Chapter Fifteen

 

 

He was comfortable. Comfortable and warm. And ... human-shaped, not that it seemed to matter all that much. Nothing hurt. He was aware of his mate somewhere nearby.

Something was purring on his chest.

Ben cracked his eyes open. The small orange cat that Tessa called Toblerone was curled up on top of him, vibrating with a rumbling purr that seemed too large for its tiny size.

"I kept trying to move them off because I was afraid they'd hurt you," Tessa's voice said softly from somewhere nearby. "And they kept coming back. You didn't seem to mind having them there."

"They?" Ben murmured. He raised his head with some effort, but still no pain, though he could feel half-healed injuries tugging at his skin under the covers.

He was surrounded by cats. He didn't feel like counting, but most if not all of the kitten-herd was curled up around him, snuggled against his sides. Tessa had one of them in her lap. She was sitting beside his bed, and when he raised his gaze to her face, she smiled blindingly.

"Hi," she said, and leaned forward to cup his chin in hers, kissing him deeply.

The kitten in her lap made a protesting noise and jumped onto the bed.

"Mmmm," Tessa hummed into his mouth. She pulled back and kept caressing the side of his face as she asked, "How do you feel? Do you need anything?"

His sleep-logged brain mulled that over for a moment. "Water? You don't have to; I can get it—" He started trying to sit up, but as Toblerone sank his claws into the blanket, Tessa pushed them both back down.

"Just stay there. I'll get it."

She was back in a moment with a glass of water. The fog was clearing from Ben's head, enough to notice that he was in the big four-poster bed in the Lilac Room, which at least answered his question about whether they were still at Darius's. He relocated Toblerone to the side of the bed and managed to push himself up on the pillows enough that Tessa didn't have to hold the glass for him like a total invalid.

Further inspection determined that he was naked. Now that he was sitting up, Ben pushed down the blanket to his waist so he could examine the purple, healing claw marks and a neat row of half-healed puncture wounds down his side, left by Reive's teeth.

"Your father said it would heal better if it wasn't bandaged. I remember you saying something like that too, back at the motel." Tessa twisted her hands together. "Does it hurt?"

"Not really. It's just itchy. I'm going to be starving when I wake up a little more, but right now I just want to sit here for a while." He rested his head against the pillows and rolled it to the side to take a better look at her. She was wearing a loose dark-green sweater that looked like one of Melody's. With its high turtleneck, he couldn't tell if she had the necklace on. All that really mattered was ... "You look beautiful."

Tessa blew out a breath. "Flattery will get you everywhere." She leaned in to kiss him again.

"You were amazing out there," Ben told her when she drew away.

"Do you remember it? You were pretty out of it for awhile there." A tense undercurrent to her voice lingered, a remnant of past worry.

"I remember you standing up to Reive. Incredible." He frowned. "I'm the one who's supposed to protect you."

"You did. I'd never have had the time to call Heikon if you hadn't held him off. Not to mention saving me about a million other times in the past few days. Anyway, we're a partnership." She closed her lips on his, and murmured against his mouth, "We protect each other."

Ben smiled against her lips.

"Well, this is cozy," a deep voice said, and they jerked apart as Darius strode into the room. Close on his heels came someone else, a tall, lean man with iron-gray hair and a dignified bearing that reminded Ben uncomfortably of his father.

Tessa scrambled to her feet, and Ben pulled up the blanket to cover his bare chest. "Have any of you people ever heard of knocking?" he asked irritably.

"I heard talking in here, so I knew you were awake," Darius said, dismissing the issue with a peremptory motion of his hand. "Anyway, Heikon has to fly this evening, and he wanted to talk to both of you for a minute."

"Oh ... you're Heikon." Ben took another look at the gray-haired stranger. There was a resemblance to Reive, come to think of it: the same bronze skin and deep-set dark eyes.

Heikon dipped his head in acknowledgement. "And you're Benedict Keegan. I owe you and your mate a great honor-debt."

"A what now?" Tessa said.

"Because of my misjudgment, you both nearly died. In addition to that, you've done me a great service by restoring my most valuable property." He smiled at Tessa. "Which I've come to reclaim."

"Oh." She reached down the collar of her sweater and pulled up the silver chain. For just an instant, she hesitated, and then pulled it over her head in a single quick motion, for the last time. With the necklace in hand, she hesitated again.

"It's not too late to change your mind," Heikon said. "It's yours by right and tradition. And your actions as my voice indicated to me that you are well worthy of being the brightest jewel in my collection."

It was the last sentence that seemed to change her mind. Tessa shook her head. "I'm a jewel in no one's collection. Except maybe Ben's." She gave Ben a brilliant smile that took his breath away, and held out the necklace. Heikon gravely accepted it in his palm. He tucked it into a pocket of his gray overcoat.

"So now what?" Tessa asked, following the necklace with her eyes until it could no longer be seen. "I don't feel any different."

"You won't, though you may yearn for the necklace from time to time. But I will find a new Heart for my hoard, and soon you won't think of it."

"I'll always think of it, I expect," she murmured, touching her chest where the crystal used to rest.

Darius had been standing patiently to one side, watching the proceedings with interest; now he said, "And you have a promise for my son, do you not?"

