“Of what?”
“Of letting you back. All the way.” Her hands pressed flat against her knees. “The rejection broke a part of me that I didn’t know could still break. I thought Hudson had already shattered every piece worth shattering and then you three found new ones.”
She paused. Her fingers curled against her kneecaps.
“And then the other night at the fire, when you said what you said about hunters.” She didn’t finish the sentence. “You showed up the next morning and you were different. You made Reese laugh, you sat next to Damon. You did exactly what you promised.”
A breath.
“That scared me more than the rejection did. Because it means you can change. And if you can change, then I have to decide whether to trust it.”
The honesty of it sat in my chest and burned.
“I followed Lucian and Solomon because that’s what I’d always done,” I said. “For two hundred years, they decided and I followed. And when the council demanded the rejection, I stood there and let it happen because fighting felt pointless against centuries of habit.”
My hand found hers on her knee. She didn’t pull away.
“But the regret hit immediately. It’s why I went back. Not because Lucian ordered it or Solomon planned it. Because I chose you.”
“Percy...”
“And three nights ago I sat at that fire and let the grief turn me cruel. I said things about your blood that I’ll carry for the rest of my life. But you told me you needed your best friend back, and that woke me up.” My thumb traced her knuckles. “I’m choosing you again. Every morning. Even the mornings after I get it wrong.”
Her chin trembled. The armor cracking at the seams.
“I will never follow anyone’s lead when it comes to you again. Not Lucian’s or Solomon’s. Not even yours, if what you’re choosing is to keep me at arm’s length because you’re afraid.”
“You’re annoyingly good at this,” she whispered.
“I’ve had hundreds of years of practice.”
A laugh escaped her. She turned her hand under mine and laced our fingers together.
“I forgive you, Percy.”
Four words. The bond channel between us cracked open and warmth flooded through, a rush of connection that made my vision blur and my pulse slam against my ribs. Her frequency roared to life, no longer muted.
Just Mira. Bright, consuming, mine.
“There’s my girl,” I breathed.
Her eyes glistened. She squeezed my hand hard enough to hurt and I squeezed back harder.
“If you make me cry again, I swear to God...”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I pulled her onto my lap. Her legs straddled mine on the log, belly pressing between us, and my hands settled on her hips. “I have a much better idea.”
“Percy, we’re in the middle of camp.”
“We’re at the stream. Forty feet from camp.”
“That’s not the privacy you think it is.”
“Then you’ll have to be quiet.” My mouth found her neck and her whole body shivered. “Can you do that for me, love?”
“You’re out of your mind.”
“Probably.” My teeth grazed her earlobe and her hips rocked involuntarily against mine. “But Wyatt’s tent is about sixty feet that way, so unless you want him to hear exactly who you belong to, I’d keep it down.”
