“No.” His smile was lopsided, eyes intense. “You’re as perfect as ever.”
She must have left her shame floating in New York Harbor, because even with Tucker in the room, her nipples turned to sensitive peaks inside her robe and she contemplated pulling Jonas down on top of her in the bed. Just to remind herself of the delicious press of his weight. Oh wow. How she missed his weight.
“My God. That racing pulse of yours…” His gaze fell to her mouth and sparked. “Stay calm for me, love.” Ginny reined in her galloping libido with two hands. Or tried to, anyway. Jonas ruined her progress by leaning down and speaking right on top of her ear. “Do you remember what you told me before you fell asleep?”
Ginny clawed through her memory, but couldn’t remember a thing after climbing onto Jonas’s back in the water. “No.”
“Mmmm.”
“What does mmmm mean?”
“Elias,” Tucker called to the other room. “They’re ignoring me.”
Cheeks heating, Ginny shied back from Jonas. “Sorry.” It was hard to concentrate when Jonas refused to stop regarding her like some kind of riddle he was attempting to decipher. “Um. What are we arguing about?”
“You’re not arguing about anything,” Jonas stressed. “You’re resting.”
Elias strode into the room, hoodie up, once again shielding his face from view. “She has the right to know you’re leaving,” he said, voice casual.
Jonas closed his eyes. “Fuck you, Elias.”
“I’ve heard that plenty.” The room’s newcomer sprawled out on a couch in an unlit corner of the room. “Doesn’t change the facts.”
Ginny felt as though she were standing back up on the ledge of the Verrazano. Winded, unbalanced and preparing to tumble end over end. “What does he mean you’re leaving?” Her mouth was dry as dust. “Where are you going?”
“I was going to tell you once you’d slept a while more.” A line flexed in his cheek. “I’m going to approach the High Order. About you. About us.”
Her blood chilled. “No. Why?”
Silence ticked by. “How long have you been having the dreams, Ginny?”
It came back to her then. Clinging to Jonas’s back while he sliced through the water and telling him about the man under the tree. Him. “Since I met you.”
“Met me.” His laughter was flat. “You’ve known me a lot longer than you think.” There was so much weight in his eyes as he studied her, she could only exist in their line of fire. “Or maybe not. We didn’t speak the first time. Not really.”
“What are you talking about, prince?” Tucker asked slowly.
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Elias added.
His voice scratched when he spoke. “My mate. She vanished without a trace and I could never find her again. I saw her the first time outside a school dance. She was only eighteen—and human. I stayed away. I tried to stay away, just watching over her, until the night at the fair.”
Ginny’s heart rapped against her eardrums. She could taste the roasted nuts in the air, smell the spun sugar, hear the tinkling notes of the rides. Most of all, she could sense Jonas beneath the tree. The atmospheric click of being right where she was supposed to be, with him, the hand of fate sweeping her closer.
“I swear she knew me,” Jonas rasped now. “I swear…you knew me.”
“I did. I’d been waiting.”
Emotion swarmed his face. “I didn’t have two mates. I simply found you again.” His voice shook as he caressed her cheek. “Where did you go?”
Icy wind from the past cooled her skin. “Off a cliff,” she whispered, numbly.
Heavy moments passed while they stared at one another.
Slowly, Jonas rose from the bed, fists pressed to his temples. He walked in one direction, switched and stopped, doubling over and letting out a deafening roar. Ginny rushed to cover her ears with both hands, ducking toward the comforter as sparks flew from every light source and outlet in the hotel room, singeing the carpet with little hisses.
“Is it my sire who does this?” He pulled at his hair. “Would my sire try and take you from me twice?”
“Of course he would,” muttered Elias. “He’s a ruthless bastard,”
“I don’t understand,” Ginny said, transferring a look between the men.
Jonas paused, staring into space. “He’s the common denominator. When I found you the first time, I was freshly Silenced. No one else knew about me. I’d assumed no responsibilities yet under his command, so no one would have struck out at me to spite him. And it’s the same pattern. Putting you in danger with just enough room to fail on your own.” He raked a hand down his face. “A cliff. A bridge. My God, he’s behind this, isn’t he?”
“He’s sure as shit powerful enough,” Tucker said.
Ginny blinked. “He wants me dead so you won’t break the rules and have a relationship with a human?”
“He controls everyone around him, like puppets on strings. Finding my mate would bring my devotion elsewhere.” Jonas cursed. “But why come after you again now when I’ve made it clear I’ll have nothing to do with him, anyway? And how did he find you the second time before we’d even met?”