"For both your son and his mate," Heikon said. "As I said earlier, I owe you an honor-debt. I will have a gift for your firstborn, when he or she is old enough."

"Not the Heart of the Hoard, I hope," Tessa said quickly.

Heikon smiled. "No, no. Not that." He lifted a hand in a wordless farewell and turned to go.

"Wait," Ben called after him. "She's not pregnant yet, is she? Tessa, you're not—"

"Not that I know of." She kissed him on the forehead. "Calm down."

"First panthers, now half-human grandchildren," Darius sighed. One of the kittens rubbed on his leg and he looked down with an exasperated expression. "And all these damned cats." But he leaned down to pick it up, supporting its hindquarters as Tessa had shown him. The kitten began to purr.

"Oh, you can't fool me," Tessa said, looking over at him with her hand on Ben's shoulder. "You're going to be one of those grandfathers who spoils his grandchildren shamelessly."

"I sincerely hope that grandcats are the only thing I'll have to deal with for the near future," Darius said. "The two of you are trouble enough. And you're going to need calories for all that healing. I'll have a meal sent up, with plenty of red meat."

"Speaking of which," Tessa said, "I believe you promised me the recipe for your very excellent soup, didn't you? We all got kind of busy with the whole assassin thing."

Darius raised an eyebrow. "You were serious about that."

"Dead serious."

The corner of his mouth quirked. "I'll speak to the kitchen about it. You'll have it before the day is out."

He left ... taking the kitten with him.

After a pause, Ben said, "You and my father are certainly getting along well. I'm not sure whether to be pleased or disturbed."

"I think it's easier for me, without the weight of all the history between you," Tessa said. "Also, in spite of all his arrogance, I think he really doesn't mind having someone stand up to him. Some people just want someone to argue with."

"I've tried arguing with him. It doesn't help."

"Not like that. Like ... Oh, I don't know how to explain it. He doesn't intimidate me; I've dealt with worse. And I think he likes that."

Ben looked up at her. "You've dealt with worse than my father? He's a dragon. Also a mobster, I don't know if I mentioned that part."

"Your sister did already. But listen, you should try dealing with a mom who's just been told that little Bobby can't have one of our cats because dear little Bobby just spent the last ten minutes terrorizing the feral cat room and had to be escorted out with a hand on his collar."

"Okay, you've got a point." He reached up to touch the smooth, soft curve of her neck behind her ear. "So what was all that with the necklace and Heikon? The Heart of the Hoard, I guess it's called."

"The Heart of the Hoard is ... more complicated than that. I'll tell you all about it, but maybe not just now." She turned her head, gazing in the direction Heikon had gone, with a wistful look on her face.

Ben pulled her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. "Do you miss it?"

"No, not really. Well, yes, but only because it was my parents'. They were innocent, you know. Heikon thought they betrayed him, but they were loyal all along."

"They were good people," Ben said quietly.

"Yes," she murmured. He could see the gleam of unshed tears in her eyes, and reached up to pull her down so that her soft head rested in the crook of his shoulder, her body half on and half off the bed.

"I owe you an apology," Ben said.

"What?" Tessa started to raise her head. "Whatever for?"

Ben pushed her head gently back into the crook of his neck. "For earlier. I could see you felt out of place here. I do too. I don't know why I didn't say anything; I guess ..." He heaved a sigh. "I've spent so long play-acting for my dad, pretending that I fit in here ... I suppose I do it automatically now. But I shouldn't have let it come between us. You were feeling alienated, isolated, and I wasn't helping."

"It's so odd to me how easily you can read me," she murmured. "Most people can't."

In Ben's chest, his panther was purring. "I've always been pretty good at people. I'm just sorry that I didn't catch on right away to how you were feeling."

Tessa laced her fingers through his. "I could have said something. Maybe we both need some practice at this whole relationship thing."

"We'll figure it out," he said softly into her hair. "I love you, Tessa."

She made a little breath-catching noise, and then very quietly, so quietly he could barely hear her: "I love you, too." There was a silence, then she added, "I've never said that to anyone before. At least not that I remember."

Ben's heart shattered into a tiny little pieces. God, the life she'd lived. He had often been frustrated with his family, he'd frequently had cause to doubt his father's affection for him, but he had still grown up with a mother who loved him. Thinking of Tessa being so alone ... it hurt more than being torn up by a dragon's jaws, more than a thousand slashes from draconian claws.

But at least this time, he knew better than to stay quiet and let her suffer in silence. Never again. "You can say it to me as many times as you like," he said. "And I'll say it back to you. You're not alone now, Tessa. You'll never be alone again."

She sighed and turned her face into his neck, and for a little while he just held her like that. Finally she pushed herself up. "Is this uncomfortable? Am I hurting you?"

"No. In fact ..." He put his arms around her, pulling her all the way onto the bed. She toppled beside him with a delighted squeal. "I'll show you exactly how much better I'm feeling."

Which of course was the moment someone knocked on the door.

"That's probably the food my dad was having sent up." Ben kissed her. "We could make them go away."

"No. You need it to heal. Anyway ..." She kissed him again, long and lingering. "We're going to want to save something for dessert."