Chosen One (Forever Evermore #6)(122)
That night when we went to sleep, he and Brann were still in their shifted forms, but when he jumped onto his bed…his tail somehow managed to creep across to my bed, dig under my blanket and intertwine between my ankles.
Chaotic…twisting…delusional…pain, so much agony…heated steel…like a bolt, I jerked upright in bed. Breathing hard, my gaze flew about even as I wiped a shaking, dimly glowing hand across my forehead, then stared down into sleepy silver eyes. Instantly, my gaze flew to his other side, and thank God, Lissa wasn’t there. Voice a mere croak, I mumbled, “Sorry.”
Leric’s voice was quiet. “You can stay here if you want.” My attention slammed on him, and he rolled over, giving me his back, murmuring, “Just to sleep.”
I actually thought about that a moment, wondering if I would just end up here again if I didn’t, but I remembered Cain, and my previous stupidity, and I gently crawled from the bed, whispering, “I’d better get back.”
His tiger growled quietly, his bare back still to me, sheet hanging over his hip. “To him. You mean, you should get back to him.”
My lips pinched, glancing at his empty bed again. “Where’s Lissa?”
He was quiet for a long moment, and then murmured, “She ran out the door as soon as you came through.”
Ah. I ran a hand through my hair, trying not to feel possessive. “That was smart.” And it was, even if my voice was clipped. I turned toward his suite’s door, and began moving toward it. “Again…I’m sorry to interrupt your night.”
I heard the sheets rustling, then Leric’s voice was stronger, and I knew he was facing me. “What I said before, about sex not making you his…I wasn’t lying, Caro.” He paused when I did in the middle of the room, keeping my back to him, but listening…since he sounded reasonable, him and me never talking about that day when he had lost it. His words were slow, deliberately calm as he continued, but he spoke through our bond for any eavesdropping ears. “From what I saw, it may never work, and not because of you. Deep inside you are a tender-hearted individual, and you will eventually forgive him for what he did to you, but he…that’s a lot of fucking hate, kitten, and it’s not because of what you’ve done, or who you are, but because of what you are.”
I swallowed heavily, and also spoke with the same form of communication. “What you may have missed in all that sex you saw, was the fact that even though I don’t hate him because of what he is, I truly do hate him because of who he is, not just what he did. He’s an unscrupulous, calculating bastard that has grown up cold and hard, making him into who, the man on the inside, he is today, which would be the complete opposite of me. Arguing which is worse on what to hate, who someone is or what someone is, is moot in my opinion, because they’re both equally important when two people despise each other with equally long honed hatred for those pieces of a person.” I sighed heavily, running a hand through my somewhat damp hair from my night terrors. “And yet, having said all that, I’ve found myself caring for him, and he for me…both equally a little.” I stayed silent after that, not glancing back, giving him a moment to process that news.
His voice was chilling when he spoke in my mind. “I should probably tell you, just as you will hunt Lissa down if she ever hurts me, I’ll do the same with him if he ever hurts you. And it won’t even matter if I do believe you’re making a mistake by continuing this. If you’re hurt by his actions, if he is ever malicious and deceitful to you again, he’ll be dead.”
I chuckled quietly, my own tone chilling. “If he ever did that to me again, his blood would be on my hands, not yours.”
He was quiet for a long moment behind me before he stated quietly through our bond, “Just be careful, kitten. What you’re entering with him…the outcome is murky at best.”
“I know.” And I did. I started moving toward the door again. “Good night, Leric.”
“Good night, my Chosen.”
Walking down the hallway, I passed the Guardians securing his door, and moved down to mine, a few doors down, and stopped, listening closely…and didn’t hear anything. I sighed heavily, closing my eyes for a moment, then knocked on the door, since I didn’t exactly have a key stuck in my pajamas somewhere. It opened instantly, King Zeller standing in his pajama bottoms, hair mussed, lips pinched, staring at me with an extremely pointed expression.
My brows puckered as I walked past him into the dark room, everyone in bed, quiet…except for glowing eyes greeting me from all, Brann and Cain shifted back to their natural forms. I stopped in place, my own eyes glowing a bit when King Zeller shut the door behind me, the room only lit from the moon through the balcony, and he moved to place his hand on my back, pushing me forward a bit, stating quietly, “You disappeared before we could wake you.”
“I’m sorry,” I murmured as we moved toward the beds. “I didn’t mean to wake everyone.” I blinked, then hurried to say, “Again.”
Elder Bridges pushed up on an elbow, stating casually, “Yes…well, maybe, you should have stayed in the One’s bed.” He held my gaze, yawning tiredly. “He did offer, did he not?”
Instantly, my heart rate crashed, plummeting as deeply as my stomach, only to shoot off like crazy, eternally grateful Leric had started speaking through our bond, knowing for certain now Elder Bridges would have heard our conversation, and I stuttered, “He did offer, b-but I wanted to come…back.” Instantly, peace transfused me, the gentlest of brushes from King Zeller’s guiding hand on my back, and I stated evenly, “Maybe I should get my own room, so I don’t wake you all in the future.”