Because she was supposed to be asleep. Or unconscious. Or whatever the hell this is.
Fucking hell… did someone kidnap my mate!
“Hazel!” I run out of the room, checking in every room, every corner, until a vibrating hum cuts through my panic. It slices through the chaos in my head like a lifeline.
Hazel.
My shoulders drop instantly at the familiar sound. She’s awake.
I focus on the pull in my chest, on the faint tug that’s always been there, and let it guide me to her like my body knows where she is before my mind can catch up.
Her hum is weaker than it was the day she killed Tiberius. Whatever power she held that day is gone. Now it’s soft again. A quiet whisper that still calls to me every time. And I’d follow it anywhere.
So I do. So I do. I let it lead me through the twists and turns of our home until I push open the door to the backyard, Hazel’s favorite place in the kingdom.
The waterfall.
It takes me less than a second to find my mate, standing in the waterfall with her back to me.
I step closer, my gaze catching on the pile of clothes discarded in the grass.
A small smile pulls at my lips despite everything. She’s so different from the last time I found her here.
Not broken. Not running. Just… here.
Hazel senses me and turns.
The breath gets knocked out of my lungs at the sight of her, and when she smiles—so soft and content—it hits me harder than anything else.
My eyes burn, and I drop my gaze, wiping them quickly before she can see. I’m not ready for her to see how close I came to breaking.
Hazel lifts her hand, beckoning me into the water.
I don’t hesitate. I strip quickly and step in, the cold barely registering as I swim toward her.
I surface just as I reach her, and she closes the remaining distance, wrapping herself around me.
“You’re awake.”
“Did you miss me?”
I swallow, letting the truth spill out. “More than you’d ever know.”
She smiles again, her eyes turning glassy, and that’s what breaks me.
My head drops into her neck, and everything I’ve been holding back crashes through me at once. Fear. Anger. Relief. All of it.
Watching her fall that day almost killed me. I knew in that moment that if I lost her, I wouldn’t survive.There wouldn’t be anything left of me.
Her fingers slide into my hair, holding me close, and when she starts humming, it settles something deep inside me, stitching me back together without even trying.
I press my face into her neck, clinging to her. “I was so scared. If something happened to you...”
Her hand cups my cheek, urging me to look at me.“I love you, Dean.”
Something inside me finally gives way.
I kiss her like I’ve been drowning and she’s the only air left, pouring everything I feel into it.
