Asha gasps, her chest filling as she drags in air. Her head lifts, and with it, her arms, now filled with power, pull me close and envelop me, raising me up so that her cheek presses to mine.
“Erik,” she breathes, her lips pressing to mine, her throat constricting.
“You’re limitless,” I whisper before the strength in my body gives way entirely and it’s only because she’s so strong now that I don’t slip to the ground.
I did what I set out to do. I kept her alive and I gave her the power she never had before. But I need to tell her…
“I love you, Asha. I loved you from the moment I first saw you.”
“Don’t,” she says, shaking her head, her salty tears on my lips. “Don’t you dare.”
Ten heartbeats.
Carefully, I extend my claws. “Cut them off. Make them into weapons.”
“No.” She wraps her arms more tightly around me, even though my claws could impale her, drawing me close as the weight of my death begins dragging me toward the snow.
“No, Erik. No!”
Her furious, limitless face blurs behind my fading vision.
“Vandawolf!” she screams, as if I’ve betrayed her.
It’s your destiny to keep this woman alive.
Nothing in my father’s words could have warned me that I would become a villain in her life over and over again.
Or that I would love her with my whole heart.
One heartbeat.
“Destiny,” I whisper as the darkness finally claims me.
