AllFreeNovel
Share Us
This was the connection she could never break with him now--this bone-deep awareness of him. She would always be drawn to Tegan, conscious of him on an elemental level, until the day that one or the other of them died.
God, what had she done? Elise paced the living room of her guest quarters, anxious now that the time was coming that she would be leaving with Tegan for Berlin. Maybe she should venture out into the compound to find him and make sure that he didn't intend to depart without her. Maybe she should wait for him to come to her?
She heaved a sigh and started for the door--
At the very second a knock sounded on the other side.
It wasn't Tegan; her senses told her that much. Elise opened the door and was stunned to find a familiar face outside.
Oh. She glanced down, surprised and shamed. Hello, Sterling.
She couldn't look at him now, especially when he was standing there with genuine concern in his eyes.
I heard you weren't feeling well. Savannah said you've been in here alone all day, so I...I wanted to check and make sure you're all right.
Elise nodded. I'm fine. Just a headache. To be honest, I needed some time alone.
Of course. Sterling's voice was schooled, almost awkwardly so. He let a long moment pass before he spoke again. I cannot believe what he did to you in the lab, why he felt the need to say what he did--
No, don't. Don't feel sorry for me. There is no need, Sterling.
He exhaled sharply, anger radiating from his stiff stance in the doorway. Tegan was way out of line. He had no right to speak to you like that. I don't expect him to have honor enough to apologize for what he subjected you to, so I've come to do it for him.
You don't have to, she said, looking up into those familiar, flinty blue eyes. Yes, I do, he insisted. And not just for Tegan's behavior, but for my own as well. Ah, Christ, Elise. What happened to Camden that night outside the Darkhaven...I'm so sorry. I'm so damned sorry for everything that happened. If I could have traded places with him--if it could have been me who'd gone Rogue...me in front of that gun when the trigger was pulled...
I know. She reached out to her brother-in- law, and gently squeezed his muscled forearm. I'm sorry too.
He gave her a grim look, tried to dismiss her regret with a stiff shake of his head.
But she couldn't let the rest go unsaid now.
Yes, hear me out, please. I blamed you for Camden's death, Sterling, and that was wrong of me. You did everything you could to save him. I know what it cost you. I am the one owing an apology. You felt responsible for him...for me...and I let you shoulder that burden when I shouldn't have. It wasn't fair to you.
Something tender moved across his features. You were never a burden.
Not yours, certainly, she said, as gentle as she could be. It was wrong of me that I never pointed that fact out to you. I should have made sure you understood how I felt.
He went rigid at the words, his jaw going tight.
Sterling, I never meant to hurt you, or to make you think we might in any way, at any time--
You were never anything but proper, Elise.
His clipped, careful tone was brittle to her ears. But I still hurt you. He slowly shook his head. All of my decisions have been my own. You've done nothing to regret.
Don't be so certain of that, she murmured, thinking on all her past mistakes, not the least of which would probably prove to be the blasphemy of a blood bond she'd instigated with Tegan.
She felt the warrior's presence getting stronger within her, and knew that wherever he was in the compound now, he was coming closer. She could feel him in the warmth skating along her limbs, and in the prickle of the fine hairs at the back of her neck.
I appreciate your concern, Sterling, truly. But everything is fine. I'm fine.
His light brown brows were knit together in a scowl. You don't look fine. You look flushed. You have goose bumps on your arms.
It's nothing.
He stared at her face, which was probably pink with color from both the recent nourishment of Tegan's blood and the sudden flood of embarrassment that Sterling would soon guess the cause of her discomfort for himself.
That dawning came over him instantly. It was evident in the fall of his expression, then the glowering rage that filled his eyes with indigo fire.
