Changed by Fire (Phoenix Rising #6) - Harper Wylde Page 0,156
has three other men to love. Three other men who she needs to take care of. Tell me the truth, Ciarán. If Joshua didn’t want to stay with me because of his Basilisk, if he worried he’d kill me again the way he did before and he chose to leave me, if he told me he’d come back when he knew he had control—what would you tell him?”
Ciarán squeezed his eyes closed on a groan. “I’d tell him he was being a bloody fucking idiot.” His eyes were manic when they opened. “You heal though.” His statement was a plea. “It kills them when you die, but you revive. They can’t truly lose you.”
“My mother didn’t heal,” I reminded him softly, cupping his cheek in my hand for a moment. “Each time I die, they never know if I’ll return. They have faith in me, they have faith in the moments we have together. This war could take them all from me. I could lose them in a moment. But they are mine. Before God, before the rebellion, before the fucking world, I’m claiming them. If all I get is this year with them, then I’m going to make sure they will never forget me. If I lose one of them, then you better believe I’m going to chase their fucking soul to Heaven’s gates and drag them back to me. I will never walk out on my mates and tell them it’s to protect them. I will stand in front of them and take on the whole goddamn army while screaming my love to them.”
A tear leaked from his eye as he bowed his head. “I’ve screwed up too badly,” he murmured. “She’ll never take me back. She shouldn’t. I’d kill one of her stupid bears if they did this shit.”
“She hasn’t given up on you,” I told him softly.. “She’s hurting horribly. You’re going to have to grovel. You’re going to have to earn her trust back. You hit her where it hurts the most.”
“I didn’t mean—” I laid a hand over his mouth before he could finish his words.
“Even if that’s not what you meant, that’s what her heart heard every time you had that fight. And you couldn’t open your eyes long enough to see that on her face. You couldn’t look past yourself to see her pain, her doubt that you were building. Rini is a proud woman, yet she asked you to mate her. To at least give her a day when you would. And you still walked out that door.”
“I’m a bloody fucking prick,” he mumbled.
“As your sister, I will confirm that,” I agreed softly. “But you’re also a man who loves his mate. If you let her seal that bond without you, if you tear that piece of her away, you will have broken her beyond anything her other mates will ever be able to salvage. She won’t beg again, Ciar. This time, it’s on you. Prove she’s worth anything, even if it’s just a few short days.”
“I don’t know how,” he whispered.
“I’ll help. But first, you need to get cleaned up.” My nose wrinkled as I stepped away from him. “You smell like something died.”
“That’s because I did,” he replied with a rueful chuckle. He swiped his hair back, looking around the room with a grimace. “Thank you, little sister.” He chucked my chin. “Thank you.”
“Just be thankful I didn’t kick you in the balls like I planned,” I retorted, shooing him off to the bathroom as I began to pick up trash from the floor. His laugh rippled back to me. This was all going to work out. I was going to make sure of it.
Thirty-Seven
Nix
I hummed happily to myself as I shut the door to our cabin, enjoying the warmth that flooded over me and the sensation of coming home.
“Well now,” Damien murmured, pressing a kiss to the back of my neck as his arms wrapped me in a hug. “Someone is in a very good mood.”
“Kicking someone’s ass will put any woman in a good mood,” I replied innocently. Chuckles sounded from behind me, and I turned in Damien’s arms to kiss him lightly.
“Well now, whose ass were you kicking today?” Hiro asked, reaching up to adjust his glasses when I winked at him over Damien’s arm.
“Ciarán,” I replied smugly, and Killian choked on the water he was drinking.
“Seriously?” he wheezed, as he pounded on his chest, his green eyes wide as he took in my smug grin.