured. 
“We'll have to think about it and examine this matter with all the attention it deserves.”
“Now, Ian. Now, please.”
“You need to rest and……”
“Help me out of the tub, I'll check on Amara , and then……“
Ian let Gwen help her mistress dry off and put on a bathrobe. 
Meanwhile, Ian went to wash himself.
 He found his omega in front of the cradle, where she had just put the child back to sleep. 
He put his hand on hers while Eden stroked her pink cheek.
“My two loves," he murmured, "safe and sound.
He bent down to kiss Amara’s head, then stood up, took Eden’s hand and led her to his bedroom. There, he closed the connecting door and leaned against the panel.
“Ian, are you sure you're not too tired?”
“I'd have to be half dead not to want to make love to you, Eden.”
Desire darkened his eyes, making their brown more intense. 
But there was something else, something Eden guessed but didn't recognize, that made her want to laugh and sing.
“I love you so much that I want you to be wide awake when I tell you over and over again," Eden murmured as Ian began to undo the ribbon of her bathrobe.
“I like to take the frills off," he said as he removed her negligee, before caressing her nipples. It's like unwrapping a present.
“A present?" protested Eden. “Well, milord, I'm off to unwrap you too.”
“Yes, Eden," he murmured, his voice hoarse. 
“Quickly, please”
Eden promptly unzipped his pant and felt the hard muscles of his lower abdomen contract under her fingers. 
Then the omega took hold of the object of his desire: hot, hard and ready for her.
“Wait, Eden…..”
Ian lifted her in his arms and laid her on the bed. 
“The boots, Ian" she exclaimed.
“Too bad for them”
“But... The blankets... Oh! Oh, Ian! Yes, my love, yes.”
The boots, the sheets, everything disappeared from Eden’s consciousness as she discovered the confident, joyful passion, more intoxicating than anything she's known before. 
He was hers, Ian was hers, and it seemed to her that nothing would ever be the same again. 
Ian led her with gentleness to climax and, while going in and out of her deeply, Ian murmured against his mouth.
“I love you, Eden, my love. I love only you! I'm yours, all yours”
“I love you, Ian, I love you, I love you.”