Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92559 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92559 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
There was a moment as the wolven seemed to gather himself. “Well, Mayhem got in touch with Lucan—it took him almost all that day to reach my cousin, and Lucan happened to be in my cave when they finally connected. When I left after you and I . . . after I made that unforgivable mistake, I found my cousin . . . and we talked. All day long. I just . . . kept talking about it all, and getting things more sorted in my head. It wasn’t until the sun had set that Lucan finally checked his phone and got the message you were in serious trouble. We arrived there right as the Brotherhood did.”
“You came for me . . .”
“You’ve always been there for me. Always. Even when I didn’t deserve it. How could I not do the same for you?”
Apex had to look away. Pain that had nothing to do with the physical, and everything to do with the soul, racked him, even through all the drugs that were being pumped in through his IV.
Leaning forward, Callum brushed Apex’s face. “I’m so sorry. For what happened. I was desperate, floundering . . . I’m learning that this healing business is nearly as violent as the trauma itself.”
It would have been nice to take a deep breath. But that was a no go. Even with his healing capabilities, which were so much better than, say, a human’s, Apex knew he was in critical condition.
And that was before you added a broken heart—
“I didn’t want our first time to be . . . that,” Callum whispered. “And I’m going to regret that for the rest of my life. But what I’m not going to do is stop trying to get free of what was done to me. I realized, as I sat up on that mountain and stared out at the valley far, far below, that if I don’t fight for me . . .”
His voice caught and he cleared his throat. “If I don’t fight for me, I can’t fight . . . for us.”
Apex’s eyes shot back to the wolven. Callum’s expression was grim, but intense, his inner conviction such that he appeared to glow with some kind of aura.
“I’m going to sort myself out. I’m not letting her win. This is going to be an ugly fight, Apex, and it’s not going to be linear. But you’ve given me the will to want me back.”
All at once, the world got wavy, and as Apex felt a hot tear sear his cheek, Callum reached out and brushed the wetness away.
“She’s cost me all those years,” the wolven said roughly. “I can’t get them back . . . but if by some miracle, you’ll give me another chance, one last chance—I want to eat Wheaties with you. Every sunset of every night, for however long we live.”
Apex exhaled. “You . . . did hear me.”
“Yes, I did.” Those beautiful husky eyes lowered. “It was too much for me to take in. I’m so fucking broken, Apex. And I’m saying that not for your pity, but because it’s the truth. I’m not a good bet, I know, and this is going to be a long, hard walk back to the land of the living. I really am going to try, though—”
“I love you.”
The wolven went utterly still. That stare lifted. “You don’t have to say that.”
Using all the strength he had, Apex moved his hand over and took the other male’s. “You’re the bravest person I know. And besides . . . I’ve hung on for this long. Why the hell would I get off . . . just before the dawn comes. I’m tougher than that—just like you’re tougher than the past.”
“I love you, too,” Callum said hoarsely as he leaned over the bed. “And I’m going to win this, just so you know.”
Apex smiled a little, even though it made his broken jaw hum. “Of course you will. And yes, I want to watch you eat Wheaties for the rest of my life. But I need you to know that I’m . . . more of a Cap’n Crunch guy.”
They started laughing, at least until Apex groaned and had to stop.
And then came . . . what Apex would forever after consider their first kiss.
It was far, far from their last.
EPILOGUE
The Brotherhood had cleared the whole mansion first, of course.
A week later, as Mahrci stood at the front door of the vast brick house she had grown up in, she looked through the grand entrance as if it were a place she had never been before: Even though she recognized the black-and-white marble floor, and the grand-father clock, and the oil painting of her mother through the arch into the parlor . . . the composite didn’t resonate.