Page 124

I will never let you go…

Chapter Thirty-Three

Paris

Iwatched the sun set over Regal Peaks, wearing the blue jeans and peppermint-green jumper Medusa left out for me, basking in the yumminess of sex with Silv.

The ball of unease was back and weighing heavy, but some of the tension inside me had unraveled. If it were up to me, I’d still be in bed within the vampire’s embrace, basking in this thing between us.

This love. This amazing, kind of unbelievable love.

Wow.

I puffed on the ends of my mistrock cig, blowing rings of vanilla smoke into the air, preparing myself to go downstairs to speak to my…family.

You can do this.

If I didn’t have the conversation with them now during this downtime, I might never get the chance. Anyway, the key still hadn’t shown itself.

Typical. But twiddling my thumbs didn’t suit me well. I had to do something else to pass the time.

Stretching my limbs, I drew luck down my chest and headed for the door, stealing a glance at my lover.

Silv slept on his back dressed in black, ready for action, the duvet covering his lower half. He barely moved, as still as a corpse aside from the odd twitch of his lips. Both a hot and unnerving sight.

After our cuddle, we’d shared a shower and fallen asleep in each other’s arms for about an hour or so.

Being in his arms made my existence feel correct. Like I’d found a missing piece of myself. I guess that’s how true love worked, huh? Two souls coming together to make a whole?

Nice. I liked it.

Death will find me in the end, and he’ll live on without me.

Yeah, that kind of thinking hammered nails into my bubble.

Damn, but it was the harsh truth we’d have to face and discuss one day. Because year by year, my skin would wrinkle, my faculties would fail, and all the things a mortal body went through would drag me toward my final breaths.

Fleeting happiness, huh? That’s the price you paid for being alive.

Whatever. Fuck it. Live for the moment, don’t let the heavy shit get you down. I’d only just admitted my feelings to him, realizing I had the capacity to fall in love. My brain needed to let me unpack those things before forcing other issues on me.

The amulet sparkled against his chest, casting tiny rays of moonlight across the bed. Selene seemed to be trustworthy, and she was the one who sensed the seraphim stuff in me.

Yeah, until she pulled the rug out from under us.

Deities, man. Always up to something.

Done with staring at the king, I left the room, heading down the pink-and-black corridor toward the stairwell, passing closed doors. We were on the first floor, so just one staircase away from the lobby. I heard laughter down there, and Declan’s voice.

Ah, cool. Nice to know he was back here again. Possibly with his pack, on account of the gaggle of voices. And I thought I’d heard Jenny the beta saying something.

Hmmm. How did he get them on our side?

“Paris?”

I spun, seeing Elio sitting on a chair in a small reading nook opposite the stairs. A vase of pink carnations also greeted me, super happy to have two elves in their presence.

“Hey, sweeties,” I said, following up with another, “Hey,” for him.