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His eyes closed again, and no amount of shaking him and screaming was waking him up.
Chapter58
Flint
Iwasn’t accustomed to true pain. Not like this.
The knife was white hot in my chest, a stinging pain radiating out through my entire body like a pulse. My vision swam, dipping in and out. I was faintly aware of everything—being cradled in Arden’s arms, Lex shifting into his dragon form and chasing after someone, and Jagger turning the attacker to ash. But soon, that awareness disappeared into a nothingness deeper than sleep.
My consciousness slowly came back. First, my sense of smell. Arden’s fresh, grassy scent was overpowered by the scent of her tears and something smoky, probably Jagger. Then, my hearing. At least it was peaceful and quiet. My eyelids were too heavy to open, so I groaned, turning my head on my pillow.
“He’s awake!” Arden’s small, soft hands cupped my cheeks. “Can you hear me, Flint?”
“Yeah. I can.” I swallowed. My throat was bone dry. “Tired.”
“You were almost dead.” Her hand rested on my chest, just below where the last remaining part of the knife wound was healing. The rune still hadn’t fully healed. “It’s taken a lot of magic to get you back to where you are.”
“The knife had poison?” I asked.
“Yeah. Fucking bastards,” Jagger said. “I killed the one who knifed you, and Lex caught the other one. I wanted to tear his head off, too, but we have to question him, eventually.”
A snort bubbled up my throat, but it hurt.
“We should let you rest again while our healing magic works,” Arden said, her hands fluttering over me. She fluffed my pillow and pulled the blanket up over my bare chest. “Go to sleep.”
Just the short conversation had drained me, so I passed out again. By the time I woke up, I felt almost normal. Night had fallen, and the light of the thin sliver of a moon streamed in through the windows of my quarters. Arden was curled up on the couch across from the foot of the bed, napping, but Lex and Jagger weren’t around. I pushed myself up onto my elbows and found a glass on my side table.
I pulled water from the air to fill it since I didn’t want to get up, the sound of the filling glass waking Arden.
“You’re up?” she asked, her eyes opening.
“Yeah. I’m much better.” I guzzled the rest of the water and refilled my glass. “How long have I been out?”
“For most of the evening.” She came back over and sat on the edge of my bed. “I’m so relieved that you’re okay.”
She sniffed, a tear falling down her cheek. I sat up and brushed it away.
“Why are you crying, Arden?” I cupped her cheek.
“Why did you throw yourself right in front of the guy throwing knives?” Arden replied, wiping her eyes. “Even if it wasn’t poisoned, you would have been hurt.”
Seeing her pain made my heart hurt.
No, it was more than that. It was the fact that she was hurting, and I wasn’t letting my whole self be with her. I was in love with her. I’d been in love with her for longer than I had probably realized. Her being mates with Jagger and Lex didn’t change that. We weren’t competing for her affection, and she wasn’t keeping secrets from me the way Kathrin had. We were our truest selves, the way we couldn’t be with others.
Nearly dying had cemented it for me. What if I’d actually died? I wouldn’t have been with Arden the way I truly wanted to be, deep down. And that idea was unbearable.
“Why wouldn’t I?” I asked, lacing my fingers in hers. “I’d die for you, Arden. Even if we aren’t mates. I don’t want to hold back anymore.”
She blinked the tears out of her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I mean I want to be with you. All of you. Sharing you, even if we aren’t officially mates,” I said.
Arden’s face brightened, even as more tears fell. “You do? You want to be with me, even if I’m with Lex and Jagger?”
“Yes. Maybe because you’re with them, because they make you happy. And that’s all I want.” I cupped the back of her neck and pulled her in for a kiss.
I moaned against her lips. She tasted so good. Her scent was so much better up close, intoxicating. Any lingering pain I had disappeared the deeper our kiss became. I let everything go and let my body take over. All the pent-up desire inside of me rushed to the surface like a flood.
