Costin replied to Jen and then took Sally’s hand and pulled her over to the bed where Titus was sleeping. He reclined on it, leaning against the headboard, and then pulled her down next to him, tucking her against him and pressing her head to his shoulder.
“You’re the bravest person I know,” he said softly.
Sally shook her head. “That would be Jen.”
“She’s brave. But there’s more to you. You’re adaptable. You respond to difficult situations with such control. It takes a lot to not just give up.”
“But I wanted to give up,” she reminded him, thinking back to that time where she’d laid on the bathroom floor of their suite and seriously contemplated leaving the world. “I’m pretty sure that doesn’t qualify me as in control.”
“But you didn’t,” he said in a fierce tone. “You made the hard choice. Living is hard, Sally mine. Dying is easy.”
Sally bit her bottom lip to keep the tears at bay because his words hit her like a ton of bricks. Living was hard. Some days, she felt as if she was going to be swimming against the current forever and never get a good breath. Other days were a little better. Though dying might be painful, that pain would be gone once it was over. The pain of life was day in and day out. Sometimes, you just lived second-to-second.
“I suppose being here is messing with my mind more than I realized,” she said after a few minutes of silence. Her head slid down a bit and rested on his chest. His heartbeat comforted her. The constant thudding was a reminder that he was still alive, which meant she was still alive. They hadn’t won. If she’d taken her life, the Order would have defeated her, and that was something she couldn’t allow to happen. Not then and not now.
“There’s no shame in that nor does it make you weak.” He held her tighter and kissed the top of her head.
“I don’t think I would be this calm if you weren’t here,” Sally admitted.
“We’re mates,” he said simply. “We belong together. We’re stronger together, and our souls cry out for each other. I wouldn’t be okay if I wasn’t with you.” She saw the memories in his mind through their bond—what it had been like for him when she’d been gone. Costin often tried to keep those thoughts from her, but every now and then, he would let down his guard and she got glimpses.
“I’m so sorry you went through that,” she whispered.
“You have nothing to be sorry about. We went through hell, Sally mine, and we came out on the other side. Did we get burned? Absolutely. But we also came out stronger. They thought we could be kept from one another. They underestimated the mate bond. And we will get through this, as well.”
Sally’s eyes were getting heavy. She didn’t want to sleep. She needed to stay alert, but she was also exhausted.
“I’ve got you,” Costin told her as he rubbed his hand up and down her arm. “You need rest.”
“What about you?”
“I’m old, remember?” He chuckled. “I can go without sleep for quite a while.” He must have felt her hesitancy because his wolf rumbled a growl. And then his wolf spoke. “Sleep, mate.”
Sally’s lips turned up in a small smile. Costin could be bossy, but he had nothing on his wolf. She closed her eyes and pushed away the worry of their situation and let herself slip away. Costin beside her and their son close by gave her the comfort she needed.
Chapter 4
“I was willing to give him anything, do anything for him, be whatever he needed. But he tossed me away as if I were nothing, as if I wasn’t his own kind and someone who mattered to him. If it is the last thing I do, I will make Thadrick pay for scorning me. I will kill Jezebel, the witch that he dirtied himself with. I will have my revenge, and I don’t care what I have to do for it to happen. I’ll even join the Order of the Burning Claw if that’s what it takes.” ~Myanin, Djinn warrior
“When you’re done I need you to take each of the rugs out and beat them. They haven’t been cleaned in half a century to be sure,” Lyra said. Lyra was the djinn elder Myanin had been assigned to after the elders had pronounced the judgment of her concerning her supposed betrayal of Thadrick. They