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Though she strains to hear him, it makes her grin.
Caleb quirks an eyebrow. “What?”
“I don’t think I have vampire hearing anymore.” She swallows back a rush of tears. “It’s nice.”
Isabelle appears behind Kenna. “Oh, hey, Maddy, you’re awake. Thanks for taking care of Orion.”
Maddy scrambles for something nice to say in return. “Oh, well, thanks for taking care of…of…everything else.”
Isabelle beams at her. “No problem.”
Within a few minutes, the word spreads that Maddy’s awake again, and they all gather in the large living room of the mansion once more.
Maddy swings her legs over the edge of the sofa. When she tries to stand, she sways, and Caleb jumps to his feet beside her.
He slips his arm around her waist. “You okay?”
“More than okay, but I want to say something.”
Caleb turns to the gathering of people. “She wants to say something.”
Maddy laughs. “You didn’t have to do that.”
Caleb pulls her closer. “Oh, I think I’ll be doing a lot of things I don’t have to do for the near future.”
She smooths her hands over his chest and stares up into her eyes. “Oh, yeah?”
“You better believe it.”
The intensity and intimacy of his gaze warms her, and her cheeks heat. “I hope so.”
Cora coughs. “Do you two need a room? I think there’s at least fifty in this house.”
That breaks the mood just enough, and Maddy turns to the collected group. She smiles at Kenna and points to her neck. “Thank you for that. I guess it’s okay that you didn’t ask for permission. I’m glad to have the vampire version of me gone.”
Then she turns to Gabby and Colt. “Thanks for flying us up to the bunker, and for being here. I know you didn’t have to.” Maddy spreads her arms wide. “None of you had to. We couldn’t force you, but we couldn’t have done any of this without all of you.”
Cora tsks. “Of course, they had to. We couldn’t let Orion take over.”
“We all lost so much, gave so much, sacrificed so much…” Maddy’s voice breaks. “And we’re still here.”
Marlowe studies the ground and then Maddy. “We’re only sorry we didn’t join sooner.”
Rachel nods.
Maddy’s gaze roams over the warriors who stood with them, even when their win hadn’t been assured, hadn’t been promised.
She clears her throat. “None of you ran away. None of you left when we saw the numbers down here. Even outmatched, even overwhelmed, we all made our last stand together.”
Cora zips closer to Maddie and catches her in an embrace. “And we won.”
Maddy wipes the tears from her face and hugs her friend tightly.
“None of us could have won without you and Caleb,” Cora adds. “You did this. Without you, none of this would have gone the way it needed to. You and Caleb saved the world from Orion.”
The others agree, returning their thanks, and before long, all of them are dabbing at their eyes—even Kenna.
Scattered applause turns into a thunderous jubilation, so loud the mansion vibrates with the sound. When Maddy covers her face with her hands, she squeezes her eyes closed as she struggles not to weep. Caleb wraps around them both as they cry, washing the trials from their hearts the only way they can.
