“I don’t understand! How do you two even know each other?” Juliette demanded.

“We met for coffee,” Maraveet answered as though it were the most normal thing in the world. “We had a few words and decided we had a few things in common.”

“Yeah, like two totally unreasonable, emo siblings,” vi piped in.

Juliette sighed. “So the tickets. That was you?” She looked hard at Maraveet.

“It was me actually.” Vi snickered. “Mar gave them to me, but I was the one who gave them to Randy’s boss and told him Randy had won best employee of the month or some such nonsense. Idiot actually believed me.”

Juliette shook her head. “But why?”

“Because Killian has been an absolute nightmare and he wouldn’t do it himself,” Maraveet muttered. “I thought that if he saw you with another man, he might get his act together and do the right thing. Clearly, I was right.”

“What if it hadn’t worked?” Juliette demanded. “What if it had ended badly?”

There was a pause, and then simultaneously, both Vi and Maraveet asked, “How?”

Clearly the notion of things not going their way had never occurred to them, which kind of scared Juliette.

“Perhaps we should finish this talk at home,” Killian advised, glowering at his sister. “Tell Viola I’ll have someone pick her up and bring her to the manor. I believe it’s time for a family meeting.”

Without waiting for Vi or Maraveet to say a word, Killian took Juliette’s hand and led her back towards the conservatory. Along the way, he released her and slipped that same hand around her back. His fingers curved at her waist, burning her through the thin material of her dress. That single touch worked along every inch of skin, raising goose bumps and reminding her just how badly she’d missed his hands on her.

“Killian?”

He glanced down at her, his face illuminated by the glowing lights pouring over them from the approaching terrace. She waited until they’d climbed the ivory steps to the top before turning to face him.

“What happens now?” She glanced down at the arm hooked gently, but with a near possessiveness about her waist. “What does this mean? Is this going to be only sex again?”

“No.” The fingers on the hand not holding her lifted to ghost lightly along the side of her face. “I meant what I said. I will find a way to keep you. It’s selfish and dangerous and it scares the hell out of me, but I can’t let you go again, not unless it’s what you want.”

“Are you going to keep being the Scarlet Wolf?” she asked.

Killian paused to consider her question. “I don’t understand.”

Emotion tightened around her windpipe, making words and breathing impossible, but she forced them out with a strangled gasp.

“I can’t live in your world,” she choked out. “I can’t run and hide every time the doorbell rings and sneak around to see you in some nondisclosed location for a quickie. I want babies, Killian, and I want to be able to raise them without being afraid something might happen. I want to be with someone I won’t worry about every time he leaves the house. I want normal.”

He didn’t pull away, but she could feel the air shifting, filling the cracks between them with cool fingers.

“Babies,” he mused quietly.

Juliette nodded. “Not tomorrow, but one day, yeah.”

“I can’t give you babies.” His hands dropped away and she gasped at the loss. “Not because I don’t want to, but I … I can’t.”

“Because you won’t give up being the wolf,” she finished quietly for him.

“Not won’t,” he corrected sharply. “I can’t. You can’t leave this life. My father left Yegor Yolvoski and you know how that ended. Getting in is easy, but you never leave. Not unless you’re dead.”

She drew in a breath even as her heart cracked all over again. “I guess that answers my question, huh?”

“Juliette…”

Shaking her head, Juliette turned and hurried through the doors of the conservatory. Her heels clicked loudly despite the chatter and music. No one paid her any attention as she hurried towards the entrance.

It was only when she found herself standing on the sidewalk overlooking a packed parking lot that she realized she had no car and her great escape was ruined by having to wait for a cab, which she couldn’t call, because Killian still had her phone.

“Fuck!” she snapped to no one in particular.

The glass doors behind her flew open and Killian jogged out.

“Juliette, wait.”

She rounded on him. “Give me my phone back!”

“I will, but let me explain first.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Explain what? What is there to explain? We can’t be together. We can never be together. No matter how much we want to or how much it hurts to be apart, a fish can’t live with a bird.”

“You can if you have a sister like me.” Maraveet followed Killian out, a wide, sneaky grin on her face. “Just say the words and I’ll be your Redbull.”

Chapter 35

“That is the worst idea ever!” Juliette paced away from the group. She’d taken her shoes off—Killian had no idea what became of them—but she padded around the empty shipping container with her skirt trailing after her in the thin layer of dust. “I’m pretty sure that’s not even legal! And why are we in this box?”

“It’s the only way I can guarantee you can live the rest of your lives as normal and boring as humanly possible,” Maraveet argued. “And because we can’t trust that someone won’t overhear us anywhere else. My family owns this cargo dock so I know we’re safe to talk.”

“Okay, but this idea of yours…”

“The decision is entirely up to you, obviously, but I promise it’ll work.”

The idea was disturbingly ingenious. Killian could find no flaws no matter how he turned it over in his head. It was perfect, too perfect, the kind of perfect that came with years of planning.

“And this idea just came to you overnight?” he asked, eyeing his sister.

Maraveet looked away. “It’s something I’ve had in the works for a while, okay? It’s a one time showstopper so either we do it all the way through or not at all.”

Juliette shook her head. “I don’t even know how you’d ever pull this off.”

“It’s all about timing and commitment,” Maraveet answered.

Next to Killian, Vi stood silent and pensive. She hadn’t said a word throughout the entire exchange and her silence worried him.

“What do you think?” he asked her. “I know Juliette won’t do this without you and neither would I, but it doesn’t have to happen if you don’t want.”

Juliette ceased her pacing and turned to the girl. “He’s right. I won’t do it without you.”

Vi shrugged. “I’ve got nothing here. No reason to stay.”

“Are you sure?” Juliette demanded. “You have to be sure, because if we do this, we can never come back here. You’d leave your school, your friends … Mrs. Tompkins.”

Vi pushed off the wall she’d been helping Killian hold up and stood. “There are other schools. I haven’t got any friends and Mrs. Tompkins is with her family. Like I said, nothing here worth staying for.”

Killian studied Juliette. Even in the dull light, her eyes were enormous with fear. Her face was pale and drawn. She’d begun to cut a gash along her bottom lip with her teeth and it was the sight of blood that had him going to her.

“Juliette.” He took her cold cheeks between his palms. Her brown eyes lifted to his face, dilated with fear. “It’s all right, love.”

“I’m scared,” she blurted. “It all sounds so risky and final and…”

“Are you afraid you’ll change your mind about me later?” he wondered out loud.

Her head rocked wildly. “That you’ll regret it. That you’ll look back one day and realize it wasn’t worth giving up for me.”

“I’m not giving it up for you.” He smoothed back a lock of hair caught at the corner of her lip. “I would never have taken on the business if it wasn’t for Yolvoski. I never wanted it. But I need you. I need the rest of my future with you.” He kissed her lightly. “And I need those babies you mentioned. I want them with you. Lots of them. As many as you’ll give me.”