Of course, that wasn't going to be the end of the discussion. But we had more pressing issues to consider. Now that I'd escaped, what was the coven's next move?
Thomas had found me by following my scent. He said he could find me anywhere by the smell of my power. It might be gross, but I believed him.
Dominic had sensed his bond with Lucas fade and then disappear as their pack connection disintegrated. It had been enough to lead him across the country from London to Sheffield.
The others wouldn't be far behind.
I went into the bedroom for some privacy to call Emily. As I'd guessed, they were turning off the motorway on the way into Sheffield as we spoke.
Apparently Roger was less than happy that I'd taken off with another man. He wouldn't be convinced that I'd been abducted. He claimed that his date and his security guards had abandoned him, and that I now owed him a further boon for taking the men that he had paid to protect him.
"They found the empty vodka bottle, Alice. The cushions were scattered all over the floor like you'd been rolling in them. The vamp went mad when he stormed in and saw the state of the room."
"What changed your minds?"
"Stephen. He took one look around the room, and stated that you would never renege on your agreement with Roger, knowing that his help with Mary was at stake."
Warmth spread through me at the confidence that Stephen had shown in me.
"When he had acknowledged the truth of what Stephen said, Thomas looked more closely at that bottle. There was poison residue in the vodka. It must have really done a number on you guys. It takes a lot to knock out a werewolf."
"You knew what he was? Why didn't you tell me?"
"What does it matter? It's not like there are any in Sheffield. I didn't think you needed another group of creatures to worry about."
I groaned in response to Emily's misguided attempt to protect me.
"What?" she asked.
"I'll explain when you get here."
Disconnecting the call, I sat on my bed for a minute, utterly exhausted. What I needed more than anything was some sleep, but that wasn't going to happen with the coven on the attack. Instead, I headed for the shower in the en suite. I couldn't face the others yet, so I grabbed some old sweat pants and a pullover that Stephen had left here while he was using the apartment as his own.
Peeling the remnants of my extremely expensive dress from my dirty cold body, I couldn't help feeling every rip in the silky fabric and every missing sequin. I was unlikely to own anything like this again, and it had lasted less than twelve hours. I didn't want to dwell on what that said about me.
Stephen's shower gel was comfortingly familiar, and the big fluffy towels were the ones that we'd shared as a couple. I emerged smelling of Stephen and dressed in his clothes. I didn't realise what a problem that would be until I saw the look on Thomas's face.
It was comically mirrored by Lucas.
It took everything I had not to face-palm. These guys had got to give me a break.
Of course that was the moment that Emily came bursting into the room. She skidded to a halt, immediately assessing the threat levels like the professional that she was.
Having skimmed over the source of all the ridiculous testosterone in the room, pausing in surprise when she reached Evan, Emily's eyes finally landed on me. Her laugh was as loud as it was unexpected. More like a camel than anything that you would expect to come out of a petite woman.
"You really know how to wind him up, don't you?" she said, gesturing at Thomas and referring to my current attire. "And what about this one? Has he fallen for you too? Where's that damn pendant?"
"Hey, I'm wearing it. You know I don't want any more men in my life. Anyway, it's not like that with Lucas. He's not an admirer, he's my Alpha."
"What the hell have these wolves been telling you? You're a witch not a shifter. You can't have an Alpha."
Lucas growled, stepping towards Emily to challenge her denial of our relationship.
"Pipe down Beta, that dominance shit doesn't scare me," Emily said.
"Alpha," Lucas corrected.
"He's telling the truth. Looks like you're going to have to register a second British pack, magistrate," Dominic interrupted. "One wolf and two witches." He walked out still laughing at the absurd diversity of our small pack.
"You can't be left alone for a minute, can you Alice? Bloody hell. A pack made up of witches and wolves," Emily exclaimed after getting control of her gaping mouth.
"Give it a break, Em, just for now. We need to consider the coven's next move. And where the hell is Stephen?"
Even without Dominic's large presence, the room was crowded. It was stifling, and I could hardly string two thoughts together. I'd slept a total of two hours in the last forty eight, not counting the three times that I'd been unconscious. My requirement for sleep was becoming undeniable.
