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Tessa flew to a sitting position, surprisingly breaking Marko’s hold.
“Do not ask me those questions. Do you see my devastation? Do you know how I feel? You do not! I mourned your loss every day, whether I knew it was you dead, or not. I mourned,” she cried. “I begged for something I didn’t even know I needed. Aetas—you. Dammit Marko! Look past the surface and into what this means. Aetas has killed our city. Our members and our residents are dead. Marie is dead! She died in my arms, showing me something only now I understand. Darkness. Darkness and being trapped. But I had no idea it was you she was showing me. It matters not, now. The fact is I was too late to save her. Too late because you—Aetas, would not come to give aid to our people. Every major city has been attacked. Our kind is dwindling in numbers and our leader is making it appear that you are the one letting us fall. Marko, he’s not going to stop until all but a selected few live. Then, what? What is going to happen after that?”
“It’s not going to get that far. He’s dead, he just doesn’t know it yet.”
“Marko.” I edged closer, not sure how much I should say with the condition he was in. “We have to think rationally. You can’t kill Aetas. The two of you are bonded now. If he dies, so do you. If he gets hurt, so do you.”
His jaw tightened even more as he pushed to sit up. When he tried to move from the bed, Tessa was reaching to keep him in place.
“I cannot lie down, ma minette. I cannot be still. I have to walk. I need more light.”
Her worried gaze came to me as she stood and let him move to the edge of the bed. Her anxiety flared and she bit her bottom lip. Back and forth her eyes scanned the floor, as if she were in deep thought.
“I have to go. Aetas is stirring, I can feel his energy. Hunter, remember what I told you.”
Marko’s face shot toward her. “You think I’m letting you go back?”
“I have to.” Her voice broke as Marko’s towering body stood and loomed over her. “I have to stay until I know how Aetas takes to your disappearance. I have to discover exactly what he plans to do with our kind.”
Marko was on her before either me or Tessa saw him move. One of his arms was locked around her waist while the other filled the gap under her chin. He held to her as though he was afraid she would disappear at any moment. His expression was half crazed, half terrorized. “You will not go back to him. I will not lose you again.”
“Let go of her, Marko. You’re scaring her.”
He backed away, each step a struggle as he used his strength more for his arms, than his legs. His back crashed into the wall and he slid down it at a fast pace, bringing Tessa to the ground with him. Still he stayed wrapped around her.
“You can’t leave.” His face fitted against the side of hers as his words softened toward the end. “I won’t let you leave. I’m sorry for the questions. I’m sorry. I am not angry for what you have done. I am angry at him.”
“It won’t be for long. We need this information, Marko. Someone has to keep tabs on Aetas. I’m the only one he trusts.”
“Loves,” Marko corrected angrily. “You’re the only one he loves, and it’s all my fault. He has taken what I hold for you and twisted it as his own. You don’t know how deep my devotion is to you, ma minette. Never has a heart loved so fierce. Never a beat thrummed so strong. I know you feel my love. You came to me without being bonded. We are meant to be.”
Her head tilted back while she stared up at his face. When their lips connected, I saw true love. One that nearly took my breath away.
They pulled back at the same time, staring into each other’s eyes lost in world of their own. At my shift, Marko’s eyes rose to me.
“I feel your heartache as if it were my own. I’m sorry, Hunter. I truly am.”
All I could do was shrug. What did he expect me to say, that it was okay? It wasn’t. I was undeserving for reasons I didn’t even know. Fate had turned its back on me, making it clear that I would be destined to love a woman who would never return my feelings.
“Oh, but she does,” Marko whispered, lowering his lids the slightest amount as he seemed to gaze into my very soul. “And this has gone on for far too long. The three of us keep getting pulled together for reasons I cannot contest anymore. It is time we stop fighting each other and come together … as one. As it almost was when Tessa was going to take you as her slave. I accepted it then, but my selfishness wouldn’t allow me let the two of you be more. I have gotten us to this point. While I was entombed, I did nothing but think through these hard times. Isolation does one of two things—it destroys you, or it forces you to face the truth of the demons you’re at war with. I can’t deny what my heart tells me. If I ignore this love the two of you have, it will destroy the three of us. It almost has so many times. Think about it. Look at the pain we’ve all had to suffer. If only we would have come together from the beginning, perhaps our lives would be different now. Maybe not for the better where equality is concerned, but there would have been peace. Happiness. Don’t you think?”
“I think we’ve all played our role in this path. No one person is at fault for what has happened. But if you mean what you say.” I glanced from him to Tessa, who was now looking at me. “If she will have me as more than a friend. If she can feel more—”
Tessa pushed to her feet, looking between us. “Marko, do you mean that? Or … are you saying you don’t mind if Hunter and I are together for feeding purposes and friends? Speak clear. I do not think I can bear misunderstanding you. What exactly are you referring to?”
The rapid pulse that took me over wasn’t my own, but Tessa’s. It had me taking in the smallest emotion etching into her face. I knew she had hinted to feeling something, and I wanted to hope, to speculate, but I just couldn’t allow myself.
“I have you. You have me. Perhaps there was meant to be more to us than just you and I. What else can I do?” His voice strained. “The two of you are bonded. You love him. He loves you. It was there long before I came. I … will never be able to bond you again, ma minette. I know this and it kills me. But we have our love, and it is stronger than ever. I feel that here,” he said, tapping over his heart. “It has to be this way. It may be the only chance we have at beating Aetas. Together, the three of us may be strong enough.”
Marko’s expression was full of sadness as his head dropped to look at the ground. Tessa leaned down to bring him back to her.
“I know how hard this is for you. I’ve tried denying it to myself, too, but you are right. I can’t escape the truth any more than you. I love him. I always have. For you to give us this ...” She paused, confliction, yet eagerness present. “Maybe this was the way it was meant to be. I do not know, but I can’t deny how much I want to see.” She paused. “Thank you.”
“Do not thank me, ma minette. Not yet. I know our path, but adjusting to it will be the hard part.”
Tessa nodded and kissed his cheek. When she turned to face me, neither of us moved. I wasn’t sure what to say. All I wanted to do was pull her into my arms. To thank Marko, myself, but I knew it wasn’t the time. Adjust. Yes, they’d have to do that. But I was more than ready. I’d been patient up until this point. I could wait until they were ready. However long that took.
Chapter 26
