"Who?"
"Ahh, there's the conundrum," she spat with hopelessness and fury. "I don't know. No one knows."
"Can it be broken?" I asked, not caring either way.
I would take Raquel any way I could get her. If I died at night with her, it would be a small price to pay. And if we died for real, we would still be together. Win—win.
"Some believe if I mate the spell will be broken," she admitted cautiously. "And some believe if I mate, the spell will kill my mate and myself. No one knows… and I can't take that chance with you. I won't."
"Look at me."
"No," she said as she squeezed her eyes shut even tighter. "I can't."
"Fine," I replied lightly and closed the distance between us. The relief of touching her almost undid me.
I pressed my lips to her ear and breathed in her scent. "You are my mate. You will mate with me," I whispered.
Her body shuddered with desire and I ran my tongue along her delicate jaw.
"Did you not hear anything I just said?" she demanded as she tried to push me away. "I have denied you for hundreds of years because I'm wildly, insanely in love with you. Nothing you can do or say will change my mind."
"Again, I have to disagree," I said as a smile pulled at the corner of my lips.
"Oh my God," she hissed as she tried to bite back her inappropriate grin. "This is not funny. At all."
She pushed against me again. I grabbed her wrists and wound them around my neck. We were nose to nose and our lips were a breath apart.
"Kiss me," I begged gruffly. "If you don't, I'll lose it."
"I’ll kiss you, but if you bite me, I will beat your ass," she said as her eyes turned from silver-blue to green.
“Do it. I dare you.”
“You suck,” she whispered as she bit back a giggle.
“I’ve been known to,” I agreed with a grin and a shrug as I leaned in even closer.
And she kissed me.
My head spun and my need for her intensified to proportions I'd never known. Her lips were soft and her taste intoxicating. While I wanted nothing more than to throw her on the bed and lose myself in her body, we still had a few more things to get straight.
I pulled away, but stayed close enough that escape wasn't an option.
"I have lived half a life for hundreds of years," I told her. Her lips opened to argue and I gently put my finger over them. "I no longer want half a life. It's the same as no life at all."
"That was kind of brave," she said with a smirk.
"My words?"
"Nope, putting your finger over my mouth so close to my teeth. I could have bitten it clean off."
"I'll remember that in the future," I said with a grin. "Raquel, I don't care if you die every night. I don't care if I die every night. I don't care if this kills both of us because we'll be together—in Heaven or in Hell. I just don't give a fuck as long as I'm with you."
"It's not your call," she said as tears pooled in her eyes. "It's mine."
"No, it's ours. In your quest to save me, you've almost destroyed me. A mate will eventually go insane without their other half. Death would be kinder. I already feel the pull toward madness. Is that what you want for me? For you?"
"No," she whispered so softly I had to lean in.
"Missed that, Red," I said with a raised brow as I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"I said no, but wouldn't you have done the same?" she demanded harshly as her eyes rose defiantly to mine.
That stopped me. Would I have done the same thing? Possibly.
"A little space here?" she inquired.
"Will you run?" I asked.
"No. I won't. Not this time," she promised.
I gave her the space to think as I walked back to the other side of the room. Arguments raced around in my brain. I would not lose. I couldn't lose.
"I don't know what I would have done," I answered honestly, even though I didn't want to. "I might have tried your method for a while, but if it came to this—this moment, right here right now—I would give myself to you."
She made a noise of disbelief. "You're too noble. You would do the same thing I'm doing."
"Look at me," I ground out. "You think you’re broken? You have no clue what broken is until you walk in my shoes. I have chased you for two hundred years. I can't stop. Now that I know what the problem is, I will never stop. If you won't mate with me today, I will chase you to the ends of the world and wear you down until you do. I mean it when I say my life is no longer worth living without you. If we only have today as mates, then this will be the best goddamned day of my life. To hold you and know you are truly and willingly mine will complete me in ways you can't begin to understand."
"I'd rather see you alive and whole." Her body trembled and tears streamed down her beautiful face.
"I'd rather be broken and happy."
She watched me with wonder. "You really mean that, don't you?"
"Never meant anything more in my life."
"Your father. Your sister," she said with hesitation.
"I have spoken with them… and your father. They've all given their blessings," I told her.
"They've given their blessings for you to possibly die?" she asked as she shook her head angrily.