Page 72 of The Slayer Seduction

I teleport us to the rendezvous point. We land on the expensive hardwood floors they boasted about in the listing and I still can’t look at her.

Seeing a single mark on her might just send me into a murderous rage.

“I’ll take the shower downstairs,” I tell her, walking away, giving myself a moment to contain this fury. I can’t look at the disappointment that’s likely to be on her face.

She doesn’t call out for me and I assume she takes a shower for herself. My injury started healing the moment she ripped the stake out of me, the skin already knitted back together as I undress and stare at myself in the mirror.

I’ve become so used to this vessel, I can’t even picture myself in any of my other lives. This cycle is the only one that matters and I almost lost it all.

“This is all very melodramatic, Slayer,” Adam says and I groan, stepping into the cold shower, which he also complains about.

“I nearly died. I almost lost her to him.”

“But you didn’t. She saved herself, she saved you. Don’t you get it?”

“Get what?”

“She said she was all in Slayer and you’ve run in here to pout like a fucking baby. How do you think she feels right now?”

I bang my head lightly against the shower tile.

“You need to go show her that you’re proud of her, that you’re thankful to be here another day. You also need to make sure that she’s alright.”

The blood circles the drain as I take soap and clean the rest of myself off. Adam is right, if not annoying.

“I will take care of her.”

“Good.”

I dry my hair and wrap the towel around my waist, hoping that when Iris sees me, she isn’t full of shame over my failure.

She’s in her own towel, sitting on the bed, her eyes welled with tears.

I’ve brought her to tears with my pathetic attempt of protecting her. I fall to my knees before her and rest my hands on her towel-covered thighs.

“I’m sorry I failed you,” I say.

“What?” she replies, her tone shocked.

“You should not have had to leave the tunnel. He never should have touched you. You shouldn’t have to save me. I should be saving you.”

Iris sighs, running a hand through my wet hair.

“That isn’t how this works, Slayer.”

Her nails feel nice running along my scalp and I timidly put my head down on her lap. She doesn’t stop touching me, and she smells like soap. The musk of the prison and everything that happened there has been washed away.

I nuzzle against her lap, needing her comfort. I’m greedy and unworthy of it, but I soak it up all the same.

“We’re in this together. When I saw you couldn’t get that stake out, I’ve never been more scared in my life.”

My head pops up, my chin resting on her thigh as I look at her glassy, beautiful brown eyes.

“What?”

She puts a hand over her heart. “I feel it, okay? The mate connection, but above that I don’t like the idea of you getting hurt regardless of being my mate.”

She truly cares for me?