The doors closed before she could answer.
Alexandru glanced at her with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m still thinking.” But Zari ended up gasping and laughing a little, even though it hurt to do so, as he suddenly shifted her in his hold. Her arms went around his neck, her legs wrapped around his waist as Alexandru pushed her back against the wall.
Supporting Zari with just one arm, Alexandru tucked loose strands of her hair behind her ears. After the fucking scare his pet had given him, he savored even the smallest things and would never take for granted the chance to touch her like this.
He asked, “Made up your mind yet?”
She couldn’t answer right away, his playful tone wreaking havoc on her senses.
Alexandru flicked her forehead.
“Oww,” she exclaimed, more out of surprise than anything else.
Suddenly, he bent his head, and their foreheads touched.
A ragged sigh escaped him, and she stiffened at the sound. “What’s wrong?”
“I thought I almost lost you.” His voice was a strained whisper, and it was the first time she had heard him speak like this. He looked up, and he flicked her head again.
Zari would have found it touching if it hadn’t hurt a bit more. “What’s that for now?”
“For lying to me.”
“Lying to you?”
“You said you were fine!” The elevator doors parted open, and manners prevented Alexandru from continuing. He carried her out of the elevator, his hard embrace telling her it was far from over.
Entering his suite, he kicked the door shut and, in a blink of an eye, they were on his bed, Zari flat on her back and Alexandru looming over her with a scowl on his handsome face.
“You were bleeding all over,” he hissed. “Here. Here. Here.” He touched her eyes, her ears, her lips. “You were dying!” Just remembering it made his hand shake.
The raw fear in Alexandru’s gaze had Zari placing her hand against his cheek. “But I’m alive now.”
“By the fucking skin of your teeth,” he bit out.
Since she couldn’t argue that, she just said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I terrified you. I didn’t mean to. Lady Katarina had it under control.”
He shook his head. “What she fucking did was a wild guess,” he said tightly, “and you were just damn lucky it paid off!”
She tried to find something positive to say and only ended up with a cliché. “But Master, all’s well that—-”
Alexandru snarled, “You won’t want what I’ll do to you if you dare finish that thought.”
“—-ends well?”
Both of them froze.
“Zari.” A growl and a groan at the same time.
She threw her arms around him before he could punish her. “Master.” She tightened her hold and pushed her breasts against his chest.
He choked back a laugh. “Are you trying to seduce me out of getting pissed?”
Hiding her face in the crook of his neck, she nodded. She also rubbed her body against him.
His cock became fully erect and he gritted out, “I have to say…it’s working, pet.”
“Master?” She closed her eyes. “Lady Katarina said…” She felt him stiffen, but she knew she had to ask. “She said you chose me.”
Silence.
“I did.”
She couldn’t breathe. “Why?”
Because you own my heart now, and it will always be yours. The words came out of nowhere. He hadn’t planned to fucking say it, but now that he did, he knew he wouldn’t take it back. It was a fucking relief that it was all out now, a fucking relief that everything was finally clear to him.
Katarina was the past. Zari, his pet, was his eternity.
When she didn’t say anything, his jaw clenched. Zari?
Yes, Master?
You want me to strangle the words out of you?
Not a good joke—-
Stop fucking with me—-
Zari suddenly pushed his chest, and when he fell on his back, she climbed over him, bracing her hands beside him. Their eyes met, and he sucked in his breath at what he saw in her gaze.
He had his answer, and she knew it.
Even so, she gave him a tremulous smile as she said, “In case you need to hear it…” She wiped her tears. “I love you, Master. Alexandru. I love you.”
She bent down, and their lips touched.
But they didn’t kiss.
Because she started to see.
“YOU SURE YOU WANT TO do this?” Erou asked as, at his nod, his enforcers cut the yellow tape that barricaded the room where the demon’s host had been found and killed this afternoon.
Zari nodded.
Stepping aside, he warned, “We’ve cleaned it to escape human detection, but there are sure to be remnants that you’ll notice.”
When Alexandru opened the door, Zari was immediately hit by a rotten smell that wafted out of the room. She shook her head in dismay. It was such a bad odor, she couldn’t believe most humans wouldn’t be able to smell it.
Alexandru and Katarina stepped inside first. There was no jealousy in her heart as she watched the two working together, checking all parts of the room before Alexandru came back for her. “It’s clear.”