Emilie knew the answer, even if it was one she didn’t want to admit to herself.
It was because she hadn’t wanted Archer to leave. Plain and simple.
He had opened up to her more than he ever had. More than Emilie had ever expected. And then, he’d had the audacity to say that she didn’t know him.
And sure. Maybe she didn’t know everything there was to know about him. But for him to insinuate that she didn’t know anything about how humans could be monsters, or that she hadn’t yet learned anything about him. It had made her more frustrated than she could remember being in quite some time.
She had wanted to prove herself. And she had wanted to keep him there with her.
So, she’d rushed forward, and she had done the only thing she could think of to get him to stay. She’d told him exactly how much she related to how he felt about his parents.
And now, Emilie wished more than anything that she could take it all back.
“Who else?” Archer demanded, stepping forward to glare down at her.
He was so much taller than her that she had to crane her neck to see his face, and as her eyes scanned over it, it was filled with an ice-cold fury.
“Nay one,” she said quickly, shaking her head.
“Daenae lie to me,” he growled.
Emilie’s breath shuddered as she drew it in, her chest feeling tight.
“If anyone has touched ye,” he menaced, “if anyone has so much as breathed in yer direction without ye wantin’ them to, ye better tell me.”
“It’s just me parents,” Emilie blurted, sending up a quick prayer that he would believe it would somehow make it better. “They’re the only ones who’ve hurt me. The only ones who’ve hurt me in any meaningful way, anyway.”
She had hoped that the words would make Archer relax. But if anything, his stance grew even more menacing.
“Then, I suppose yer parents will have to pay,” he growled.
Emilie began shaking her head. Before she could think better of it, she reached up, placing her palms against Archer’s chest.
She could feel it heaving beneath her hands, could feel the strong and steady beat of his heart.
“Ye’re mine,” he growled, the sound of it sending small bolts of lightning flicking over Emilie’s skin. “And if anyone lays a hand on ye or hurts ye in any way, then it’s me job to protect ye. I will always protect what is mine.”
Emilie’s palms began to sweat at his words, her heart racing so fast she could feel it in every fiber of her being.
“It was only words,” she assured, her voice coming out breathy to the point where she hardly recognized it as her own. “And I daenae want you to do anythin’. I daenae want anythin’ to happen to me parents. Or anyone, for that matter.”
A muscle ticked in Archer’s jaw, but he gave her a quick nod. She wasn’t sure if she could trust that he wouldn’t do anything to them, or that he wouldn’t carve out a war path if he believed someone had slighted her. But his nod, his acknowledgment of her words, it was a start.
Emilie began to drop her hands, but before she could, Archer had covered them with his own. Emilie’s eyes went wide, looking up at him as her heart began to hammer even faster.
“Archer,” she whispered.
But her husband said nothing more. The air between them seemed to heat all at once. His presence filled the mere inches that separated them.
And before she had a chance to react or to realize what was happening at all, her husband’s mouth had found hers.
Emilie gasped, her body going rigid at the sensation beginning to race over her. But then, something inside of her seemed to click into place.
Her body, her instincts, began to take over. Her mouth started to move of its own accord, returning Archer’s kiss with a fierce passion of her own.
His tongue darted out, prodding against her lips and begging for entry. She parted them, and his tongue darted in, swirling with hers.
She had thought that it had felt good the first time he’d kissed her. But this? That had been nothing compared to how she was feeling now.