Page 52

An entire week passed in eerie silence. All around me, a pregnant silence encompassed the air in town. Time moved by slowly, as if it too held its breath. I was having a hard time trusting the peace that settled over the Silversmith household.

We’d buried Smith and Weston beside Colt, at least what we were able to recover from the compound. My flames had left the place a charred, ruined mess. Nyota had shown up with their corpses; they both had silver threaded throughout their bones. It was how we knew it was them.

I asked Nyota about Rhys, but she shrugged and told me he needed time to handle something unfolding in town. According to her, the Hunters Guild was dealing with issues after the loss of Xavier Anderson.

Downtown, I’d witnessed his daughter, Xariana, fighting off an attack. It wasn’t something I’d thought to walk upon, but it had given me a chance to see Rhys, who was overly protective of Xariana, briefly.

Forged Desires was coming together quickly ever since Rhys had released Nyx’s funds. She’d hired a few nymphs, much to the vexation of the demon twins. Enzo and Ezekiel had been vocal in their disagreement about our establishment being on prime real estate, while also employing all nymphs.

Nyx had also begun telling everyone that if they worked for us, they could become part of our house. I hadn’t been granted the right to create my house, but I hadn’t corrected her, either. If it was garnering some interest in joining her to bring in revenue, then far be it from me to argue otherwise.

I was willing to do whatever it took to gain stability for my child. If it were only me depending on this business being successful, that was one thing. It wasn’t, though. Nyx had sunk her remaining savings she had into the bottom half of Forged Desires. Bullet was about to need necessities to survive.

I couldn’t even begin to purchase what was needed for the forge or my half of the business. Rhys hadn’t released the hold he’d placed on my funds. He’d left them locked, which forced me to depend on the charity of others.

Winchester assured me she’d provide whatever I needed. I didn’t want to depend on anyone but myself. I’d been self-sufficient since I’d left home before my eighteenth birthday. To fail now, as an adult, would derail my confidence. I was barely keeping my shit together.

“You’re sulking again,” Winnie claimed, frowning as she plopped down beside me. “If you continue, you’ll end up with wrinkles before you hit immortality.”

“If I hit immortality. At this point, I’m not sure I will make it, Winnie.”

Her face fell, tears swam in her ice-blue eyes as her head slowly shook. “Don’t ever say that to me again. I raised you better than that, Remington Alaina. Whatever pity party you’re throwing for yourself? It ends now. I’ve allowed you an entire week to sulk about the chateau. It ends now.” Her tone stiffened, eyes thinning on me. “If he cannot see what a gift you are, then he doesn’t deserve you. I know I’m biased, but you truly are worthy of being loved. You have a line of men who’d love to be with you. The fact that you’re having another man’s child hasn’t altered their desire for you.” Rising, she moved toward the fireplace, kneeling before it. Grabbing a log, she tossed it on the glowing embers.

The scent of burning tamarack soothed the storm of emotions churning through me. Turning to face me, she smiled tightly.

“You don’t even know if you’d want to spend your life with him. The two of you’ve barely spent time together. Normally, you’d have started dating before moving into his house. That’s a huge part of getting to know one another. You didn’t get that, Remi.”

Snorting, I felt my forehead creasing as I considered what she’d said. “It wasn’t a crush or a passing fancy. I don’t want anyone else. I know who Rhys is. He’s the man I fell in love with before our mother returned, destroying everything we’d created together. When I see my future, he’s the one I see myself with. I want him to help me raise our child together. I don’t care who wants or desires me. I want and desire him.”

“Is that so, Love?” Rhys’ whiskey-smooth, deep timbre sounded from behind me, forcing me to turn, staring up into sparkling azure eyes.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded, then swung a suspicious glare toward Winchester, who smiled impishly.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she muttered as she rose, dusting her palms off on her jeans. “I called him and told him if he didn’t want you, he needed to let you go. He can either fix what he broke, or we can go to war. As the person who raised you, I’d prefer he choose the first choice.” Smiling impishly at me, she shrugged. “You’ll not be disturbed. I’ve instructed the others to avoid this room. I suggest you both figure it out together.”

