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He paused at Brody’s open door. Kid facedown and spread eagle. Every blanket on the floor. Safe and secure.

He crept farther then jolted when Elena’s door creaked open.

She peered out at him with a groggy smile. “Hey.”

“Hey,” he returned. “Why are you up so late?”

She hesitated, then whispered, “I couldn’t sleep since you and Silas weren’t home yet.”

Regret pulled at his chest. “Don’t want you to worry about me.”

She rolled her hazel eyes, always so sweet. “Like I wouldn’t worry about you?” She paused, then whispered, “Watch a show with me?”

“Sure,” he said, and they moved into the darkened living room, flipped on the television, and pulled up the next episode of Vikings since it was their show.

She settled on the couch, and he plopped down beside her. The show began to play out, and after a few minutes, Elena nestled beside him.

“I feel better when you’re here,” she whispered.

Something inside him twisted. “Like it better when I’m with you, too,” he murmured.

She had always been his comfort. Belief in the middle of the mayhem. A beacon of faith when all hope had gone missing.

And he knew that she and this family were the only thing that mattered.

What had called him here and out of the loneliness.

But it was also here where he’d welcomed the demons and ghosts.

In it, he felt a change coming.

On the horizon. Just out of reach.

Was it Felicity or was the commitment he’d just made her another utter mistake?

He didn’t know. Only thing he did know was he and Silas couldn’t keep living this way.

FORTY-SEVEN

TREVAN

The night was excruciatingly long.

Every second felt like a dragged-on minute while I lay there at war with my mind and body. Elena nestled in the crook of my arm while I battled back the urges that licked up my insides every time she shifted or released one of those sleep-stained mewls from her mouth.

From that delectable, sexy, mind-altering mouth.

Fuck.

I roughed a palm down my face as I stared at the ceiling.

I needed someone to put me out of my goddamn misery. Didn’t know how the hell I was supposed to handle it. Not after I had a taste, and the only thing it’d done was stoke the hunger that had raged inside me for far too long.

Sunlight was just beginning to filter through the sheer drapes of her window, tossing golden glitter across her room.

Elena moaned and stirred at my side.

My cock that had remained at half-mast all night sprang to life.