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She looked past me to Grace, then down at our joined hands.
Silence echoed through the room for too many seconds to count.
“I’ll do it,” Aurora said softly. “But only if you knock me out,” she finished at Saint. “No one else touches me.”
He nodded once, but I didn’t miss the flinch.
She retreated to the recovery room, and Gabriel launched into action, getting everything ready.
“What was that about?” I asked Saint. “Only you?”
He shrugged. “I can’t decide if it’s because she knows I canknock her out, or if it’s because I look just like him and she hasn’t stopped punishing herself for something that was never her fault.” His footsteps were slow as he followed Gabriel back to the recovery room.
Fifteen minutes later, we had everything we needed.
I sat on the edge of Grace’s bed and stroked her face, glancing over her features. “I never deserved someone like you. You’ve always been far too good for me.”
“Eh.” She grinned, but there was a tremble in her lips. “Personally, I think I married up.”
“You know this is going to hurt like hell.” I couldn’t stop touching her, my fingers caressing the high line of her cheek, the smooth arch of her neck.
“I can take it.” She captured my other hand and brought it to her lips, kissing the back of it. “Just give me a few days, okay? If I’m not as fast as other transitions, don’t give up on me.”
“Never.” I’d wait forever for her.
“We’re ready,” Gabriel said, two syringes prepared on Grace’s other side.
But I wasn’t.
Leaning down, I kissed Grace like we weren’t surrounded by others. I stroked my tongue over hers, taking what I knew might be our last moments together and holding on with everything I had.
Then I lifted my head and stared down at my beautiful, kind, perfect mate.
She reached for my face and braved a smile. “I will love you for the rest of my life.”
I pressed a kiss into her palm. “And I’ll love you every day for the rest ofmine.”
She held my gaze and tilted her head, baring the side of her neck.
Gods, please forgive me.
I struck.
20
GRACE
“And then she knew without any shadow of a doubt, that he belonged to her. Wholly. Significantly. Even when it didn’t make sense. Even when a world wasn’t supposed to exist where he loved her as intensely as he did. She was human. He was vampire. But the fates had mated them, the stars aligning and propelling them toward each other, giving them a piece of happiness in an unforgiving world. He was her mate. And she was his.”
Ajax’s voice filled every crevice of my mind.
At first, it had been far away, almost like he was speaking to me from the end of a long tunnel. A long tunnel that happened to be on fire.
No wait, that was just my body.
And my blood.
Fucking hell, every inch of me burned and twisted and I swear, someone had lodged an axe in the center of my skull. Maybe Aurora, for putting her through what we had, asking for her blood that tortured her on a daily basis because of its source.
