Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 137871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 689(@200wpm)___ 551(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 689(@200wpm)___ 551(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
“We want to help you.” Great empathy filled Lillias’s green eyes.
“I don’t want help.”
“You’re bleeding. Why suffer?”
He scoffed. Like his suffering would stop with the bleeding. “It doesn’t matter.”
Lazarus crouched at the banks and rinsed the blood from his arms. “The shadow-wolf said something interesting up there, something I hadn’t considered.” He glanced over his shoulder then returned his attention to washing out his wounds. “Cerberus was your father. That makes you half draugr.”
Ice formed in his veins. They offered help a moment ago, but maybe that was a ruse to get close to him, so they could kill him.
Dane took a step back and then wondered why he was fighting it. Death would be a peaceful change. He was exhausted by more than this day and he welcomed an end to his pain. Any sense of survival abandoned him.
Lilias placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, and he flinched. “We won’t hurt you, Dane. We’ve vowed our protection, and our word is our bond.”
He didn’t feel relief the way a normal person should. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters anymore.”
“It’s clear she was someone special to you.”
“Was, yes. That’s over now.” His anger with Gracie burrowed deeper than he could follow. He didn’t want to think about her anymore. He wished he never met her. “She’s nothing to me.”
Lazarus rose from the banks. “It’s known that draugen can become obsessive about the past. It’s why Cerberus would not let Lilias go. He spent centuries torturing her and rejected the natural order of things. You don’t want a life of torment like that for yourself.”
Was that why he couldn’t move on? Dane assumed it was natural grief, but perhaps it was some sort of genetic defect. First, his obsession began with his mother’s death at the hands of Isaiah. Then, his grandmother’s life mysteriously ended when she left with Jonas. After that, he lost Cybil. Gored by the bull, and transitioned into something heinous. She was there but gone. Lost.
They were all lost. Yet he couldn’t let them go.
And now Grace… It was more than he could take.
He crossed to the banks and pulled off his blood-soaked shirt, welcoming the frigid cold. “I’m done with the past.” He plunged his shirt into the water and it clouded like mud. “I don’t care anymore—about any of them.”
Let her run off with some fucking dog. He hoped they were happy. She deserved everything she got.
“Dane, no one judges a broken heart.”
His heart broke long before today. She just finished it off. Wringing out his shirt, he stood. “They’re not my family. I’ll get over it.”
“What about Juniper? She needs you. She told us so.”
“Look, Juniper has Adriel now, and Adriel has you guys. I’ll be fine. I’ll figure out a place to live and start a new life. It’ll be good.”
“What if that new life was in Greece?” Lazarus asked, glancing at his mate.
Dane stilled and Lilias stepped forward. “Juniper will not go back to the farm where Adriel lived. We plan on helping them start over. In Argos. We would like it if you joined them.”
He blinked, unable to process what they were offering. “You want me to live there?”
“We own plenty of land. You could have your own place and the freedom to live your life as you please,” Lazarus explained.
Lilias smiled and took her mate’s hand. “Adriel is our family. We want to be close to her.”
“Not just Adriel, all of you. Families should stay together.”
“What about all the draugr—”
“We don’t care that Cerberus was your father. There’s good in you, Dane. We only see the good.”
He lowered his stare, unsure what to do. In one breath, he wanted to reject them, but when he looked up and saw nothing but sincerity in their eyes, his resolve shattered. They didn’t care that he was different or half-mortal. They accepted all of him. Saw him as family.
Throat tight, he nodded, as the pain in his chest slightly retreated. Unable to voice his acceptance, Lazarus read it in his mind thanks to their earlier blood exchange.
“Then it’s settled, son.” Lazarus held out his arm. “I offer you my blood and protection.”
The boulder in his throat crushed his words, but he managed to force his gratitude out. “Thank you.”
A shaky smile crossed Lilias’s lips. “Thank you for finding us and giving us a family again.”
CHAPTER 36
Adriel awoke to the sound of cracking trees and the low buzz of insects chirruping. Her brow pinched at the unfamiliar scent of jasmine in the air.
She wiggled her fingers. No pain.
Opening her eyes, her vision was crisp, but her location was completely foreign. A four-poster bed draped in white gossamer. White walls. A mirror. Juniper.
Her heart instantly settled at the sight of her love sleeping peacefully by her side. What was this place?
A vase of pink flowers sat on the bedside table next to a glass of water. “June?” She touched her beautiful face, and her heart fluttered with joy. This wasn’t a dream. “Juniper, wake up.”