Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
I heard someone screaming, the sound of an animal in such pain.
Me. It was me. It was years and years of outrage and heartache and loneliness. I’d pushed away the people who loved me. I’d become something I didn’t recognize.
Somehow I was on the floor, sobbing like I’d never done before, but I wasn’t alone. Kelsey was on one side while Casey had wrapped himself around my back, and I felt his tears on my shoulder.
I wasn’t alone because we felt this pain together. It wasn’t only mine. It was ours because we’d joined our lives long ago, and nothing could break that bond. Not time or space. Not Myrddin Emrys.
Like a soul, this feeling—this love—was eternal.
And I was whole again.
And ready to fight. On the right side this time.
* * * *
Kelsey
I closed the door, feeling better than I had in a long time.
Liv was sleeping, wrapped in Casey’s arms, and they were together without question.
“Are you okay?” Trent stood outside Liv’s room. I was glad I could refer to it as her room and not think the word prison. Hell, according to Lilith it would be hard to put Liv in a prison again. She’d told me that being with Myrddin all those years had somehow given her more ability than she’d had before. Even as he’d used her magic, she’d pulled some of his and now could call on it. She’d always been able to break the binding spell. Deep down, she hadn’t wanted to.
Deep down, she’d always wanted to come home.
“Yeah.” I put a hand on my belly. “I know I couldn’t feel it at the time, but I feel lighter now. And I know that is not because I didn’t eat.”
“You got twelve years to make up for,” Trent said with a grin as he moved in and dropped a kiss on my lips.
Stasis or no stasis, I still had zero idea how I survived. My poor belly. No wonder I’d been crabby. “Tell me I didn’t miss dessert.”
My luscious meal had been interrupted by the reconstitution of my best friend’s soul, so I had to be okay with it, but I was pretty sure Eddie had been making something with chocolate.
Trent shook his head. “You are the craziest bitch I could have imagined.”
He meant that as a compliment. “Because I went through everything I went through today and I’m still worried I might have missed a cake?”
He sighed and kissed me again, dropping his forehead to mine. “Because you are the strongest person I know, and I’m so grateful to be your mate. May I always be worthy of you.”
I loved this wolf with all my soul. “You are. You are so strong, too, babe. You kept everything together while I was gone.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been thinking about that. I could have tried to rescue Liv.”
I should have known he would feel some guilt when the truth about Liv came out. “That was not your job. Your one job in the whole world was to protect and shelter the kids, and you did that. Casey tried. There wasn’t any way for him to know she wasn’t in her right mind.”
“You did.”
“Yeah, but I got thrown into all of this when it was already going strong. I wasn’t sitting in the pot having it warm up around me,” I replied. “I was tossed in and said what the fuck, that’s boiling and not right. You and Casey and everyone else watched the world change and Liv change with it. You couldn’t know what was going on, so there was a possibility that she was in control.”
“I still don’t think you would have left her there.”
“In a perfect world, I wouldn’t. I would have let you and Sasha take the kids and I would have gone back for her and deprogrammed the fuck out of her.” I was feeling comfortable with my choices. “Even if she had chosen poorly, I would have annoyed her until she chose again.”
It’s what sisters do.
“There is no perfect world, only perfect moments, and I only have those because of the two of you,” a deep voice said.
Gray. He was behind me, and he kissed the top of my head.
I could use a perfect moment with these two. “How about we go to that playroom and explore some more?”
I could take the cake with me.
“You have no idea how much I want to do that, but we have a problem,” Gray said with a sigh. “I’m afraid the Evan situation has gotten worse.”
That sent all thoughts of pleasure fleeing. I turned, tilting my head to meet his gaze. “What do you mean?”
“You should come and hear what Lilith has to say,” Gray replied. “Maybe your presence will keep our son from murdering her. If she can be murdered. I’m not entirely sure, but Lucifer is pissed with us already, so given how he looks at the woman, I don’t think Fen hurting her will go over well.”