Page 43

Silas

“ R ead the notes she left again, lad. Use that impossibly clever mind of yours to figure out the code and translate what that wily old fox wrote in her bleeding journal,” I growled, dragging a hand through my hair in frustration. “There’s something, I know it.”

Lev stared at me with that pitying look of his while leaned against the doorframe. “There’s nothing. We’ll just have to—”

“Wait. I know, lad. You keep saying that like I haven’t heard you blabbering on and on about how what she did was a huge tax on her body and she’ll need time to recover,” I grumbled angrily, cradling the unconscious woman against my chest.

I’d barely left her side. The moments I had were either to shower or piss. Otherwise, I’d been serving as her resting place for nearly two weeks now, and it’d stay that way until she woke up. Even if it took a year or a decade to wake her.

The blonde wanker with a shameless grin and obnoxious energy peeked his head into the room. “Oh? Is he still grumbling about her being asleep? I keep telling you, scary assassin man, that it’s only expected she’d be comatose after sending back a demon .”

“And I keep reminding you, mutt, if not for this generous goddess in my arms, you’d be a trophy on my wall,” I threatened.

“Noted,” was all the blonde wanker said.

He practically frolicked into my bedroom, the least worried of the bunch. At least that huge bastard had the decency to seem concerned the longer the beauty slumbered. He’d checked on her more than anyone else.

The two phantoms were no longer undead or invisible. In all the mess, they’d somehow become shapeshifters in that wolf bastard’s place. The lad thought it had something to do with Bear Claw crossing over. I couldn’t care less how it happened, only that it did.

I liked it better when I couldn’t hear or see them. Well, at least this blonde wanker. Had it not been for the fear of what my rebel might do to me, I would’ve thrown his arse to the curb the first day he mouthed off in my home.

As it were, I was at the mercy of Nika’s kind heart. The last thing I wanted was for her to wake up with problems to fix. She shouldn’t have anything to worry about but what to do with the new life she’d share with her handsome rogue. Whatever she wanted, I’d give her.

So, I’d play nice for now.

The torture of having her right here in my arms but somewhere I couldn’t go was what kept me barely sleeping and eating.

I didn’t dare leave her side. I’d be damned if I wasn’t the one she woke up to.

But as the days went on and she stayed deathly still and terrifyingly unconscious, I grew less confident she’d ever wake.

Fate was a cruel bloody mistress if she took her from me after all we’d done, but I’d go to the After to collect her myself if that was what it took.

The big fucker strolled in and eyed the woman on my chest. “I’ll watch over her. You should—”

“If you’re going to come in here and natter at me about how I need to take care of myself because she’d never want to see me this way, don’t. Out with you lot,” I snarled, dangerously close to tossing these meddling gobshites out of the house altogether.

The numpties scattered with another glare, and I was finally alone to worry on my own. I peeked at the woman in my arms and brushed purple hair from her eyes. She was so bloody beautiful like this, and it killed me that all I could do was hold her close and pray that Lilith sent her back to me.

I’d lived more lifetimes in the last year than I had in all the centuries I’d been alive.

We’d spent our entire relationship running from a demon with my brother’s face, and when he was gone, the world saved by my goddess, it felt odd.

I never considered what it might look like to live together once everything had been resolved.

Of course, I’d never be that lucky.

I’d rushed to catch Nika when her eyes closed and she collapsed, the darkness in front of her disappearing from sight.

I couldn’t wake her. I refused to let anyone touch her for days, trying everything to rouse the slumbering beauty.

The lad used his cleverness on me though, and reminded me that my bird wouldn’t survive long without sustenance and care.

The lad had ways to nourish her. He kept Nika hydrated and fed with magical intervention he’d scored off one of his contacts, but the fear she’d never wake grew in me every day.

The only reason I hadn’t lost it was that the lad didn’t seem worried at all.

I expected him, more than most, to be losing his bloody mind, but he came in every few hours with a calm smile and tender hand.

To distract myself, I’d used all the time spent holding my unconscious goddess to plan our future together.

It’d take some convincing, but I’d secure places for the others so we could have our own if I had to.

