"I don't grovel," I protested weakly.
"You will for him." Her smile turned knowing.
As we walked toward the door, I felt something shift inside me. Not healing. That would take time. Not wholeness, either. I might never feel truly whole.
But something...
I loved Elias Noire with every broken, scarred piece of my heart.
Now I just had to be brave enough to tell him.
After we saved Alex. After we stopped Marcus. After I found the courage I'd lost somewhere between a hospital bed at fourteen and a vampire bar at twenty-six.
After we survived, I'd stop running from the one person who'd never asked me to be anything but exactly what I was.
Scarred.
Powerful.
His.
If he'd still have me.
Chapter 20
Elias
The thread between us stretched taut and screaming, a silver line pulled so thin with tension it felt ready to snap.
I stood on Judy's porch, my hand raised to knock, Talin's misery on the other side of the door pulsing within me, adding to my own. The same desperate ache that'd been eating me alive since she walked out of my room.
I'd spent hours cleaning my room, then I'd moved on to the rest of the house. Scrubbing bathrooms that didn't need cleaning, reorganizing bookshelves that were already perfect, rearranging furniture in the common areas of the house. Wrestling with my pride while the woman I loved suffered on the other side of the city when she should've been resting and preparing herself for what she had to do tonight.
Stupid. We were both so bloody stupid.
Maybe me more so than her.
I knocked.
The door opened immediately. Angel stood there, her bright red hair making her pale face look drawn. Crossing her arms over her chest, she leaned against the doorframe as she eyed me up and down. "You're late," she finally said.
"I'm here, aren't I?"
"My cousin looks like she's been crying all night."
I didn't say anything. There was nothing I could say to defend myself.
She studied me a moment longer with those sharp hazel eyes, then stepped aside. "Living room. Everyone's waiting."
Taking a deep breath, I followed Angel down the hall, my hands flexing at my sides. Every instinct screamed at me to find Talin, pull her into my arms and apologize over and over until she forgave me for being a fucking bastard.
But I wasn't sure how this reunion was gonna go. I'd ordered her to leave. I'd let my fear and anger speak louder than my love. And I wouldn't blame her at all if she wanted to punish me a bit for my temper, because I deserved it.
The living room was crowded. Killian stood near the window with Lizzy pressed against his side. Jamal leaned against the mantle, his dark eyes tracking my entrance before darting to Angel, who walked right behind me. Brogan and Esme occupied the loveseat, their hands intertwined. And Dae-Jung hovered near Alice, who sat in an armchair looking pale and exhausted.
And poor Kenya, she sat perched on the edge of the couch, her hands trembling in her lap. She looked so much worse than she had last night. Gaunt. Hollow-eyed. Her smooth, dark skin ashen as she barely held herself together. This had to work tonight, or we were gonna lose her. And soon.
And there, in the far corner near Judy's massive oak bookshelf, stood Talin.
