Chapter 122 - Inseparable

Daphne

Finally, he slept, still tangled in my hair, my arms, my legs, he collapsed beside me, and let his long, curling eyelashes drift down. His body was warm and relaxed, his breathing even and peaceful. I hoped some deep sleep would erase the dark shadows from under his eyes, and regular meals would fill in the hollows of his face. I let my fingers trail over the stubble of his cheeks.

I didn’t even really know who this man was, and yet I already loved him fiercely. How was that even possible? I felt like his blood was in my veins, and mine was in his, and we weren’t even marked. We couldn’t be marked, given he was a human.

I let my finger drift down the strong cords of his neck to the spot on his shoulder where my mark would have gone. I drew a half circle over the tendons there, and he shivered in his sleep.

He might have human DNA, but Nash Turner was no ordinary human.

I was warm and comfortable and sleepy too, but I couldn’t give in to the urge to sleep in Nash’s arms.

I was worried about Louis.

Carefully, I untangled myself from Nash. He grumbled a bit when I eased away, and reached out, like he was searching the bed for me. His hand closed on my pillow, and brought it close, hugging it against his chest like a teddy bear. Then he grew quiet and still again. I searched for my clothes, which seemed to have been scattered all over the room.

My panties were MIA and my blouse was missing two buttons, but I dressed myself as best I could before I slipped out his door. I met a maid in the hallway who gave me a shocked, wide-eyed look before she scurried away.

I stood frozen for a moment. Should I feel ashamed?

That morning I had walked out of Louis’s room, now I was sneaking out of Nash’s? I’m sure I was already the subject of all kinds of juicy gossip in the staff lounge. But, after a moment, I straightened my shoulders and marched over to the king’s door. I didn’t care what anyone thought about me. Nash was mine. Louis was also mine. The Moon Goddess had decreed it, so who was I to argue?

I raised my fist and knocked lightly on the door.

It took a few minutes. I was about to pound a little harder when the antique handles finally turned and the door was pulled open by a very disheveled-looking Louis wearing a hastily tied robe.

He blinked at me in surprise, and then poked his head out into the hallway. Seeing I was alone, he took my hand and drew me inside. “What’s wrong, why are you here?”

“N-nothing is wrong. I just wanted to check on you.” I stepped closer, so that I could run my hand under the lapel of his robe, and rest it over his heart. It seemed like the rhythm was a little erratic. “Are you okay?”

He placed his hand over mine, pressing it firmly against his chest. Delicious tingles danced through my fingers. “Remember when we were standing in the garden at your brothers’ pack, and I told you that I didn’t want a mate?”

“Yes.” I had also told him then that I was already in love with another man.

“Now it’s like a cosmic joke, isn’t it? Because now I have not one, but two.” He shook his head, “And it’s a disaster.”

“No! No, it’s not a disaster! It’s a gift, Louis!” I insisted.

Louis pressed my body closer to his, and ran his fingers though my tangled hair. His eyes were dark, the golden sparks seemed to have been extinguished. “I felt everything,” he said on a sigh. I felt him, I felt you. I even… look.” He put his hands on my shoulders and forced me to stay still as he stepped back. He dropped the robe down around his elbows, exposing his back and shoulders, and turned around.

On his shoulders there were half-moon scratches from my fingernails. I had put those there last night, unintentionally. But lower down, near his spine, there were new scratches, fresh red welts.

I knew they matched the scratches I had left on Nash’s back in the heat of our passion just an hour earlier.

I reached out a trembling finger and gently traced the longest mark. My finger sparked and tingled from the bond, like static electricity jumping between us. “Oh Goddess, I’m sorry Louis. Was it…? Did it hurt you?”

“Hurt me? No. It was…well you know exactly how it was, because you were there.” Louis shrugged the robe back into place, but now the lapels gaped open, leaving his strong, sculpted chest bare. I stared at it and felt the desire starting to stir all over again.

When my hand started to reach for him, he caught it and set it gently aside. “Daphne, I don’t know if I can go through this every night. And what if he feels it when we are together?”

“Oh gods,” I put my hand over my mouth. Hadn’t there been something rough on the back of Nash’s shoulders? I’d been a little too…over eager, but I remembered my fingertips scraping over something that felt like scabs. I backed away from Louis and dropped onto his couch. “It doesn’t make sense. None of this makes sense.” I shook my head.

“I’ve heard of mates who could feel each other’s pain,” Louis said thoughtfully. He sank down beside me, making the couch sag under his weight and forcing my body to slide into his. I didn’t mind at all, in fact, I craved it. Craved that feeling of comfort and safety. “I remember when my mate was in labor with Bella.. I felt her contractions.” He swallowed, like the memory had choked him. “But it wasn’t like this.”