I’d even consider living among Normies to find some semblance of peace.

I didn’t plan to share her more than I already had.

It was my turn to get her undivided attention.

I wanted to build a life with this woman the way I never imagined doing with anyone.

I wanted the white picket fence dream those Normies always blathered on about.

I wanted the little babes with her face and smile.

I wanted the simple, mundane joys found in the days spent with the one you loved.

For once, I considered a future where I wasn’t a mercenary; I was simply hers.

Nika’s arm moved and wrapped around me. A sigh escaped her mouth, and her head shifted a little on my chest. Like I’d been struck by a bolt of lightning, everything in my body contracted.

It was the first she’d moved in two weeks.

I waited, heart fluttering at the feel of her warm breath and squeezing arm.

I chanced a look at her, afraid to find my bird still slumbering, but a gorgeous pair of icy blues met my hopeful glance. Her lips were lifted in the most breathtakingly beautiful smile of my entire bloody fucking life, and I became the blubbering troll I’d always been.

“There’s my bird,” I muttered in awe, still too shocked to do much else.

She laughed, her voice husky with disuse. “Why are you crying, Silas? Who hurt my big silly brute?”

My eyes widened as she reached up and brushed away the surprising wetness around my eyes. Her gentle fingers wiped away what they could, but it was as if the mere touch of her released every bit of emotion I’d been smothering for two weeks. Hell, ever since meeting this goddess.

“You had me bloody fucking scared, little rebel. I thought that even with you here in my arms, I’d already lost you to another cruel twist of fate,” I told her candidly.

She used what little strength she had to grab my face and tug me down. “Then kiss me already. Make this real for both of us.”

With a sneaky grin, I dragged her closer and devoured her mouth, soothing every bit of fear I’d felt over the days spent wondering if I’d ever hear her sweet voice or feel her soft lips on mine again.

I groaned and held her close, plenty happy to take things where they always went—where I needed them to go with my knob standing at attention.

Nika seemed to regain her strength quickly, straddling my lap and sliding her hands into my hair.

It was a dream to kiss her again. I even worried for a second it might be.

What if my terrible brain was playing a nasty trick on me, and any moment now, I’d wake with her still unconscious on my chest?

Her soft moan snapped me out of the thought. “I love you, you big gorgeous idiot. I worried I wasn’t going to be able to say that again. I love you.”

“Oi,” I murmured against her smiling mouth, dick throbbing. I was two words from fucking her no matter who heard or saw it. “Don’t be all sweet and barbs on me, little rebel. I won’t be able to control myself.”

She drew away, a bloody adorable smile on her face. “Isn’t that the point?” Her blue eyes glinted. “And hey, don’t you have anything to say to me?”

This dangerously sexy woman would be the end of me.

One of my hands sunk into her silky hair, and the other wrapped around her back so she could feel just what she did to me.

I yanked her head back and bit her curved throat, trailing kisses up to her ear.

“I love you more than words can express and more than lifetimes can prove. No matter what you do, no matter where you go, no matter what you become, I’ll always be yours, Nika. ”

Her eyes blazed into mine, tears escaping. “A simple ‘I love you, too’ would’ve sufficed, asshole.”

Snickering, I stole a kiss and whispered, “Maybe for you, but not for me, love. I hope you’re ready for everything I’ll do to make sure you never forget it.”

Nika giggled and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Oh? My memory’s a bit fuzzy. Better start now.”

Was my bird…seducing me? On purpose? Bloody hell, if this was a dream I never wanted to wake up. Lilith’s clever illusion had won me over.

“Lilith’s tits,” I groaned and thrust against her, nearly forgetting about the wankers waiting down the hall.

She was finally mine again. I could touch and kiss her as much as I’d like. Fuck her until all she could say was my name. Bask in the sweet glow of our love.

I kissed my rebel darling with abandon, bent on showing her exactly what she meant to me. Until the bellow of a nitwit put an end to any hope I had for keeping her to myself.

“Pretty girl’s awake!” the mutt cried out, summoning the other two within seconds.

For fuck’s sake. I’m about to make an absolute arse out of myself…