And yet, I can’t make myself turn back.
Dante wiggles back a bit more, his arm still stretched in invitation, and I lower myself onto the chaise before I can overthink it. The cushion dips under my weight and the faint scent of cedar soap clinging to his skin surrounds me. I freeze, every muscle stiff, as though my body still can’t decide if this is allowed.
I’m like an immovable brick, yet he slides his arm beneath my head and it does something to me. Second by second, I slowly melt into the moment and our nearness. He simply lies there, solid and waiting, and something in me yields. I let my cheek fully fall against his bicep, his warmth grounding me in a way that rattles me nearly as much as his confession in the gym did.
My breaths begin to sync with his, steady and unhurried, the rise and fall of his chest coaxing the storm inside me into something I can finally breathe through. He still doesn’t ask what I’m doing or why I’m here. He only drapes his arm over me, the weight of it as comforting as his fingers drawing slow circles against my back.
Each pass smooths the jagged edges of my nerves until exhaustion seeps into my bones and drags me under.
My dreams swallow me so completely I don’t notice when they dissolve into something real. The first thing I’m aware of is sudden motion–the sway of being turned and the tug of strong arms pulling me from the warmth I’d sunk into. My head lolls,feeling too heavy for my neck, and a sound catches in my throat that’s a groggy, soft protest in my bleary mind.
The world is blurred at the edges as I crack them open just barely, the room still bathed in darkness and a glimmer of moonlight that illuminates who’s holding me.
Elias.
That can’t be right.
All I can focus on is the solid thrum of his heart and the careful way he shifts me in his arms like I’m something fragile. It doesn’t fit with the man I’ve come to know, and in my drowsy haze it makes the moment all the more unreal, as though I’m floating somewhere between fantasy and reality.
But then the mattress dips beneath me as he lowers me gently, the soft sheets brushing against my skin to replace the cradle of his arms, and I know it’s real. Never have I felt such sensory details in a dream like this.
The warmth of another body presses close before I’ve even had a moment to adjust. Callum turns toward me in his sleep, his hand reaching blindly across the sheets as though pulled by instinct. His palm finds my side and settles there, unconscious but claiming. My heart rate flutters with the move.
Elias lingers at my back as the edge of the bed bows slightly under his weight, and as he settles in, I feel the soft drag of his fingers up and down the bare skin of my arm. Instantly, my skin pebbles from the ghosting touch.
Their touches are different–one unknowing and one deliberate–but together they wrap around me until the hollow ache of thinking of choosing only one of them eases in my chest.
It’s like they’re unknowingly answering the questions I don’t even have the nerve to ask them.
My breathing evens out again as my eyes flutter shut once more, not wanting to question any of this and disrupt the moment.
That’s when I hear his voice slipping through the room in a whisper. “I’ll put myself between you and every gun tomorrow.” My pulse hammers as he continues. “I’ll bleed first. I’ll burn first. I’ll make sure you walk out free, even if it’s the last thing I do.”
The words sink into me, searing deeper than the scars I carry, heavy with devotion. He must think I’m lost to sleep, unable to hear the guilt and the fierce worship laced through his promise.
But I do. I hear it all.
Callum’s unconscious grip grounds me, steady and unyielding as Elias’s vow hums against my skin, each stroke of his hand a brand. Then there’s Dante, silent at our back, radiating a constant, watchful presence that wraps around me like a guard against the world.
It’s too much and not enough all at once, this impossible cocoon of warmth I never expected to find in the aftermath of so much ruin.
My chest aches with the weight of it. I don’t know what any of this means, or what it will cost us come morning, but for tonight the weight of their presence soothes me into sleep once more, and peace holds me at last.
CHAPTER 33
BRIAR
The portal spits us out into a lush forest with dappled light beginning to break through the towering pines as dawn crests. For a moment, all I can hear is my pulse hammering in my own ears and the faint hum of magic snapping closed behind us as Dad follows through last with the ring.
Damp morning air clings to my exposed arms, the air sharp with the scent of wet earth and bark. My focus shifts to the thrum of radios and the shuffle of too many feet moving through the immediate surrounding area.
I freeze, pulse catching as it hits me just how large the force is that’s been waiting for us here.
The treeline is alive with hundreds of them, a wall of armed humans in dark tactical gear. The glint of weapons and the shine of wet branches flash as they shift in formation. I hear gun clips slamming into place as orders pass in short, clipped bursts from whoever is in charge.
Quickly, the small human army divides into four separate groupings, obedient and silent as they take commands. Not too long ago they wouldn’t have hesitated to kill a vampire on sight. We’ve come so far in our alliance with them in such a short time.
Hope fills me for the future ahead. They’re willing to stand side by side with us now, to take down the lingering humans that cling to their hatred and righteous attitudes in eliminating supernaturals.