“You set me up?” I accused, even as my heartbeat thundered against my ribcage. Winchester smirked, but rounded the couch, standing toe-to-toe with Rhys.

“That girl is too damn good for you. For some crazy reason, she’s chosen you and refuses to listen to reason,” she muttered, then glanced toward me. “Remington is everything good in this world. She’s bright, beautiful, and innocent of any wrongdoing to you or your family.” With that, she exited the room, leaving me alone with Rhys.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” I muttered as I attempted to calm the nervousness I felt as he rounded the sofa, kneeling in front of me.

It felt as if my heart jumped into my throat, even as my stomach churned. Placing my hands on my lap, I wrung them with uncertainty. Tearing my eyes from his, I struggled against the tears pricking behind my eyes.

If he’d chosen to let me go, I wasn’t sure I wanted him to speak. My heart couldn’t handle more heartache. The desire to push him away and leave before he decimated what little confidence that I had left was overwhelming.

“I’m sorry she called you. I asked her not to call or bother you.”

“Look at me, Remington,” he whispered raspily. I couldn’t stand to look him in the eyes and watch as he told me how unworthy I was of him. He’d made it clear how he felt. Rhys would never be able to return my feelings. “Please.” His palm cradled my cheek, causing the tears I’d attempted to prevent from falling to fall.

“If you’re going to do it, just do it, Rhys,” I whispered through the narrowing of my throat. “I know you don’t love me. If you came here to tell me you can’t love me again, I may throw up on you. Why are you here?”

“For you, Remington. Because you made it so easy for me to fall for you. I love you. I am fucking in love with you. I love your sweet, feminine scent and the way you smile. The way you reach out for me in your sleep or look for me the moment you wake. I love the way your soft red curls brush against your neck. The curve of your cheek as it touches against mine. I love the way your eyes sparkle when you’re turned on, which leads to you biting that sexy lip. But most of all, I love the way you feel beside me. If I believed in fate, I’d believe the gods created you specifically for me. You are the other half of my soul. Yours fits perfectly against mine. I love who I am with you. A better man, who is so fucking deeply in love with you that I can’t think straight without you.”

Tears trailed down my cheeks as I slowly shook my head. “You don’t love me.”

“You don’t get to tell me how I feel about you. Just as I don’t get to tell you how to feel. I know I fucked up. I didn’t want to love you, but you are so damn easy to love,” he growled as he gripped my hand, holding my palm over his heart. It thundered against his chest, racing as if he were as nervous as I felt. “Close your eyes.”

“Why?” I questioned.

“I want you to feel me inside of you. Our souls connected.”

Releasing a soft puff of air, I shook my head. “I’m your silver. Our souls are connected because you tricked me.”

I could feel his soul without closing my eyes. I’d never examined the link, though. I’d been terrified to feel his distaste for me. I wasn’t sure I could come back from that. I want to end on a semi-happy note. Not one that I couldn’t ignore. If I had never tasted his distaste for me, I could pretend he hadn’t hated me.

“I know I’ve been horrible to you. I hated myself for betraying the memory of my mother because I couldn’t ignore the pull I felt toward you. Do you have any idea how hard it is to dislike someone so beautiful and innocent as you are? It’s impossible. You’re so fucking easy to love.”

“Shut up,” I whispered as warmth swept through me. “I told you I loved you, and you left. You walked out on me, again.” I wouldn’t survive if he broke my heart again. It was currently being held together by bubblegum, duct tape and silent prayers.

“I wanted to tell you I loved you, too. But I couldn’t do that. I wasn’t ready to lay my cards on the table. I had to lose you to know what I had. I’ve been unable to feed from feeders. I’d rather starve than eat from anyone else than you, Remington. Do you have any idea how insane that is for me to admit to myself, let alone to you?”

Hope flared in my chest, clenching around my heart. The same hope I’d been refusing to acknowledge since I’d discovered I was pregnant with his child. Life was too damn fleeting and cold to allow such happiness to take root.

“You knowingly impregnated me for the power you’d gain. Then, you left me broke and begging for handouts.” The hope I felt was suffocating, yet I didn’t trust my emotions. My emotions had betrayed me more times than I could count.

