“I’m going to try and sleep, you’re welcome to stay if you want.”
I closed my eyes, ending the conversation before Nol could say anything.
Nol and I sat by Lennox’s bedside until sunrise. When Luce discovered us, she banished us. Told us we stank and couldn’t return until we had bathed.
Declan had somehow managed to get me to eat while I was downstairs too, making me feel half normal for the first time in days.
“Luka!” Kara’s voice rang out in the dining room of the small inn. “Luka!” she shouted again, her feet slapping on the wood as she rushed down the stairs.
My chair screeched on the floor as I took off to meet Kara at the base of the stairs.
“Luka!” My stomach tightened. Whatever news she had better be fucking good. I couldn’t handle anything else right now. I caught her as she flew down the last stair and rounded the corner.
“What?”
Tears streaked her cheeks, her green eyes wide and glassy. My grip on her arm tightened.
“What’s happening, Kara?” She blinked rapidly, causing another tear to fall.
“She’s awake.”
19
LENNOX
The male in front of me ran a hand through his dark hair. His face was tight, but there was a determination in his eyes. An air of hopefulness.
I shivered against the chill in the air as we stood on the balcony facing one another.
As he talked, I couldn’t help but focus on the fangs peeking through.
He was a vampire. I gripped my hand on the railing, my heart picking up speed. I had to get out of here.
“Because I love you, Lennox.”
My spine straightened. Whoever this vampire was, he loved me.
I flinched as he reached for me, but my hesitation was quickly soothed as he brushed a thumb across my temple. “I love you so fucking much it pains me every day to have taken this choice from you. Let me do this for you. Let me give you back this choice.”
Goosebumps scattered over my body. “You love me?”
He smiled, the sight causing my entire chest to warm. “Yeah, I love you. And I think you already know that.”
I let him touch me, this vampire that loved me. His hand cupped my chin, his other hand brushing light strokes underneath my ribs.
He was a vampire, but in this moment, I wasn’t sure if I’d everfelt safer. My body bowed to his like it knew he was a safe landing spot—like it knew that I could give in to him.
“I love you too, Luka.”
He pressed his lips against mine.
He loves me. Luka loves me.
Luka. A sob caught in my throat as I pulled my lips from his. “Luka,” I all but sobbed. “You’re Luka.” I traced the contours of his face with the pad of my finger. “You’re my Luka, my husband, my mate.”
The remnants of the memory fractured around me, throwing me from Luka’s embrace as I fell backward.
I opened my eyes with a gasp, air filled my lungs for what felt like the first time in weeks. The world came into focus around me, I was no longer in Adreona’s office, no longer trapped in my own mind.
