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At this, she perked up, whirling to tackle him in a tight embrace. She cried out at the contact with her injury, pulling back, but only enough to dull the pain. She clung to him, not letting him put any extra space between them. “I’m so happy for you.”
“For us,” he corrected her gruffly. “You said you’d go on tour with me, remember?”
“How could I forget?”
She put the two new rings on her fingers, holding her hands out to admire them. “A few more of these and Diesel and I will match.”
I snorted. “Don’t tell him that.”
She sniffed, elbowing Corvus. “Well, there is one more gift that needs to be given.”
Corv reached into the nightstand on his side of the bed, coming out with a clean black box, which he held out to me.
“What’s this?”
“It was all Sparrow’s idea, we just helped pay for it.”
AJ paled, looking edgy in her seat. “You don’t have to wear it. I just thought,wethought that you might want one and—”
I opened the lid and she fell quiet as I stared down at the glass eye swathed in dark navy silk. It looked so real that for a second I could’ve almost believed it was the one I was missing. Carved out, preserved, lovingly tucked in this box.
“Took a lot of back and forth to get the coloring just right and the sizing the vet gave us might’ve been off, so if it is we can get you a new one and—”
“AJ…”
“Yes?”
I couldn’t seem to draw up the words to express how much this meant to me, my lungs burning, throat scratched raw. “It’s…”
“Do you hate it?”
“What? No!”
I managed to pull myself together, clearing my throat as I slid the lid back on the box. “It’s perfect. I’m going to try it out after we get back.”
“Back?” Her head tilted to one side. “Where are we going? I thought Dies was coming here for dinner.”
I could tell she had an inkling of where we were going with this, the hunger for it clear in her eyes. In the way her hands twisted in the covers, ready to use up all the rage she’d been patiently waiting to set free. It was a condition of our forgiveness for almost getting herself killed that she allow herself time to heal before we took Carson apart piece by bloody piece.
“We’re not going to dinner, Ghost.”
“It’s time,” Corvus confirmed. “The doc gave the all-clear last night.”
“Merry fucking Christmas, babe.”
I tipped my head back,inhaling deeply as Carson’s blood dripped down my neck. Sanctum smelled of whiskey and copper, and I filled my lungs with it, shivering even though it was far from cold.
We’d never get his blood out of the mat under our feet in the fighting ring. The whole thing would need to be replaced. The once gray-white color of it entirely stained with varying shades of crimson.
The splatter patterns from seven days ago when we started were the deepest color. A near black. While the freshest smears were still a raw red that looked almost pinkish by comparison. It was our canvas, and we’d painted it well.
I gripped the blade in my hand, flipping it edge over edge as I caught my breath and licked my lips.
At my feet, Carson let out a weak, wet moan from a toothless, tongueless mouth. He was fading fast.
Rook was right when he said we’d be here until New Year’s Eve. I lifted my gaze to the clock on the wall across the space, finding it was already past nine in the evening and I promised Grey we’d watch the fireworks together. The four of us.
“Are you ready, Ghost?” Rook asked from behind me, and I instinctively leaned into him, resting my back against his solid chest, breathing him in as my panting subsided.
