Just because my world is falling apart doesn’t mean I get to ask him to be my peace.
I’ve been nothing but trouble since the day he met me. I shut him down. Make fun of his efforts. I see how much he wants this to work, and still show him every single day why it wouldn’t.
But there’s a reason I can’t let him close.
The first time I saw him, a burst of hope filled me until I thought I was going to explode. I thought all my dreams were finally coming true. When Dean called me, mate… I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
I thought the darkness was over. But I was wrong… so wrong.
The next morning, I woke with bruises on my arms… finger marks from where Tiberius had grabbed me in my dream.
I’d grown so used to his astral form and his hand passing right through me when he tried to grab me that I forgot how brutal his grip could be.
It was a warning. He was coming to take what he thought was rightfully his.And I knew if—when—he found me, he’d kill anyone who came in his way.
I turn away from Dean’s door, from the best thing that has ever happened to me, before I can taint it.
I need to get out of here. I need to run. My knuckles go white, feeling cold to the bone, lungs seizing like I’m drowning in nothing.
There’s only one person who can help.
I don’t stop until I reach her, knocking until she opens the door.
Nevaeh takes one look at the bruise spreading down my neck and grabs my hand, pulling me into her room.
For the first time tonight, I canbreathe.
7. A chance at forever
Dean
Two hours earlier
I stand by the large window in my room, watching my mate return from her final security check of the night.
Rain started pelting down an hour ago, and I’ve been here ever since, waiting for Hazel to get back safely. I wanted to teleport to her and drag her out of the rain, but I knew she wouldn’t appreciate me barging in and making demands.
I knew Hazel took the kingdom’s safety seriously, but I didn’t realize how much of her time and energy she pours into it every day.
In the month we’ve lived under the same roof, I’ve noticed she barely sleeps three, maybe four hours at night before waking up at ungodly hours to do it all over again.
I’ve stationed more than enough warriors across the kingdom, hoping she’d slow down, get some rest, but Hazel acts like all hell would break loose if she slept an extra hour. I swear, the day she starts taking anything I say with a grain of salt, I’m convincing her to stop rising with the fucking sun.
I sigh as she strolls down the path, a small skip in her step, like the rain soaking her doesn’t bother her. Her hair sticks to the sides of her face, clothes clinging to her skin, but there’s a serene smile on her lips that’s stopping me from storming downstairs with a towel and drying her off myself.
My hands curl into fists when she pauses just outside the castle. Her head tilts back, and for a second, I think she’s caught me watching her like a creep, but then her eyes close, letting the rain droplets fall on her face.
She looks… alive. Content.
The need to keep that smile on her lips hits me like lightning.
Before Hazel, I thought I was cursed. I had asked the Sisters of Fate about my mate, and when they didn’t give me a straight answer, I just assumed I’d spend the rest of my life never knowing what it felt like to belong to someone. I already ached for my soulmate, so the revelation of never having one felt like a punch to the gut.
Then I saw her. My raven-haired miracle who stole my heart in a single glance.
I know her past is holding her back from letting me love the fuck out of her, but she hasn’t realized I’m just as stubborn. I didn’t spend two decades praying for a miracle just to let her slip through my fingers.
I’ll carve a place for myself in her heart, and by the time she notices, it’ll be too late to kick me out.