"Are we safe here?" I asked the room, talking to no-one and everyone.
"I can set a boundary alarm," Evan offered.
"Better than nothing," I sighed. At least we'd know before we were set upon by whichever enemy reached us first.
My eyes gravitated to Thomas, who was looking at me like he wanted to devour me.
"Can you give us a minute?" I asked the rest of them.
No-one answered, but Emily herded them out of the room.
"Speak to me," I commanded Thomas when the silence got too much.
"Why did you do it, was the idea of being with me so repulsive that you had to give yourself to a wolf?"
Large brown eyes caught me in their sorrowful depths. My stomach opened up into a gaping pit of grief as I tried to form the words to explain that I hadn't forsaken him. That I still wanted him. That I'd never stopped wanting him.
"That isn't what happened. I haven't given myself to anybody. I can still feel you Thomas."
Stepping up to him, I lay my hand flat on his chest. The power buzzed between us, strengthened by the physical connection. It travelled over my skin like a rumbling purr of deep satisfaction. As the intensity increased, Thomas relaxed.
I understood his hurt. He thought that I'd purposefully discarded the connection we shared. But it wasn't that simple. Before it had been too intense. Our reaction to one-another agitated my life-force, wrenching the control of my power out of my own hands. I couldn't live like that. Always wondering if his feelings were genuine, or if they were stimulated by the silver magic that came to life through my emotions.
I needed our connection to coexist with my power if we were going to work out whatever we had between us. If I was going to protect Thomas from the effects of my life-force, my power had to be under my control. The pack bond helped with that.
I just had to convince him of the benefits.
Pouring desire through the physical connection, I could feel my power uncurling. My silver life-force brightened around my hand, as I willed it into Thomas. Confident that I could control the effects, I knew that he would not fall under its sway. Not unless I wanted him to.
The swirl of silver particles travelled over Thomas's chest. He followed it with his eyes, not able to see the magic, but tracking it by the shift in energy between us. Continuing over his body until it reached his head, I pushed once with the force of my will.
The silver disintegrated. All but for a flash in his dark eyes that was gone the second after I saw it.
"I knew that you could do it," he gasped.
There was nothing for me to say. I had pushed every bit of longing, all the heat of my desire for him and the sour remnants of unfulfilled lust from the last month, into the power transfer. And then I had called it back to me, before it could manipulate Thomas's will.
He knew now, without a shadow of doubt, that I wanted him.
He gathered me up in his arms, a tender embrace to honour the trust that I had put in him. The warmth of reciprocated love surrounded me in a blanket of devotion. But the heavy energy inside me slugged through my veins, making my organs heavy and ripe. I needed more.
Pushing him onto the armchair, I straddled him to sit on his lap. His hard thigh muscles tensed in anticipation. Thomas's eyes held mine while his hands travelled under my sweatshirt to encircle my waist. The cool sensation of his fingers on my ultra sensitive skin trailed little explosions of goosebumps everywhere that he touched.
Taking his head in my hands, I gazed into those deep pools of chocolaty brown as if I could see right into his mind if I looked hard enough. I needed to know that he understood. That he still wanted me as much as I wanted him.
Heat and acceptance swirled in his dark eyes, hypnotising me with the intensity of the emotions that they contained.
My mouth crashed down on his. The furious rhythm of our kiss being matched by my hips gyrating on his lap. I didn't even care about the layers of clothes that separated us, they just added to the delicious friction building where we joined.
Thomas shifted so that we fit together, his hardness rubbing against me, making my head spin with the churning energy that his contact stimulated.
It was too much. Every sensation, physical and emotional, inside and outside of me, crashed together in a massive wave of pleasure and belonging.
My body sagged into him, exhaustion catching up. Our foreheads touched as we caught our breath.
Tilting his head up so that our eyes met, I leaned in. This time it was me who offered the tender gesture of a kiss on his full soft lips.
"What does this mean?" Thomas asked.
"It means I love you, but you need to give me more time."
"I can do that."
He lifted me in his arms and carried me to the bathroom so that I could get straightened out. Placing me gently down, he dropped a light kiss on my forehead and then he left.
Gulp...But can Thomas really give Alice the time she needs? Does she really want him to?