Page 149 of Vengeance of the Gods

When in shifter form, Khort could pull bolts of lightning from the sky like his own fire and Arlet could manipulate them to strike where she wanted.

They were all truly connected.

Everyone’s mood lifted after training, seemingly moving on from the terror of their morning. But it was still at the forefront of Bridger’s mind while he went about his day…

While he’d technically deserted his official title as commander of Tolevarre, he knew things needed to be documented for years to come. When people looked back on this part of Tolevarre’s history, Bridger knew how important it would be for them to have firsthand accounts of every detail transpiring during these times.

He mulled over a leather bound book unrelated to what he’d spent most of the day doing, telling himself the light research was to give his mind a break.

Bridger took notes in the margins, not worried about marking the book up for others in the future. It would never leave his desk, and the information felt engraved inside his brain after the last two nights of reading.

Bridger had more than one plan brewing in the back of his mind.

A knock at his door stopped him from flipping the page. He’d left the training facility as soon as their session was done, moving throughout his day with Meyer and the soldiers from his side who would make the best leaders.

Unfortunately, Helena was one of those impeccable leaders… She’d already proven it through her years of service.

While they all were now fighting for the same outcome, it was silly to think there wouldn’t be division. They might technically all be rebels in the eyes of Marlena and her followers, but each side still had their trusted leaders.

Bridger and Khort were opposite sides of the same coin.

His empty dinner plate sat beside him on his desk, an untouched glass of his favorite dark liquor sitting on a coaster.

“Okay, I knocked because I was trying to be polite, but you were taking too long to answer.” Vega opened the door, waltzing in wearing a fresh set of sleep clothes free of her blood. “So. Hi.” She stopped in the middle of the room, looking more beautiful than the day he’d met her.

“Hey, baby,” Bridger responded, transfixed on the girl he’d fallen in love with fifty-seven years ago.

Seventeen-year-old Vega was a knockout. She was always dressed in the best clothes and styled like the eye of a storm. The eighteen-year-old who’d finally given the dangerous warrior a chance beyond friendship would always be a personal favorite of his. The twenty-year-old who’d led a summoning and bonded his soul to hers and two others had changed his life forever. But the seventy-five-year-old goddess standing in the middle of his room in a pair of loose black pants and an oversized sweater with a scar proving the passage of time?

That was the woman Bridger found himself wanting to know.

Not the girl she’d been.

Bridger wanted to get his forever with her. He wanted to spend the rest of their eternal lives getting to know all the versions of themselves they were going to become.

Which only reminded him Vega still wasn’t his to keep. Her soul belonged to someone else…

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, pulling at the sleeves of her sweater nervously.

Bridger smiled lazily. “Like what?”

“Like you’re planning your goodbye.”

He stood, crossing the room. “There will not be another goodbye.” The words tasted like a lie coming out of his mouth. “I was just thinking about how beautiful you are, how fucking incredible you are. About how lucky I am.” Bridger couldn’t help himself. Vega was like a magnet, and he couldn’t fight the pull.

His hand slid up the shoulder exposed by her sweater and over the side of her neck until his hand held the back of her head.

She stared up at him. “Lucky?” she asked, batting her big blue eyes that always made him get a little lost.

“Because you’re giving me a second chance to love you the way I should have in the first.” He rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip. “And you’ve already forgiven me for not warning you about Helena,” he said, hoping it was actually true.

Vega chuckled. “Bridger, I don’t give two fucks about Helena or anyone else you’ve fucked over the last forty years, for that matter. We weren’t together, and I, unfortunately, have been sleeping with others far longer than you, I’m afraid.” Her hands wrapped around his torso, pulling their bodies together.

Heat built up in Bridger’s core, the need to remind her what she’d been missing tearing through him. It wasn’t Vega’s fault she’d been with other men while simultaneously still being in a relationship with him a realm away—but the reminder still hurt sometimes.

“A second chance…” she said softly. “That’s what you want?

Thankfully, Vega pulled him out of his spiral with her question. “If you’ll let me have it.” His eyes flicked back to hers, searching for the answer because the anticipation was going to eat him the fuck up if she didn’t hurry.