Deity (Covenant #3)(110)

I tipped my head back, my eyes searching his intently. “What do you mean?”

“We’re in a house full of halfs, with the exception of Marcus and my brother. Deacon surely doesn’t care and Marcus—”

“My uncle’s a stickler for rules,” I whispered.

Aiden brushed his lips over the tip of my nose. “Marcus knows, Alex. He’s not blind.”

“He’s okay with it?”

“I wouldn’t say okay” Aiden grinned. “He actually punched me when he figured it out.”

I stared. “What?”

He chuckled under his breath. “Yeah, he punched me right in the face when he got back from Nashville—twice.”

“Oh my…” I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. It wasn’t funny, but it was.

“The first hit was because you were with Seth and Lucian. The second one was after he figured out about us.”

“How did he find out? We were careful.” And we had been.

“I think he’s suspected something for awhile,” he mused. “But it was when you were gone he figured it out. I think I was pretty transparent during those days.”

I wanted to ease the lines of concern that’d appeared on his forehead. We’d talked about my time spent in Lucian’s house on the way here and I’d reassured him a dozen times or more that I hadn’t been harmed there, but it still bothered him. Just like when I’d died, it was something that would linger with Aiden.

“What did he say to you?” I finally asked him.

“I don’t think you want to know. It was one of the only times I’ve heard Marcus cuss.”

I smiled as I lowered my cheek back to the pillow. Gods know I was all too familiar with Marcus being angry. “You don’t seem too worried about him knowing.”

“I’m not. Right now, there are more… pressing issues to focus on.”

Wasn’t that the truth? “Part of me wishes tomorrow wouldn’t come.”

He kissed the top of my head. “Everything will be okay, Alex.”

“I know.” I closed my eyes and snuggled in. “I just don’t know what to expect, you know? Will I automatically turn into a super badass tomorrow or something? Or will I be accidentally blasting people with akasha?” Or would I connect with Seth? That I didn’t want to put into words.

“Whatever happens, you’ll still be Alex… you’ll still be agapi mou, my life. Just…just don’t ever scare me like you did today, okay? We’re still in this together.”

“To the end?”

“To the end,” he whispered.

Damnable tears rushed to my eyes. I was such a girl, but those words were perfect, what I needed to hear. “Let’s make plans again. I liked that.” My brows rose when he laughed again. “What?”


“It’s just that you are the last person who plans anything.”

I grinned, because he had a point. “But I like these kinds of plans.”

“Okay.” He moved his thumb along the inside of my palm. “I’ve been thinking about the future—our future.”

I loved the sound of that—“our future.” When Aiden said it, it seemed possible. “What did you come up with?”

“It’s more like something I’ve decided.” He pulled his hand free and smoothed back my hair. “Let’s say everything blows over with the compulsion thing, okay?”

Not likely, but I nodded.

“I don’t want to stay in our world.”

I caught his hand, lowering it to where my heart pounded as I twisted around in his embrace. “What? What do you mean?”

Thick lashes shielded his eyes. “If we stayed in this world, the Hematoi world, we couldn’t be together. There will be some who don’t care, but… it’s too much of a risk, even if we did manage to get assigned to the same area.”

Air left my lungs as I stared at him. “But if you left you couldn’t be a Sentinel anymore, and you need that.”

He looked up, meeting my eyes. “I do need that. Being a Sentinel is important to me, but it’s not my world, my life, or my heart. You are. And I want you in my life, really in my life. It’s the only way.”

I suddenly wanted to cry. Again. I couldn’t even form a coherent word, and I knew he could feel my heart slamming itself against his palm, but I didn’t care.

Aiden leaned in, brushing his lips over mine. “I love you, Alex. I’d give it all up for you, and I know you’ve been thinking about it, too, but that’s up to you.”

Could I give it up… this almost inherent need to become a Sentinel? Could I let go of the desire driven by years of having duty ingrained in me, and the need to somehow make up for what’d happened to my mother? Leaving this world would require assimilating back into the mortal world, something I had totally sucked at for three years. Old fears rose in that moment as years of never fitting in, of always being the freak, flashed before me. Mortals, for the most part, were naturally uncomfortable and drawn to us in the same breath. It was hard being around them, always pretending.

But I had been thinking about a future that didn’t include the Covenant or being a Sentinel. I just never thought it could be possible, but when I looked into Aiden’s eyes and saw only love—love for me—I knew I could do it. We could do it. Aiden was worth it. Our love was. Living like a mortal had choked me before, but now it could provide the type of freedom I yearned for. And together, anything seemed possible.