A flash of how exactly I found Aurora, chained up and nearly starved, bursts behind my eyes. The two of us thinking of the memory at the same moment, our minds colliding and delivering the reminder in crystal-clear quality.
I cringe against it as the familiar burn of anger sweeps through me. I go very still, not wanting any instinct to affect Aurora as I hold her.
“I’m okay,” she assures me, reaching up to cup my cheek. She shifts beneath me, spreading her thighs and wrapping her legs around my back when I make an attempt to move off of her. “I promise. Saint. Look at me.”
I open my eyes, my jaw locked as I try to get ahold of the agony ripping through me. “I should’ve stopped him sooner.”
“And what if you had?” she asks, not for the first time. “Do you think we would’ve ever met?”
“I think fate would’ve put me in your path no matter what. You’re my mate.”
“Maybe,” she says. “Maybe not. Maybe it happened exactly how fate planned.”
“You shouldn’t have had to endure what you did.”
“But I would endure it again.” She stares up at me, nothing but love radiating in her eyes. “I would go through that a thousand times over if finding you was the end result.”
I dip down, brushing my lips over hers. I don’t have the words to respond to that kind of love, that kind of acceptance. I shake my head against her. “I don’t?—”
She kisses me harder, stopping any argument I may have. I slide an arm beneath her, holding her more tightly beneath me. “You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” she says against my lips. “Don’t for one second doubt that. Regardless of my nightmares. Regardless of the trauma we’re both stillworking through. This…” She moves her hand over my heart. “You and me? Is worth everything.”
“Fucking love you,” I growl, claiming her mouth again.
“Love you,” she says back, whimpering as I suck her bottom lip into my mouth. “Speaking of worth everything,” she says, drawing back an inch. “Have you thought any more about my plan? Did you pitch it to the others?”
“No.” The answer is sharp and immediate. The idea of her being used as bait makes my vision switch to thermal.
“Saint,” she chides me. “We could have the upper hand. We could finish this. We could have a life outside these walls.”
“And I want to give you that life. Everything I do, every move I make, is to ensure yougetto live that life.”
“We get to live that life,” she corrects me. “We. Stop acting like you won’t be around to enjoy it with me.”
Guilt slices through me. We’ve gone in circles about the twin bond and my need to be the one to end Samuel. “I never in a million years thought I’d be deserving of a mate, let alone be bound to someone as incredible as you. The last thing I want is to be separated from you, but you can’t ask me to risk your life. Would you so easily risk mine?”
She purses her lips at me, her eyes narrowing. She can’t argue with me on that point. She wouldn’t risk me.
“I’m stronger now,” she finally says. “Your training has assured that. Practicing with Gabriel has helped too. I can be an asset to you and the others.”
“You are an asset. Aurora, you’re my entire reason.”
“Then let me help finish this?—”
I kiss her gently, relishing the way she melts into me. “I won’t risk you,” I say before kissing her again. “But maybe I can help with part of your request. If you’ll let me. Trust me?”
“Of course I trust you,” she says.
“Then close your eyes.”
Aurora immediately closes her eyes, and I internally reach for my power. It’s all too easy to slip into her mind and grab hold of her reality. All too easy to have the room surrounding us melt away. To sweep away the memories urging her to action, the dark pieces of her that call out for justice. The ones where she helps finish this battle so we can have our happily ever after.
All of that dissolves as I weave a new reality for us, one I desperately hope she likes.
“Saint,” she gasps as the image takes hold of us. We’re no longer in my bed but walking along the beach she loved so much on Cassandra’s island, only this time, the sun is glittering off the ocean, making the sand warm beneath our feet. “I forgot,” she says. “I forgot what it feels like to walk in the sun.”
“It’s been so long, I almost did too.” Thank fuck for modern day nature documentaries. I likely wouldn’t be able to construct such a convincing reality had I not watched so many with Talon after we were awakened. “Do you like it?”
She tilts her head toward the sun, bathing her body in the golden rays. “I love it.” She glances down, noting the sheer cover-up I’ve dressed her in. Theonlything I’ve dressed her in. “Love this too.” She runs her fingertips over the light, breezy fabric. “What do you think?”