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Zephyr leaped from the couch, rage pouring off him as he wheeled on her, his hands held wide. “Why do you give the smallest fuck what happened to that wraith-pair? They were going to kill us, both of us. Don’t you get that?”
“Of course I do. But he wasn’t always bonded to a wraith. There would have been a time when he’d have had his own ideas about how his life should progress. And I’d bet you a fortune it had nothing to do with joining up with a wraith.”
“He might also have chosen wraith-bonding. Not all realm-folk dislike the idea of teaming up like that.”
“But those kind of people are a really small minority. You know that.”
“And I don’t care. That’s the real problem here.” He shoved both his hands through his hair, grimacing. “You’re the only woman I know who opposes what I do. A
lesia, you owe me some rational explanation why you’ve held to your position in this way, even after having faced death just now.”
Alesia looked away from him. She held a lump of tissues in her hand, which she slowly set aside, her mind drifting into the past. In all the time she’d known him and dated him, she’d never really told him the truth, what lay at the heart of her desire to see every wraith-pair possible sent to prison rehab rather than killed outright.
“No one knows this, Zeph, but three years ago, my mother was abducted by a wraith and forced to bond with him. I watched it happen. A wraith-pair attacked our family home, killing my father outright. The only reason I survived and why I saw what happened to my mother was because I’d slipped behind a door and watched through the narrow space next to the hinges.”
“So, your parents didn’t die in a car accident.”
She shook her head.
“Sweet Goddess, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
“A day doesn’t go by that I don’t think about my mother and hope that some miracle will happen, that she’ll be saved and rehabilitated, instead of slaughtered. Given that so few are spared, it’s a vain hope, but one I have anyway, despite the odds against it.”
* * * * * * * * *
Zephyr stared down at the woman he’d fallen in love with well over a year ago, the one he wanted to spend his life with. He finally understood why she’d held so hard to her view of wraith-pairs. “You must have thought me the most cruel and insensitive man in the entire Nine Realms the way I’ve talked to you on this issue. I wish you’d told me before. So, why didn’t you?”
“I couldn’t, but I don’t know why. I’ve never told anyone. The local police know but that’s it.”
“Alesia, I’m so sorry.”
Now that she’d opened the door, she added, “But the memory of her caught in the wraith’s arms and carried into the night, of seeing her twist just enough so that she could see me, still haunts me, probably always will. She even pathed her love and that was the end of it.”
He took her hand and lifted her to her feet. “Come on. You’re exhausted. How about a shower and bed.” He added hastily, “Just for sleep.”
“I’d like that.”
He guided her to his bathroom and gave her some privacy. He had a guest room and told her he’d sleep there, but she called out, “No, Zeph. Please sleep in the same bed with me. I don’t want to be alone.”
“You got it, but I’ll grab my shower in the other room and be right back.”
Twenty minutes later, and wearing pajamas that he never slept in, he curled up behind her and held her tight. She fell asleep right away, but he remained awake for a long time.
He kept thinking about the loss of her family. Learning that her mother had survived an attack, but only to be forced into a wraith-bonding, helped him to understand Alesia. Having spent some time in the rehab center, he also knew that those realm-persons who survived a bonding said they had only faint memories of their time as part of an Invictus pair.
But these people also lived with a painful realm version of post-traumatic-stress-disorder. Many lost years and even decades of their lives and returned to find their children grown, beloved spouses remarried, jobs and businesses long gone.
At least now he understood why Alesia was so adamant about her insistence that wraith-pairs should be rehabilitated.
Until this moment, he’d never been so close to someone who longed to have a loved one returned to them. Compassion had always been the last thing on his mind when he battled the Invictus and witnessed the results of their carnage every night. Except for the attack on her parents, Alesia never saw what he saw, the drained and mangled bodies of realm-folk.
Finally, the night’s fatigue got to him and he fell asleep. But a few hours later, a different issue surfaced. He awoke in acute pain, his stomach twisted into an excruciating knot. Because his attention had been fixed on Alesia, and not his blood-needs, he’d forgotten to call one of his doneuses.
Right now, he was just a couple of hours away from death.
***
Chapter Three
