“Even earlier than you fell for me?” I requested, glancing out the window and making an attempt to not discover that it was full darkish, not even streetlamps casting a golden glow via the night time.

“I used to be obsessive about you from the primary assembly. I needed you. Wanted you with a power I wasn’t used to. I knew the home would assist me maintain you. And on the time, I hoped the shields would maintain your different mates out.” He huffed. “Now, we’re residing with them. Unusual how priorities change.”

Talking of priorities… I turned to face him, solely gentle from the hallway lining his sharp profile, his messy hair.1

“What you probably did for Wane within the Damned Realm…”

He mounted his jaw. “Sure?”

“Do not you dare do this once more.”

He jolted, mercury eyes widening. “Excuse me?”

I jabbed his naked chest, making an attempt to close out recollections of how he regarded when he got here. And failing. Dammit. “You heard me. Should you love me in any respect, you will by no means do something like that once more.”

“You are telling me to not save your mates once more?” He regarded totally baffled, and that made me angrier. Made me unhappy, too, the feelings conflicting in my chest.

“I am telling you to not sacrifice your self once more!” I shook my head when he nonetheless did not get it. “The shit you stated to me earlier than you—earlier than—” My inhale hissed via my enamel. “You spoke like Wane mattered, and also you did not. Like nobody would give a shit when you died. Like nobody would miss you.”

He glanced away and stated nothing, eyes snagging on the darkness exterior.

“Properly, somebody did,” I stated fiercely. “You matter to me, and the considered shedding you once more makes me need to bloodbath my means via town.”

His stare snapped to me, shock blooming throughout his face.

“You’ve gotten a mate, and now you’ve got a household. The blokes, Verena, me—we’re your loved ones. You do not get to do silly, reckless shit with out speaking about it first. That is not a request, that is an order.”

I shook my head, all of the panic and grief of shedding him clawing its means via my chest. It had been days since I noticed him healed, alive, in Olympus. Days. The feelings have been nonetheless as sharp as razors, reducing my coronary heart and soul to shreds. All my anger and ache and bitter, effervescent harm got here out.

“You did not even ponder telling us. You knew stepping over that threshold would kill you, knew Cronus would unmake you, and also you did not inform us. We might have figured one thing out, might have discovered one thing to mess with the magic so we might all get out. Hell, I might have moved again into that place perpetually if it stored you alive. I can not—describe the way it felt to look at you die, to really feel—really feel you die within the bond. My entire soul went numb and icy, and also you simply—weren’t there. I by no means, by no means need to really feel that once more. Not for a single rattling second.”

I swallowed the knot in my throat, my chest heaving. He was silent, simply letting me rant.

“Okay,” he stated lastly.

My shoulders slumped, the anger abandoning me. “Okay?”

He nodded, skimming a knuckle down my naked facet. “Okay. I did not realise you’d care.”

I flinched.

“Not like that,” he rushed to say, pulling me nearer. “I do not imply that as an insult, honey.”

“I am your mate; how else am I imagined to take it?”

“I am not used to individuals caring if I stay or die. I’ve by no means had that earlier than, and fairly frankly, I wasn’t conscious I had that earlier than Cronus unmade me. I solely realised how a lot you cared when—”

“Sure?”

He sighed, stroking my pores and skin prefer it was a touchstone maintaining him calm. Shadows flickered in his eyes, anguish on his stubbled face. “The queen of hell was there once I was introduced again. She instructed me you have been—taking it onerous.”

“She instructed you I used to be a complete mess, did not she?” I drawled.

“Just about.” He folded me into his arms, my cheek resting on his chest. “And the one factor I might take into consideration was getting again to you since you wanted me, however later, once I processed what she instructed me, it felt … bizarre. I wasn’t anticipating to be missed, and the truth that you mourned me made me really feel extra actual than I ever had earlier than.”

I blinked quick. “Are you making an attempt to interrupt my coronary heart? As a result of it is working.”

He grinned, crooked and attractive. “Simply telling you my unhappy little sob story. Be at liberty to consolation me with these.”

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