He glances at his watch. “I don’t have t?—”
“This will take all of five minutes.” I reach him and slip my hand in his much larger one. “Please.”
Shoulders dropping slightly, he nods once.
Following me to the sitting area, he takes a seat opposite the couch.
“And put a shirt on,” I say with a smile. “You’re far too distracting.”
He snorts, but yanks his t-shirt from where it’s tucked down the back of his pants. He pulls his t-shirt back on, covering his muscular torso.
“So?” His gaze is direct, almost hard, but I can see the fear and the worry in his eyes beneath his exterior. “What is it?”
“I need the three of you to hear me. Am I exhausted? Yes. Scared? Yes. Am I grief-stricken? Yes, and yes, and yes. But do you know what I am not?”
There’s a moment where all three men stare at me.
“I’m not broken.”
As I say the words, I realize how true they are. “I’ve not heard the Prophet’s voice since I killed him, but even if I do, I know I can deal with it. Because now I know it’s not real, plus I’m so much stronger than I was, and that’s down to you three men.”
Cain makes a low, growling sound deep in the back of his throat as if he’s about to interrupt me, but I fix him with what I hope is an angry stare. He closes his mouth, but then opens it again, his need to speak out winning.
“The problem is, Angel, you wouldn’t have been broken in the first place if you hadn’t been taken, and that’s on me. My family.”
I let his words sink in and digest them, formulating how to reply. “No, you’re right. Technically. But first, who knows if I’d be broken or not? My father is not the kind man I always thought. He’s got a very hard side. If I’d never been taken, I truly think he’d have married me off at eighteen to a family that would provide us with a beneficial alliance. What if my husband had been cruel? A cheater? Maybe violent. It’s hardly rare in our world. Even if he’d not been any of those things, I wouldn’t have been allowed to marry for love.”
I lean forward, looking at each in turn, needing them to hear me. Truly hear me. “I asked myself when I woke up in the night, panicked and upset, whether or not I would change things, and I… I don’t think I would. Because if I erase the Prophet and all the bad stuff, then I don’t get you. Any of you. I don’t get to study and be at this amazing university. I don’t have the opportunity to explore who I am, and my sexuality. So, Cain, you aren’t to blame, but more than that, I need you to understand that I wouldn’t change it. It all led me to right where I’m supposed to be.”
Cain scrubs his hand over his face and opens his mouth, but then he snaps it closed again.
I smile at him. “Good idea. You three are always telling me that you need to make decisions to keep me safe, and I accept that. But you need to accept what I’m telling you now.”
There’s something else I’ve been thinking, but I can’t put that into words. I can’t say it to Cain, because it’s too hurtful. I’d had doubt eating away at me that my father had been the one to have me taken. And while I’d told myself over and over that it couldn’t be true, and almost believed that, there was a tiny part of me that worried about it, ever since Daisy had told me.
It ate away at me, a parasite making me question every single happy memory I had of my parents. Cain’s father has freed me from that, but now that burden is Cain’s to carry.
“I’ve been told that I’m to stay here, with Roman, while you two go off and play at being heroes.”
“Hardly playing.” Mal wags his finger at me. “Don’t go getting too bratty. You might not like our punishments.”
Oh, I bet I will. I smirk but then grow serious as what lies ahead for Cain and Mal hits home.
I go to Cain and take his hands. “If you get yourself killed, I’m going to reverse haunt you. Do not let your father harm you. Idon’t care if he lives, so long as you do. You better come back to me, Cain Lockwood.”
This time his growl is one of ownership and desire, and as he pulls me into him and kisses me hard, I melt.
CHAPTER 26
Roman
Cain took allthe men with him in the end. He was going to leave Deacon with us, but I argued with him, and when Ophelia joined in, we won. Ophelia had clung to Cain’s neck when he left, and I had to lift her from him and carry her inside. She’s getting changed now, and we’re heading to the college shortly.
Before Cain left, I called Dom and told him there was an outside threat. He informed the dean, so the college is on high alert, and hence, we have an armed guard. I didn’t go into the full story, but I did tell him that Cain’s father might be an issue. The finer details don’t matter. Nataniele isn’t going to let anyone on the college grounds to harm students. Not even another student’s father.
As for Dom, he might be an asshole, but he understands how important it is for each of us to protect our women. After all, he’d kill anyone who tried to harm Mackenzie.
The dean might side with Cain’s father, so far as thinking Cain is wrong to challenge him, but that won’t translate to allowing him to walk onto the college grounds and taking Ophelia.
