AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I got that mark the day you were born,a stor. You may not believe that you’ve always been mine, but I’ve been bound to you since before you drew your first breath. This mark is proof.”
I traced the circles with my fingertip, then placed my hand over his chest. The insistent thump of his heart against my palm told me it was true. That the revelation cost him.
“One ring for each seal that was broken. Each a reminder that I was failing in my duty to protect you. And one in particular of my own making.”
I swallowed, worried my thoughtless action had just cost us everything, but when I straightened and my eyes met his, my worry fled.
“I know now that I couldn’t have prevented a single moment that came to pass. Not when we were written in the stars. We were meant to be. You and I, Sunday Fallon, were inevitable. You were my calling. And I do not regret a single second of being yours.”
“And your duty?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking the question. “The reason you brought me here?”
Pain flickered across his face, followed by iron-clad resolve. “There’s something I need you to know before we take this any further.”
“What? Are you secretly a vampire king or something?”
He chuckled, my joke providing the right amount of levity for a serious conversation. “No, sadly, I can’t offer you the kingdom Noah can.”
The mention of Noah brought another ache to the forefront, but I pushed it away. This was about Caleb, not anyone else. “What do you need to tell me?”
“These marks. They’re not some random happenstance that connected us.”
“I figured that. Coincidences don’t exist, Caleb.”
“You don’t believe in the God I devoted my humanity to, but I know He is real.”
“Okay...”
“He sent the angel Gabriel to me. Offered me my soul if I would be theirs. All I had to do was stop the Apocalypse. It seemed an easy enough agreement at the time. Serve the Society, save the world.”
“Society?”
“A group of individuals who each had a vested interest in the outcome. Your grandfather among them.”
I couldn’t help but flinch at that. I shouldn’t be surprised by the depths Niall Fallon would sink to, but it still hurt. Then again, I guess it explained his hatred all these years. How could you love something you were destined to destroy?
Caleb continued, “Little did I know what the true cost would be.”
“And now...”
“And now I would gladly surrender my soul to ensure your happiness. A soul is a little thing in comparison to the love of a woman who’s become your entire reason for being.”
“It seems cruel to put you in my path only to take it all away in the end.”
“Isn’t that what fate does? Cruelly snatch everything from us and laugh as she takes it all?”
“I don’t want you to have to choose, Caleb. It’s not fair.”
He smiled, the look tender, if not a hint sad. “Nothing is fair in a game where mates are on the line. Happiness costs everything, and it’s worth every penny to know the touch of true love. To look into the eyes of the one being created solely for you and know you are loved despite every flaw. To know, with utter certainty, that you have found your place in the world. There is no price I wouldn’t pay, Sunday, to be right here, right now, with you. To be yours.”
“To get your soul, you have to...”
He cupped my belly and pressed his forehead to mine. “It’s what they’ve charged me with carrying out. And I thought I could, if it meant you’d have a life after. Even if it wasn’t with me. But God help me, I can’t. I hear her heart. I feel her there. She’s real. She can’t be born evil. Not if she’s made from someone as good as you.”
A weight lifted from my shoulders the moment he said those words. That was what I’d been longing for. “I love you. God, I tried not to, but I can’t stop.”
“Never stop.” He held me close, kissing my shoulder, my collarbone, my neck, my mark. “Please never stop. I can’t... I can’t leave this world without feeling your love.”
“I couldn’t if I wanted to, Caleb. Even when you made me hate you, I still loved you. I’ve always loved you.”
