Page 113 of A Trial By Blood

“Ronan?”

“We’ll wait here for Kelley, but you need to sleep. It’ll help you heal. I’ll wake you when he comes down.”

I shook my head. “I’m not tired.” Honestly, I wasn’t sure what he’d do to Kelley if I wasn’t awake to stop him. He was as volatile as I’d ever seen him.

I wouldn’t let my only lead slip through my fingers or possibly be torn to shreds by my overly protective mate.

CHAPTER 32

Rose

I woke to the sound of Ronan’s voice. He was cursing profusely.

I glanced over to see him scowling out the front window. I quickly sat up. “Where are we?”

“Outside Kelley’s home.” He turned to me, and his hard gaze softened. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. Why didn’t you wake me when he came out of the club?” The house was huge, and it was guarded to the eyeballs, and not just by fences and gates but by magic. I could feel it. “Kelley was obviously friends with a witch or two, the wards around this place are strong.” I turned to Ronan. “Strong enough to cover up what Kelley and the guard were up to at the museum, I’d say.”

Ronan growled under his breath. “I thought as much. I felt it when I got close earlier.”

I spun to him. “You were going to go in without me?”

He didn’t even have the decency to look guilty. “You lost blood.” His voice vibrated with fury when he said that. “You need to rest. And I need to get you home and feed you so you can regain your strength. I was going to go in, get what we need, and get out.”

While I slept like a baby under the protection of Ronan’s power, he was going to do my task for me. “That’s not how this works, Ronan. You need to include me in these decisions. I know you’re feeling protective, but this is my task. You can help, but you can't do it for me.”

He squeezed the steering wheel. “This was one thing. You’ve put yourself in danger for this task, repeatedly. You’ve bled and been attacked and…” He growled, his eyes growing brighter. “This was one thing,” he said again.

“I know, but I still have to be the one to do it.”

“Protecting you is literally what I was born to do, Rose. It’s all I care about. Asking me to ignore that is impossible.”

Ronan had seen another male bite me, violate me in that way, then literally tore him apart. He still vibrated with rage. It saturated the air around us. I remembered what Luna said about how hard this would be for him, to cut him some slack when he acted protective in the extreme. I released a frustrated breath. “I’m sorry. I know this is hard on you as well.”

“You don’t need to be sorry, petal. You need to let me take care of you.”

His voice was all rumbly, more predator than usual. There was no reasoning with him when he was like this, and the last thing I wanted was to fight with him. “Well, there’s no getting in there tonight. There has to be a spell, something, that will get us through.”

“Or we’ll get here early and follow him. Corner him away from his fortress,” Ronan said, starting the car.

“Good idea.”

Ronan grunted and pulled out onto the road.

My phone beeped, and I looked down at it. A text from Mags.

Zinny and Jaz arrived. A surprise visit.

Then I saw I’d received one from Zinnia earlier while I’d slept, telling me she was here and we’d talk in the morning. Her visit was no surprise, not to me. She was here to help me.

Nerves filled me. No, not nerves, something a lot bigger. My blood turned cold in my veins, and it felt as if twenty spiders were crawling up my spine, one after the other.

Time had run out.

Tomorrow night, I had a date with Death.

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