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I nod, grateful beyond words.

We head out together, and suddenly, I no longer feel the crushing loneliness of having a secret I can’t trust anyone with.

I’m going to face my demons surrounded by people who love me.

56

Cade

The world drifts back in pieces—low beeps, pain dull and insistent, antiseptic air sharp enough to choke. And warmth. Something warmer. Familiar.

Luciana.

My eyes feel welded shut, my throat like sandpaper. But through the haze, I feel her—fingers threaded through mine, anchoring me, pulling me back.

Memories surface like ghosts: Scar’s eyes, dull with a betrayal that had twisted into something darker. Saint’s cold precision. Luna, her face streaked with tears, my blood on her hands as she begged me not to leave.

The effort to open my eyes nearly drags me under again, but I push through it. I have to see her. The room swims into focus—monitors, IV stands, fluorescent light casting sterile shadows.

Andthere she is, slumped forward in a chair by my bed, her hand clutching mine even in sleep. Her temple rests against our linked hands, her lips slightly parted. She’s snoring softly, the dark smudges under her eyes a silent testament to how long she’s been here.

Her other arm is in a bandage.Fuck.My chest tightens with guilt.

I fatally misjudged Scar. I saw his derangement as dissatisfaction, his obsession as loyalty, his vindictive fury as something righteous. I thought I’d shaped him into me—didn’t realize he was mutating into something worse.

Slowly, carefully, I slip my hand from hers, reaching out to touch her. My arm trembles, muscles slow and uncooperative, but I don’t stop. I need to feel her, to make sure she’s real. My fingers brush her cheek, then skim over her chapped, pouty lips.

The monitors betray me first, the beeps picking up as my pulse spikes. Can’t even touch her without these damn machines giving me away.

Her eyes flutter open, no doubt at the haphazard beeps. For a moment, she stares at me, her brows furrowing in confusion before the realization dawns.

“Cade,” she whispers—just my name. It’s heavy with days’ worth of fear, longing, and hope.

“Here, baby.” My throat feels like gravel.

She rises and leans over me like she’s afraid I’ll disappear, her hands hovering before finally landing. Her fingers tremble as they trace my brows, my nose, and the angle of my thickly stubbled jaw. “I thought—” Her voice catches. “They said your heart stopped. Twice.”

I want to pull her close and erase that haunted look from her eyes, but my arms feel weighted with lead. All I can do is lean into her touch. “I wasn’t going to leave you, Luciana.”

A tear slides down her cheek. Then another. I finally manage to lift my hand to catch them, the movement sending fresh pain through my side. Worth it, to feel her lean into my touch.

“Doctors say it’s been three days since . . .” I trail off when I see understanding dawn on her face.

“Yeah. The longest in my entire life.”

“I’m so fucking sorry I let him get near you.”

“God, Cade.” Her voice breaks on my name. She carefully presses her forehead to mine. “I wanted to go there, remember? I wanted you to make love to me in front of that fireplace.” Her cheeks flush. “Only, I should have listened that morning in the kitchen.”

“It was going to happen sooner or later. He always wanted more.”

A shudder wracks her frame. “You saved me with your dying breath, Caden. And then you fought your way back to me. I . . . I can never thank you enough for that.”

Her words reach the deepest, darkest parts of me, healing wounds that aren’t physical. A twenty-two-year-old wound. I close my eyes, letting her voice wash over me.

“You asked one thing of me,” she says, pulling back to meet my eyes. “To give up my fear. Well, I did more than that. I faced it.”

The implication crashes over me, and I take a deep breath against the knot of pain. Luna has had to be so strong her entire life, she struggles to be completely vulnerable. Her stoic strength is one of the reasons I fell for her, but it’s a fucking pain in the neck too.