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I slashed a hand down, cutting through the air and hitting her with the truth.

“No, this is because of being out of my fucking mind with worry this whole time being without you and now…”

“Now what?”she asked softly, but I stopped myself from admitting the reason…

That I wasn’t strong enough to cope.

“Tell me, baby,”she said, now taking my hand and talking to me so tenderly that I swear it was like being weaved in fucking magic.

“Now I can’t go back to that, okay? It nearly fucking broke me, Ella, and I am not doing it again. Too many fucking times have I nearly lost you,too many times I have had you taken from me!”

Her expression gentled, her beautiful big green eyes looking up at me in that way was nearly too much to bear.

“But this time I have not been taken from you. This time you will know where I am and that I am safe,” she argued, making me turn my face from hers, unable to withstand the power of her soft gaze anymore. Not without caving and giving her anything she wanted. Anything she asked me for. Because she was my one weakness, and I would do anything in my power to make her happy…

Anything but give her up.

“And how the fuck can I be assured of that, Ella?” I asked, walking away from her once more. But not before I saw her wince, because she knew as well as I did, that she couldn’t promise me that. Which was when she made the painful point,

“And how can you be assured I will be safe even if I do stay?”

I paused in my steps, wincing internally as I closed my eyes, thinking back to trying to fight against all those HellHounds in the cabin.

“It’s like they said, you can’t fight as Cerberus with me tucked in between your legs the whole time, and there are too many of them to fight without him. Your beast is needed in this battle, Jared, and I will just be a distraction. You will be too focused on me to fight the way you would with me not there.”

I had no response to this, as anything that came out of my mouth to argue against it would be a lie. Because she was right.

I would only be focused on her.

Which is why I turned and quickly grabbed her to me.

“I can’t let you go,”I told her, my emotions making my voice thick and hoarse. I felt her hands in my hair, holding me to her.

“But you’re not letting me go, baby,”she told me softly, making me sigh into her. Because I knew she was right, and I fucking hated it.

“I only just got you back,” I told her, squeezing her tighter because I couldn’t help myself. The idea of being separated again was too agonizing to bare.

“I know, I know,”she whispered, framing my face and kissing me as tears filled her eyes. Something that told me I wasn’t the only one struggling with this, as I knew this wasn’t easy for her. But she wanted to do the right thing and I couldn’t help but admire her for that.

I was so fucking proud, I just wished I had the time to show her. Yet I knew the army was on their way, and it was far bigger than the one I had faced as Cerberus. I knew this, or Garmr would have used his summoners to create portals to bring them here instantly.

But I also knew that this would have drained their powers significantly and wouldn’t have been sustainable for long enough to bring through all his HellHounds. Which was why we hadn’t found ourselves fighting their collected souls. They couldn’t do both, and the souls wouldn’t have been able to get to Ella. Not when he still believed she had her powers. Because the myth had been that the Summoner Queen could control all. Which meant fighting with them would have only added to Ella’s own army. And after seeing Ella in action, I could believe it to be true.

Because of course, Garmr didn’t know what we knew.

But surely after today’s fight, he would soon start questioning why she wasn’t using her powers. Which was when I made my decision, hoping… no,fucking praying… that it didn’t backfire on me.

“Alright, let’s get you somewhere safe,” I finally forced myself to say, making her pull back and look at me from where she had her head against my chest.

“I don’t like it, but you’re right, with you here I won’t be myself in a fight.”

She nodded as the first of her tears fell, making me wipe them away with my thumbs. Gods she was so beautiful, she made my heart ache just looking at her.

A heart that I knew would soon become…

Incomplete.

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