"Love you?" he finished for her, lifting her chin so that she could see the truth of it in his eyes. "It's always been you, Tess. I just didn't know it until that night. I had been searching for you my whole life, connected to you by the vision of what happened today." He smoothed her mussed hair, letting one of her honey-brown waves curl around his fingers. "You know, my mother swore by destiny. She believed in it, even though she knew her own destiny held bitter pain and loss. I never wanted to accept that belief for myself, that anything was preordained. I thought I was smarter than that, above it. But it was destiny that brought us together, Tess. I can't deny that now. God, Tess... have you any idea how long I've waited for you?"
"Oh, Dante," she whispered, blinking away a stray tear. "I wasn't prepared for any of this. I'm so afraid... "
He gathered her close, sick for everything she'd been forced to endure because of him. He knew the trauma of what happened today would stay with her for a long time. So much death and destruction. He never wanted her to feel that kind of pain again. "I need to know that you are somewhere you'll always be safe, Tess. Where I can protect you best. There are places that we can go, safe houses within the Breed. I've already talked to Chase about securing a place for us in one of the area Darkhavens."
"No." His heart sank as she carefully extricated herself from his embrace and sat on her knees beside him on the bed. She shook her head slowly. "Dante, no... "
God help him, but he couldn't speak. He waited in agonizing silence, knowing that he fully deserved her rejection. He deserved her contempt for so many reasons, yet he'd felt certain she cared for him. He prayed she might, even just a little bit.
"Tess, if you say you don't love me--"
"I do love you," she said at last. "I love you with all my heart."
"Then what is it?"
She looked at him searchingly, her aqua eyes moist but resolved. "I'm tired of running. I'm tired of hiding. You've opened my eyes to a world I never dreamed could exist. Your world, Dante."
He smiled at the beauty sitting next to him. "My world is you."
"And it's all of this too. This place, these people. The incredible legacy that you're a part of. Your world is dark and dangerous, Dante, but it's also extraordinary--like you. Like life. Don't ask me to run away from that. I want to be with you, but if I'm going to live in your world, then I want to do it here, where you belong. Where your family is."
"My family?"
She nodded. "The other warriors here and their mates. They love you. I saw that today. Maybe in time they might love me too."
"Tess." Dante pulled her close, embracing her with a full heart and a gratitude that soared into his chest like it was borne on wings. "You would want to be with me here, like this, as the mate of a warrior?"
"As the mate of my warrior," she corrected, smiling at him with love shining brightly in her eyes. "I can 't have it any other way."
Dante swallowed on a throat gone dry. He didn't deserve her. After all they'd been through, after all his ceaseless running, his heart had finally found its home. With Tess. With his beloved.
"What do you think?" she asked him. "Can you live with that?" "Eternally," Dante vowed, then pulled her back down onto the bed with him and sealed their pact with a passionate, endless kiss.
THE END