***
“Ajax!” she said weakly, though with more energy than she had felt earlier.
“Arianna!” he shouted, bullying his way past several others who were standing closer to the door. He stopped short as his eyes took in her appearance. “Are you okay?” he asked, eyes blazing with anger as he looked past her at Flint.
“I’m fine,” she said with a wave of her arm, instantly regretting the excess motion. “I’m really hungry though.”
Ajax looked at her funnily, but didn’t say anything for a moment. “Let’s get you cleaned up,” he suggested. “There’s plenty of food here, I’ll get a plate together once we have you in a bath.”
“A bath?” she asked, sagging into him as Ajax’s strong arms picked her up with careless ease and headed toward an open doorway on the far end of the room. “Where are we that we can have a bath?”
“One of Flint’s safehouses,” he told her.
“And who are all those people back there?”
“Those are the people we rescued,” he said proudly.
Arianna went rigid. “Benjamin?” she asked softly.
Ajax frowned. “He’s here. Arianna, who is he to you?” he asked, with what sounded like a hint of trepidation or nervousness.
Why would he be nervous of the answer to that? It hit her fatigue-dulled brain like a bullet.
“Oh, no Ajax, not like that!” she told him with a sad smile.
“Then what?” he asked, still on guard.
Arianna leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “He’s my half-brother,” she said, admitting a secret she hadn’t told anyone.
“What?” Ajax almost shouted in surprise. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
She blushed. “I don’t know, I guess I didn’t want to put any more pressure on the rescue attempt to begin with? It was already far-fetched that we might find him or be able to save him. I didn’t want you to feel guilty in case this group had already killed him.” She paused, then continued after a moment of hesitation. “Plus, it’s been ingrained in me for so long to be private about my life, not to reveal things to strangers.”
Ajax nodded. “Do you want to see him? He’s standing watch with Milos and Andre at the moment.”
“Food,” she croaked, her throat hurting after talking so much at once. “And water too,” she said.
“Bath,” Ajax told her firmly. “I’ll get you the food once you’re in it. No arguments, miss,” he said sternly, before smiling and planting a kiss on her forehead.
With food warming her stomach and hot water caressing her skin and cleansing her, Arianna felt far better than she had just a short while earlier.
Ajax hovered over her, watching her every move.
“I’ll be okay,” she told him, feeling energized and ready to go as the food hit home.
The big shifter paused in his pacing, looking down at her with a look she had never seen on him before.
“What is it?” she asked him, reaching out to wrap her fingers around his leg.
He dropped to one knee, taking her hand in his, big brown eyes focusing on her. “I thought I had lost you,” he said so quietly she almost didn’t hear him.
The depth of emotion present in his voice stunned her into silence. Her eyes searched his as she poured forth her assurances to him through their locked gazes. Assurances that she was okay, and that he hadn’t lost her. Assurances that, as long as she was alive, he wouldn’t lose her. Those startled her, but they were there nonetheless, and she didn’t try to fight it.
“I love you,” she blurted out.
Ajax froze, his body so still he didn’t appear to be breathing. She waited for him to shake it off, to smile. Arianna didn’t know if he would reciprocate her words. They hadn’t been ones she had expected to say herself, so she could only imagine his internal thoughts right then.
“Arianna, I...” he started, then fell silent.
She watched as the big, tough, and preternaturally strong shifter collapsed into her arms at the side of the tub. He didn’t seem to care as water washed over him when she moved to embrace him, her arms soaking his shirt as she wrapped them around his neck. He buried his face in her neck, nuzzling his unshaven face gently against her skin as she rocked back and forth slightly, lips kissing the side of his head over and over again. Arianna had no idea what was going on, but instinct told her that just then, she needed to be there for him.
“It’s okay,” she whispered into his ear, pulling him as tight into her as she could. He tensed for a moment, and she felt his head try to rise. “No, just stay,” she ordered.
She felt lips press against her skin as he did as ordered, just relaxing into her embrace for several minutes. The next time he tried to rise, she let him, though her hands stayed in contact with him the whole time.
“I loved her, you know,” he said, strength returning to his voice.
“Loved who?” Arianna knew that he was going somewhere with this point, that it was important to their relationship that he vocalize it.
“Lizzie—Elizabeth,” he said, locking gazes with her once more. “She and I were set to be married. I thought she was my wife. We were even supposed to have a cub. She told me she was pregnant. I...” he hesitated. “I believed her.”
“What happened?” Arianna asked, prodding him gently when he didn’t continue.
“I’m not sure,” he replied. “But whatever it was, she up and left. Just disappeared one day. Left me a note, telling me there never was a baby. No apology,” he explained, his voice growing harder as he spoke. “No explanation. Just that she was leaving.”
“Oh Ajax, I’m so sorry,” she whispered. Instinct told her to pull him in, to kiss him and tell him that she would never do that. He was hurt, and needed healing, healing she could provide. But her brain told her to hold off, to let him come to her, that he needed to do this and discuss his past with her. It obviously still affected him deeply, and she couldn’t blame him. To fall in love with a child, only to be told it never existed and to not know for sure would tear any man apart.
“I’ve gone a long time now without a female in my life,” he said at last. “Just myself. Until you came along.” He smiled at her, and she could see the sad happiness in his face. “I told myself I would never love another, not after her.”
She stiffened at that proclamation, realizing now why he had locked up earlier. He couldn’t give her his love. She would be meaningful to him, but she would never be that woman to him. Arianna nodded, letting him know she understood.
Rough, powerful fingers gently caressed her jaw as he lifted her gaze back to meet his.
“I told myself that,” he repeated. “But what I told myself was a lie.”
Her heart soared as she understood where he was going.
“I will love again. No,” he corrected, “I do love again. I love you, Arianna. I don’t know how, though I can certainly count a few reasons why, but I do. You’ve awoken in me a need I thought I had extinguished years ago, and I know I’ll never fulfill that need without you by my side.”
Tears welled up inside her eyes as he proclaimed his true feelings for her.
“Oh, Ajax.”
He smiled. “I didn’t mean to make you cry,” he said, pulling her gently to him so that he could kiss her.
Arianna wrapped her arms around him. “It’s okay, I’ll have my revenge,” she whispered, then fell backward into the bath.
Ajax yelped as he landed in the tub of warm water, his landing splashing liquid everywhere as it soaked his clothing. Arianna, on the other hand, dissolved into a fit of howling laughter at his drenched puppy-dog look.
“That,” he sputtered, “was unexpected. And mean. I’ll get you back for it, don’t worry.”
She laughed and pulled him down to her, kissing him again.
“So tell me, my big strong bear of a man,” she said with a wink. “Who are you? Where do you come from?”
“My name is Ajax Templeton. I work for a company called Lionshead Mining Consortium, and I lead a team working in the mines near a town called Origin, in the middle of nowhere. It’s a rough life, but it’s one that’s also filled with more love than you can imagine.”
“So clinical,” she teased.
Ajax shrugged. “I’m not sure what you wanted to know,” he replied sheepishly.
“That’s a good start,” she told him, pulling him deeper into the water next to her, as best they could in the cramped confines.
“Be careful,” he warned after a moment. “I don’t want you pulling open your—”
“My what?” she said, frowning, following his eyes to her arm. “What the hell?” she exclaimed.
The gash on her arm, once bleeding profusely, was already closed and scabbing over.
She looked up at him in alarm. “How is that possible?”
Ajax just shook his head. “I’m not sure,” he said guardedly. “But if you’re feeling better, we should get downstairs. They’ll be waiting for us.”
Arianna blinked. “They?”