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Ryker danced into view, dropping to a crouch next to the bed and ignoring Silas when he glared at him. “You, pretty girl, are the reason he got his redemption arc. He went from villain to hero. So hot. Honestly, only you could get Sally to find his inner good guy. You should be proud of what you did for that ungrateful asshole.”

I smiled through the pain in my chest. “I guess so.”

“I know so, pretty girl. It was the power of love!” Ryker tried to take my hand, but Silas smacked it away.

“Bad dog,” he growled, pulling me away from the blonde and back to my big pouty baby.

Lev folded his arms over his chest and sighed. “Great. This overprotective asshole has gotten worse, and I didn’t even think that was possible. He’ll be intolerable if you let him have his way every time, Niks.”

He wasn’t wrong, but I’d be lying if I said this big brute desperate for my attention wasn’t the most adorable thing ever. Maybe I was the problem, not him.

“Oi, you cute bugger. Say that with your chest, not to my bird like a bleeding lily-livered coward.”

The two traded insults while I sunk into my head, thinking back on the events of that day. Apparently, a day that was two weeks in the past now. The subtle tug inside my head had me scrambling off the bed, silencing the antics in the room. Silas was too frazzled to chase after me as I searched for the feeling again.

“Love?”

“Shh,” I hissed at him, closing my eyes. Then I felt her. I let loose a sigh, and it was as if her arms were wrapped around me,holding me close. “I was worried you were sucked into the After with him and the others,” I said to the woman inside my head.

The men around me all opened their mouths, but I put up a finger to silence them.

“You were so brave, darling. I was never worried about what might happen to me. I only worried for you,”Grandmother’s voice echoed back.

With a smile, I reached for her again. That soothingly warm sensation grew, then fled my chest. My grandmother materialized as solid fog inside the room. Her tender eyes were on me, her hands outstretched, so I went to her.

It was an odd sensation to hug someone without a physical body. I sensed her arms wrap around me but didn’t necessarily feel the embrace. Still, it was something I didn’t know I needed until now.

“Holy shit, her grandmother is super hot. Cougar alert,” Ryker whispered to Tometi.

“Aren’t you meant to be around the same age as her?” Silas grumbled out of the side of his mouth, and Ryker only shrugged in reply.

Lev shot a glance at the two idiots, mouth twisted in disgust. I laughed and shook my head as my grandmother’s sparkling presence wavered in and out of view.

The dark-haired giant crossed his arms and canted his head. “She doesn’t seem to be any temperature at all, and I don’t understand what cougars have to do with it, wolf.”

“I have so much to teach you, big guy.”

“If you’re not ready…”she said, her painfully kind gaze staying with mine.

I shook my head. My eyes grew misty, and the feeling in my gut intensified. “No. I’m as ready as I can be, and you’ve waited long enough.” I inhaled and breathed out, resolved to send her off with a smile. “Thank you for all you’ve done for me. I’m soglad I got a chance to know you. You deserve every happiness in your next life.”

“I love you, darling. I’m happy to have known you.”

She reached for my face before the light around her body grew until it enveloped the room in white. Then she was gone. The bittersweet feeling of our goodbye echoed inside my chest. The grief of all the people I’d lost in the last year was in every swallow as I stared at the empty space she’d once occupied.

Silas wrapped his arms around me, his front pressing against my back. “I know you’re sad, love. I won’t ask you to bury your pain, but today is the first day of the rest of our lives, yeah? I’ll always be here by your side.”

“And me,” Lev added with a wink.

“Shit, they got all the good lines. Well, us, too,” Ryker said, and Tometi nodded his agreement.

Tears tracked down my cheeks, but I laughed a half-second later when Silas groaned in petulant dismay, not at all happy with everyone’s piggyback statements.

So I turned around and gave the pouty assassin a kiss.

33

Silas