“Text that to me. I want to remember that scream for the rest of my life!”Rory said with a wide smile as she laughed.
He covered his mouth with his hand and pushed down his swelling emotions.She was happy. When he swiped the video, a picture of her smiling with her friends stared back at him.Swipe. Her in a hair salon with a small woman behind her, beaming at the camera.Swipe. Rory sitting on the couch with her father.Swipe.Swipe.Swipe.
He set the phone down, and the first tear fell. The number of times Caius cried in his life could be counted on one hand, but seeing her, living her life and happy,brokehim. It was everything he wanted for her, and if she weren’t in danger, he would live his life in misery if it meant she stayed that way.
But shewasin danger, and they had to force her memories upon her, causing her pain.
With his head in his hands, he let his anguish free. Dark spots appeared on the papers beneath his elbows, but he didn’t care.
“I took that blind happiness from her,” he choked out.
Lauren’s hand touched the top of his back. “She misses you. Yes, she’s happy to see her friends, but all she wants isyou.”
He looked up with red-rimmed eyes. “And what if something happens and to save her, she has to stay in Vincula?” he asked. “She will resent me, and we both know it.”
Lauren shook her head. “This is Rory, Caius. If she didn’t want to leave Erdikoa, she wouldn’t. She plans on coming back, and last night, she gathered her friends to tell them she was leaving because that’s what she wants to do.Youare what she wants.” She walked back around the desk and sat down. “If you had to choose between Rory and never seeing me, Sam, or Adila again, which would you—”
“Rory,” he said without hesitation.
Lauren scowled. “You didn’t have to say it that fast, but that’s my point. You love us, but you love her more, and we understand. Her friends do too. You are two parts of a whole.”
He grabbed a napkin from his lunch sack and wiped his eyes and nose. “Thank you for bringing me a piece of her,” he said, powering up the phone again.
As he watched videos of his mate, Lauren slipped out quietly, leaving him to break alone.
36
ERDIKOA
A blanket hungover Rory’s head as she gripped a cup of coffee for dear life.
Keith, Kordie, Dume, and Sera left around eleven thirty that morning, and Rory had been too tired to move from the living room. Despite going to sleep at a decent time, she was exhausted.
It didn’t help that she woke up before dawn to puke before drifting back to sleep. Thanks to her hangover, their soulscape ended early last night.
She was pissed at herself for barely registering Sam’s arrival last night, and her eyes hadn’t moved from the stairs since she woke up.
The front door opened, and she jumped, spilling her coffee all over her legs. “Shit! Shit! Shit!”
Sam snatched the blanket from her head and quickly wiped the scalding liquid from her skin.
His biceps bulged as he motioned to the coffee-stained chair. “You should be more care—”
He grunted when her entire body crashed into his with the force of her hug. He was so large that her hands barely metbehind his back, but she squeezed anyway. “I can’t believe I forgot you,” she mumbled into his shirt before drawing back.
His mouth tugged to the side. “Do not be hard on yourself. I have a forgettable face.”
Rory shoved him as she laughed. “Who taught you how to tell jokes?”
White teeth flashed with his quick smile. “I am glad you are back,” he told her sincerely. “We need to talk.”
“Way to ruin the moment.” She sighed and fell back on the couch. “When did you go outside?”
“Before you and your friends rose,” he replied as he took a seat. “The weeds in the flowerbed needed to be pulled.”
A quick glance at his clothes confirmed he recently handled dirt, and she looked away to hide her smile. Weeding seemed mundane for a mystical being like the infamous Samyaza. Leaning back against the soft back of the chair, she shot him a tight-lipped smile. “Give me the bad news first.”
His forehead wrinkled. “What else would I give you?”
