I didn’t like the helplessness I felt, the way her trembling form had made me feel.
When she didn’t immediately respond, I broke the barrier between us to search her mind for the cause of her current state.
And felt my world come crashing down as her agony struck me squarely in the heart.
Me.
I did this.
It was written all over her thoughts, her anger at having put her faith in me just to be abandoned again.
He left. Of course he left. Why wouldn’t he leave?Her residual thoughts lurked on the outskirts of her mind, all comments she’d been making to herself on repeat.He always leaves. I was a fool. Again. I fell for his tricks. Again. Let him use me. Again. And now he’s left me. Again. But in Heaven, without my cuff, and no way home.
She’d been furious.
She’d been distraught.
She’d been shattered by the notion of abandonment.
And why wouldn’t she feel that way? She’d woken up alone, the balance fully restored between our bond, and I hadn’t been here to comfort her.
Rather than reply with words, I yanked her into my thoughts, showing her why I’d left and where I’d gone.
I recounted the conversation with Mietek and the others.
I showed her what they’d said about the cuff.
About Yaz.
She didn’t immediately reply, nor did she move. She was barely even breathing.
Because she was questioning whether any of this was real. She was questioning her inner strength. She was questioningus.
I wrapped myself around her, ensuring she felt every inch of me. “I’m not going anywhere without you, Kayla,” I promised her. And I forced her to see how much I meant it, showed her the truth of it in my mind and in my soul.
Our connection had deepened to impossible depths, granting her access to my very spirit.
Had she only thought to press on that link to find me, she would have known immediately where I’d gone. However, her instinct had been to think the worst.
I told her with my mind that I didn’t blame her for that conclusion.
Just as I vowed to spend the rest of our lives together proving her wrong.
After what felt like hours, but was more realistically only a few minutes, she began to thaw. A shudder overtook her, then a tremble, and eventually she began to relax.
Only then did she roll to face me, her caramel-brown eyes displaying the very real pain my actions had caused her in this life.
My strong, beautiful Kayla had been deeply wounded by my actions.
Regret simmered inside me, followed by the righteousness that told me I couldn’t have done this any other way.
Alas, there was a voice whispering in the back of my mind, hummingwhat-ifs,that made me flinch.
I couldn’t change the past.What’s done is done. What I could do was change the future. What I could do was ensure my mate knew how I felt every day for the rest of our time.
We’d created a new form of Divinity together, our souls intertwined in a balance that could be felt through all the realms.
She was my other half. My partner.
