Page 34 of Hart's Redemption

“What?”

“Zach was pretty cute.”

My head shot up, nearly clipping his chin, while mortification burned my face. “Elijah Bennett, please tell me you did not…”

He silenced me with a chaste kiss. “No. As soon as I realized what was going on, I got the hell out of there. I wouldn’t violate your privacy like that. Though why am I not surprised your first time was with a lycan?”

“Fuck you.” I scowled at him before resuming my previous position.

He chuckled and pulled me tighter against his chest. “Just saying, you clearly have a type.”

I snorted, but he wasn’t wrong. It was weird to remember Zach. I hadn’t thought about him for years. Which was a shame, really. He’d been sweet and so kind. If only he hadn’t also been insistent on wanting to date me. He was many beautiful things, but he was also the reason I’d taken to hiding my scent even when I went out for one-night stands. Thankfully,thatwould never be an issue again.

Suddenly, another thought occurred to me. “Did you have a door?”

He placed a kiss on my forehead. “Yes, it looked like the one to the cottage, and you have no idea how tempting it was to go inside.”

This time I was more careful about raising my head to look at him. “You didn’t open it?”

Elijah cupped the side of my face. “No, I didn’t. You’ve already told me everything I need to know.” His thumb brushed along my bottom lip, and I blinked at him.

The level of sacrifice on his part in undertaking such a dangerous procedure was staggering. Not to mention the willpower it would have taken to open as few doors as possible. I kissed his thumb, and his beautiful cognac eyes rose from my mouth to meet my gaze. “I love you.”

The light that immediately filled those amber depths made me want to say it again. Before I could, he placed his mouth on mine, his lips pulling out a tender kiss that set my pulse racing, and calmed me all at once. “I love you too. Now what do you say we eat some breakfast?”

“Depends.”

His smile slipped, and a crease formed between his brows. “On what?”

“Who cooked it.”

“You cheeky bastard. You watched me make it.” He scowled at me, and the laughter I’d been holding at bay finally bubbled out of me.

Chapter 11

Elijah

Iwasn’tsurprisedatJosh’sreluctance to go into the hospital, though it had taken me a second to process that he wanted–expected–me to go as well. I guided him through the automatic doors with my hand on his lower back. For all that he was walking in of his own free will, you’d never know it by how tight his muscles were beneath my palm.

He flinched at the hiss of air that bombarded us. I smiled at the nurse stationed at the front desk while Josh appeared to be searching for an alternate escape than the one at our backs. It sucked that the one thing that would have helped his anxiety was also the one thing he’d been expressly toldnotto take before the appointment.

“Good morning, Dr. Bennett. It’s been a while,” the nurse said with a responding smile, which she then turned to Josh. “It’s a pleasure to see you, Detective Hart. I was disappointed to learn you’d been discharged before I could offer my congratulations.”

Fortunately, the growl rolling out of Josh was too low for the nurse to hear at this distance. The snarl twisting his face, however, was less easy to miss. I pinched his waist, and the sound immediately cut off as he turned his head to glare at me.

“Thank you, Betty. I believe Dr. Lyons is expecting us?” I said to distract from Josh’s poor response to her kindness.

“Of course.” She stood and vacated her position behind the counter. “If you’ll please follow me.”

I chuckled. “No offense, Betty, but I’m pretty sure I know the way.” Rather than pretend I didn’t notice the increasingly complex array of scents swirling around my mate and betraying his state of mind, I rubbed my hand along his back in soothing motions.

Betty’s smile widened. “Actually, Dr. Lyons thought it would be better to use the secondary laboratory for today’s tests. It’s more private, and it’s at the other end of the complex. The far end.”

Surprise briefly eclipsed Josh’s myriad of darker scents. I wanted to high-five Betty for conveying the sensitive news without so much as a telling flick of her gaze toward Josh. She turned to the double doors that led away from the quarantine wing, and we fell in step behind her.

The corridor was as nondescript as the one that led to the wing where we’d spent most of our time the prior three months, but just the knowledge that he wouldn’t be going anywhere near that damnable cage seemed to put Josh more at ease. When we arrived at the alternate lab, Dr. Lyons was waiting for us.

“I’m glad you took my orders seriously, Detective Hart,” she said with a knowing grin.