Page 128 of Tethered Souls

Anger building at the audacity of this fucking family, I grab my bag and step out of my car.

They can try their fucking best, but no one is going to split Varius and I apart. I’ve worked too fucking hard to get us to where we are.

And I love him.

Despite how annoying he can be sometimes, I love my fucking neanderthal.

My heart pounding, I hurry to the front door. I check my phone, hoping there is a message from Varius to tell me he wants to see me because I need to see him.

Varius:Come to my room when you’re back. I don’t care about the time.

My heart is in my throat now, and when I step into the Shadow house, I don’t even care that I might be entering my damnation. Because my salvation is also in here, and he is upstairs waiting for me.

Ignoring the commotion in the kitchen, I take the stairs two at a time to the second floor.

I love him.

I love the fucking neanderthal.

I don’t knock when I get to his room.

I just push the door open and then close it behind me.

He sits up in bed. The blanket drops away from his naked chest.

I start to tell him someone is blackmailing me, that I’m trying to find them so he believes my innocence, but he says something that strikes me dumb.

“I want to blood bond with you.”

My mouth drops open, and I fall back against the door.

“Do you?” he asks softly, hesitantly.

“I’m being blackmailed into stealing the ledger,” I blurt.

He blinks and then he does something else that knocks my brain out of my skull.

He laughs.

And says, “Thank the fucking gods.”

Forty-Five

HIM

I stare at him, certain I’m dreaming.

Perhaps I crashed the car, wrapped it around a tree in my exhaustion, and now I’m in the final moments of my life, my brain trying to comfort me by showing me what I want to see.

But this didn’t happen the last time I nearly died.

My heart flips, the rising hope making me giddy. Slowly, I start walking towards him as he continues to laugh.

He throws the covers off himself and stands. He’s on me in a few long strides. I’m in his arms, still entirely fucking dumbfounded, and he swings back towards the bed. He lays me down and stretches above me, leaning on his elbows so his face is right over mine.

“What happened while I was gone?” I whisper, knowing something bad must have triggered this sudden change.

“Too much,” he says honestly and then he’s kissing me slowly. Lovingly. Tenderly.