I stared at his profile, at the shape of his lips, and the slope of his nose. “So, does that mean if you and Nash…”

He flinched a little and gave me a sideways look. “That’s not going to happen, and you know it.”

I smiled a little, and my hand found his bare thigh beneath the hem of his terry cloth bathrobe. “Do I, though?” I drew little random shapes on his skin, enjoying the roughness of his hair under my nails. “I saw how he was at dinner.”

Louis sighed and let his arm drop around my shoulders. “That didn’t mean anything, Daf. I think it’s just in his character to step in when he sees injustice. I’ve only just met him, but I can tell he’s a good man, Daphne. An honorable one.” He sighed, like that was a bad thing. Probably this would have been much easier to deal with if Nash was just an unlikable a.sshole. “He’s like Captain America.”

“Mhmm,” I was distracted by Louis’s quadricep, which seemed a little tight. Without thought, I began to massage his thigh. “But there is a darkness in him too,” I mused. “I can feel it sometimes, just below the surface.”

“There’s darkness in all of us,” Louis growled, flattening my hand under his palm like he was squashing a spider.

“Maybe,” I said. I tried to tug my hand free, but he gripped it against his thigh. I thought about pointing out that I didn’t have any darkness. I mean, I’d gone through a rough spot when my parents died suddenly, but I’d had the love and support of my brothers, and I’d come out of it okay. I still missed them, fiercely at times, and I teared up when it occurred to me the other day that this baby would never know her Nana and Papa. But overall, I considered myself a happy, well-adjusted person.

“Trust me,” Louis peeled my fingers off his leg and brought them to his lips, kissing just the tips of my fingers. “I know more about darkness than anyone.” Then he curled my fingers back into my palm and gently put my hand back into my lap. “I’m so grateful that we had one night together, for a moment, I felt like…” He closed his eyes and lifted his face.

“Felt like what?”

He smiled, but it was a sad, lost smile. “I felt like a man again, Daphne.”

I opened my mouth, prepared to tell him that he was a man, a good, strong man, but he shook his head, cutting me off. “This is a precarious situation. You have his baby. He needs you, and you need him. We can’t risk rejection. Not now.” His brow furrowed, and he released my hand and stood up.

“I need you too, Louis,” I said quietly.

He flinched at the words, and turned his back on me. “You should go now,” he said quietly. “Go back to your room, or go back to his. But you can’t stay here. Stay away from me.”

I jumped up, not caring that the act of launching myself off the couch somehow caused another button to pop off my blouse. It rolled across the floor and disappeared under one of the side tables. “No.”

Louis spun around, his face set in a cold mask. “Pardon?”

“I know what you are trying to do, Louis, and I’m not going to let you.”

He drew himself up, pulled his shoulders back and looked down his nose at me. Never before had he looked or acted more like a haughty, snotty royal. “Let me? Have you forgotten who you are talking to?”

I stalked toward him. I’d like to say we were nose to nose, but given how tall he was, it was more like nose to chest. “I know exactly who I am talking to, King Louis.” I poked my finger into his chest. “And I said, no. You don’t get to run me off. I’m not going to stay away from you.”

“I can make you.”

I snorted, and tossed my sex-tangled hair over my shoulder. “You can try.” And then I spun on my heel and stomped my way over to the door, yanked it open hard enough that the door swung back into the wall, probably leaving a dent in that hand-painted wall paper. I didn’t bother shutting it behind me.

If I turned around, he would see the tears in my eyes, and I wasn’t going to allow that. I practically ran across the hallway to my own room, fumbled with the key, and then took the opportunity to slam that one behind me, like an angry child.

Whatever, I was p.issed, and I wanted him to know it. I had finally found my mates, and they were both so… so…

Ugh.

I knew exactly what Louis was thinking. He was thinking if he kept his distance from me, Nash and I would have a chance to strengthen our bond. And then, after the baby was born, he’d reject us. Or ask Nash to reject him. He thought he was going to be all noble and sacrifice his own happiness for ours.

I threw myself across the bed and looked for my phone, but I think I had lost it somewhere in Nash’s room. Who was I going to call anyway? Bella? My brothers? I rolled over and grabbed a pillow and held it over my face. I screamed into the fluffy stuffing and then tossed it aside. For a minute I lay there, feeling my tears dry on my cheeks, leaving them feeling salty and stiff.

“Oh my boys,” I spoke to the empty room as I crawled off the bed and headed for the shower. “You will learn to play nice together.”