Pure Destiny (PureDark Ones #12) - Aja James Page 0,4

she and Dalair were alone.

“Nothing has changed,” Sophia murmured before Rain could ask.

Rain stood by the bed and gently went through the routine checks she did to evaluate the warrior’s condition. With her mental guidance, strands of sentient zhen unwound from the silken shackles to slide around Dalair’s limbs, across his torso, the superfine ends inserting into his pores like acupuncture needles. Meanwhile, the remaining zhen tightened around him to keep him safely bound.

“Can’t we do anything for him to speed up the healing process?” Sophia asked for the umpteenth time, watching the zhen pulse and glow with a life of their own, sliding around Dalair’s chest and throat.

“I’m afraid not,” Rain replied gently, even more gently than her usual manner, as if she was speaking to a dangerous, wild creature, and she didn’t want to startle it.

That feral thing was Sophia, everyone implicitly understood.

“His body rejects blood and other infusion of nutrients. It will take significant time to discover how to unravel the effects of the turning, to push through the barricades our enemies have integrated into his very DNA.”

If there was a solution at all, remained unsaid.

“As it is, we can only wait for him to heal himself. But never fear. He is very strong. He will heal. It is only a matter of time,” Rain assured Sophia in that same gentle tone.

Sophia got off the table and began to pace, stretching out her sore, tired limbs and spine as she did so.

“Have the additional security measures been implemented?” she asked of the Protector.

While the Pure Ones got Dalair, their nemesis got Erebu.

Erebu, who knew the ins and outs of the Shield, who knew their location hidden in the heart of New York City, who had assessed most of the inhabitants who lived here and knew their strengths and weaknesses.

During the coordinated attack on Medusa’s stronghold, where their fiercest warriors had been deployed, Sophia took the remaining Dozen and Chevaliers to seek temporary refuge with the Dark King Ramses in case of a counter-assault on the Shield. Now that all of the warriors were present, scathed by the battle but healing fast, almost completely back to one hundred percent, they decided to return to the Shield. Knowing that even if their enemies attacked, their defense would be as strong as it ever was.

That said, it never hurt to take extra precautions.

“Aye,” Valerius answered with his usual brusqueness, in that low, quiet rumble.

“Inanna and Gabriel, how are they holding up?” Sophia asked.

They were the most severely wounded from the last battle, but they’d come back on their own two feet, whereas Dalair had been carried into the Shield like a corpse.

“Almost back to full strength,” Rain answered. “It is to be expected. After all, they are Mates and can draw strength from each other…intimately.”

Sophia’s eyes immediately went back to Dalair.

Would that work for him too? The strength of a Mate?

Could Sophia provide that for him?

But…were they Destined Mates in truth? The strength of their connection was undeniable, but was it the Bond between Mates or something else?

Sophia loved him desperately. Always had. Since the first time she encountered him as Kira in her previous incarnation. But Dalair had always pushed her away. Even when he came to her, it was reluctantly.

In this present life, they’d been close in the beginning when she was a girl and he was her security blanket, but ever since she hit puberty and tried to explore the attraction she felt towards him, he’d shut her down in no uncertain terms. And even when they finally came together, it wasn’t of his own free will. He’d already been turned by then.

She thought…she felt that he cared for her deeply as well. He’d sacrificed himself over and over to protect her.

But that had always been his role, hadn’t it? Had he simply been doing his job?

In that moment of doubt, Sophia recalled what he said a few years ago:

Choose me, not him. Choose me this time.

What did he mean? Sophia didn’t understand. For her, there was never a choice. Her answer would always be Dalair, no matter the question.

“Do you think…” Sophia pushed the question toward Rain before her voice tapered off.

She didn’t know how to ask. She didn’t know how to express the confusing, churning emotions and thoughts within her.

Thankfully, the healer understood.

“I think you may try, Sophia,” Rain answered her unuttered question.

“But be on guard,” the healer warned gently yet firmly. “Be very careful. He is not himself. If his body heals before his