AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Evan wasn’t sure precisely when he made the decision to lower the gun. But like so many of his actions since that night he had taken theelevator down into that black-oily basement, his movements were not conscious.
Only this time, it was another, sepaate part of him, not some groupthink that came from what had been done to him, that took control.
He nodded. “You’re right.”
And that was when the enforcer moved.
The vampire reached down and took a dagger with a black blade from out of the lax hand of the injured male. Then he stepped around the foot of the bed and came forward.
“I wanted them to be proud of me,” Evan said in a haunted voice. “That’s all I ever wanted.”
The enforcer’s voice was curiously gentle: “It’s better to be true to you and proud of yourself. Some evolutions aren’t worth the cost of pleasing others, and in the end, only your conscience, which truly knows right from wrong, can save you.”
As if he were putting down a heavy load, Evan exhaled long and slow. “Is this going to hurt?”
“Not any more than the pain you’re already in.”
Evan closed his eyes and leaned back on his hips, dropping the gun to the floor. The thump of impact was loud in his ears, and he was aware that he was starting to pant in preparation for what was coming.
Yet there was a peace, too. Whereas he hadn’t chosen how this fucked-up path had started because of a lie that had been fed to him… he was getting to choose when it all ended.
“Thank you,” he breathed.
“You’re doing the right thing.”
The next thing Evan felt was a piercing pain in his chest—
And then he was consumed by heat and light.
CHAPTER FIFTY
It tasted like Yoo-hoo.
That was what Zsadist thought when a blast of light woke his sorry ass up and his eyes popped open. He didn’t need any reorientation, he knew exactly where the fuck he was.
And who he was with.
As a billow of smoke curled up in front of Nate, and the stink oflesserboth flared and dissipated, Z had the blurry visual of his daughter leaping into the male’s arms, the two embracing at the foot of a short stack stairway. When they finally parted a little, he watched them exchange words, and even though he was groggy, he could dub them in.
After all, he and his Bella had said similar things at various times in their lives, when near misses had saved two people from catastrophe… the reunion all the sweeter for the almost-didn’t-happen.
Funny, he thought as he continued to suck on the straw that was in his mouth, how he went back to a specific moment in his own life as Nalla and Nate turned to him and warily approached the bed.
I am the luckiest male.
Those were the words that had gone through his mind when Bella had come back to him even though he hadn’t deserved any kind of second chance, and told him she was pregnant with their beloved daughter… and he had been able to write three words in bad penmanship to show her that he had changed.
“Father?” his Nalla said in a voice that cracked.
“I’m okay.” It was hard to talk around the straw, but as his brain came back online, he realized what the not-Yoo-hoo was about and why he had to keep drinking the synthetic blood. “You… okay?”
“Yes,” she whispered as she held on to the hand of the male who stood beside her, tall and strong—and covered in the blood of the enemy.
“I have something I have to say to you, sir,” Nate intoned gravely. “I don’t know if now’s the time, though.”
Was this fucker was going to ask for her hand in mating right here? Z wondered. Over what might have been his deathbed if… well, if the male hadn’t acted so quickly with the first aid.
Or if Nate hadn’t jumped in between Zsadist and a stabbing that would have killed him instantly out on the lawn.