“That’s not what I did. I just failed to prevent it from happening. I’ll admit to that. It wasn’t by design, though. I’m not going to stand here and say I didn’t think it was a possibility, either. For the first time in my life, I chose to allow the Fates decide my path forward. It was the Fates who blessed us, Love. They decided we were worthy of creating a child together. One born of both bloodlines, ensuring war wouldn’t continue between them. I allowed people to talk, to spread the rumor of wanting the child for the power it would bring. It added protection for her by my doing so. That’s not me though. I never thought I was worthy to be a father, but for some unknown reason, they do.”

“Do you even want to be a father?” My heart sat in my throat, terrified he’d say no and slice it to ribbons.

“I didn’t before I met you. You changed everything. The moment I looked into your eyes my entire world shifted. I saw forever in them. I didn’t know who or what you were. I only knew you were going to mine forever. With you, I want whatever the world has in store for us. I want that together with you.” Rhys stepped closer, causing my heartbeat to hammer louder than it had been.

“You sound insane.” Tears burned my eyes, blurring my vision as I felt the connection tightening within my being.

“Do I? Because I never thought of being a father until I met you. From the moment you walked into my life, I’ve wanted nothing else but you. I wanted to be a father, but only if that child was ours. Then we created a child together. Something pure, untainted by the past, and beautiful. I want to raise it together. I want the early-morning feedings, the late-night ones, too. I crave to be at your side when you bring our child into this world. I’m the man who wants to wake up beside you. To watch as your lips curve into that pretty smile you have in the morning spreads over your kissable lips. More so, I want to be the man who creates that enchanting smile. My life was one tedious day after the next before you showed up in it. You make my life worth living. You’re my color. I don’t deserve you. We both know that’s true. I won’t ever deserve you. I’m willing to spend the rest of my life earning the right to be with you. If you want me to crawl over broken glass, then I’ll gladly bleed for you, Remington.”

A sob split from my lips as he laid his heart bare, exposing his feelings to me. Tears fell in earnest as he released my hand, allowing me to throw my arms around his neck.

“I love you,” I cried as tears constricted in my throat.

Rhys’ arms slid around me, pulling me from the sofa onto the floor with him. “I love you, too.”

His lips found mine like two storms colliding and igniting into one monstrous tempest. I couldn’t get close enough to him. Everything inside of me wanted him right now. This moment. It was as if everything I ever wanted was within grasp, but I couldn’t hold on to it tightly enough.

Thin, wispy silver tendrils threaded through obsidian vines, both wrapping around us, tugging us closer yet. As if they’d been waiting for us to realize how na?ve we were to ignore the connection we held together.

Rhys broke the kiss, his eyes sliding over my face before lifting our hands, tethered by the silver and obsidian strands. They hummed with power. One so ancient and formidable it caused the hair on our arms to rise as it caressed our flesh.

“Something is wrong,” Rhys uttered, which forced my eyes to widen with worry. “Wrong choice of words, Love. Can you feel that?” Rhys’ eyes met and held mine. The vines braided into silver and onyx braids, then tethered around our wrists, forcing our hands together. Rhys’ fingers slid through mine, holding mine in his much larger ones.

“What’s happening?” I whispered, afraid of the power erupting through us. “It’s electrical. The power it is releasing is . . .” I didn’t get a chance to finish speaking as it exploded through the room.

Rhys’ powerful arms wrapped around me, holding me as it knocked us to the ground. The groans and cries of the others inside the house confirmed it wasn’t only us who were affected by the strange electrical zing of the silver and obsidian connecting and becoming one powerful explosion.

The moment it let up, Rhys stood, then helped me up to my feet. Winchester and Nyota, along with Cole, Mikel, and Savage, exploded into the room, each one wide-eyed and uncertain of what had occurred.

“What the fuck was that?” Cole demanded. His eyes were bluer than I’d ever seen them before.

“Call Talia, Cole. Get her over here now.” Rhys’ demand caused Winchester to clear her throat. Turning to face her, he wrapped his arms around my lower body. “She’s the most powerful witch within a thousand miles of here. We need to know what just happened. Whatever it was, it happened to all of us.”