Page 31 of Knight’s Absolution

She licked her lips nervously again. Another thing that was all Scarlet, his Scarlet.

“Th-thank you, for wearing it down. I’ve been imagining how it would look since I first saw you. You’re so incredibly beautiful, I’m finding it hard to breathe.”

She shook her head. No. She didn’t see herself the way he did.

“Yes,” he said.

She backed up a step.

“Don’t go.”

“I have to,” she whispered, glancing over her shoulder.

“Please. Please stay with me, just a little longer,” he begged.

She shook her head, looking distressed, and turned to leave.

“Can I give you a name?” he called after her. “Since you don’t have one.”

She paused at the door and nodded without looking back.

“Scarlet,” he said, his voice breaking as pain sliced through him. “Your name is Scarlet.”

She rushed out the door, closing it behind her.

And Tobias began counting down the minutes until she came back again.

CHAPTER 9

Lazarus nudged him with an elbow as Gunner paused at the end of the hall, watching as Grace, Eve, Meredith, and Mia, armed with bags of “apartment warming” shit, stood outside the room Luna had insisted on having—away from him.

He didn’t want her down here with the other demi. He wanted her in his apartment, where she belonged. Everyone, his brothers and their mates, knew she was his, his female. Luna was oblivious. And okay, that wasn’t unheard of. Grace sure as hell hadn’t wanted anything to do with Chaos, even though she’d known who he was, and Eve and Mia had been drawn to Zenon and Laz, but they hadn’t understood what it was.

Luna seemed…indifferent.

What happened now?

He couldn’t force her to want him, to fall head over heels for him like he had her the moment he’d opened that fucking basement prison cell and felt her familiar presence.

“Don’t overthink it, brother,” Laz said.

Zenon’s yellow eyes slid from his mate back to Gunner before he nodded his agreement.

Gunner huffed out a breath. “Easy for you to say. Eve actually wanted you.”

“Give her time.” The muscle in Lazarus’s jaw jumped. “Fuck knows what she went through with that monster.”

Zenon’s entire face went hard, his irises washing black. “Need to be patient, Gun.”

Planting his hands on his hips, Gunner met Zenon’s hard yellow gaze head-on. “I know that. Do I want her? I fucking crave her like oxygen, but I don’t need to tell either of you that. I also shouldn’t have to tell you that I would rather cut off my own fucking head than hurt her in any way.”

Zenon dipped his chin. “You got this.”

“You just might have to work at it. You know, spend time together, get to know each other.” Laz shrugged. “Woo her.”

Gunner ran a hand over his beard. “How the hell do I do that?”

“Fucked if I know.”