You sure as shit don’t have to be a werewolf. You just have to get off your arse, go into that arena, and be the gargoyle girl we all know and love.”
“But it’s hard.” I give myself permission to whine for one more second.
“Yeah,” he agrees as he stands back up. “It is. But life’s hard. So either get in there and do what you have to do or get the fuck off the ride.”
“I tried to do that, if you remember correctly.” I pull myself up to my feet. “You wouldn’t let me.”
“You’re right, I wouldn’t. Total waste of the sexiest gargoyle girl to walk this earth in a thousand years.”
“I’m the only gargoyle girl to walk this earth in a thousand years.”
He gives me an arch look. “Damn straight you are. Now what are you going to do about it?”
I sigh. “Go into that arena and get hurt a lot but then win in the end and shove a burning hot ball right down Cole’s disgusting, ugly werewolf snout.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he tells me as we walk toward the arena.
“Thank you,” I tell him, because if it wasn’t for him, I’d still be lying on the snow willing myself to turn into a statue forever.
“You’re welcome.” He smiles slyly. “Gargoyle girl.”
“Call me that one more time, and I’m going to eviscerate you.”
“You’ll have to catch me first,” he tells me.
“You live in my head. How hard could that be?” I counter. “Besides, I’d catch you even if you didn’t.”
“Oh yeah?” Both brows go up this time. “Why’s that?”
“Because I’m a gargoyle, bitch. And it may have been a thousand years since they’ve had to deal with one of my kind, but that ends now.”
109
Where Do Broken
Bonds Go?
I stoop down to check on Jaxon before I go. He doesn’t look good, but then I’m pretty sure the same can be said for me right now.
But since there’s no bossy Brit boy living in his head at the moment, he’s still lying in the snow, curled up in a ball as if to ward off whatever blow fate decides to deliver next.
I know the feeling.
“Jaxon?” I call softly, but he doesn’t answer me. More, he doesn’t even open his eyes to look at me, which is so not like him that it worries me even more than the fact that he has yet to move. I’m sure he’s exhausted—I am, and I haven’t done half of what he has tonight, even after he was drained by Hudson.
Determined to make sure he’s okay before I go anywhere or do anything else, I stroke my hand over his shoulder and call his name several times. Eventually, he opens his eyes, and I see the emptiness inside him—the same emptiness that I currently feel—staring back at me.
Still, he smiles at me as I take his hand in mine. “Are you all right?” I ask.
He doesn’t say anything, so I ask again even as I slip a hand under his arms to help him sit up.
“Yeah. Are you?”
As soon as he repeats my question back to me, I understand his hesitation in answering. Because there is no real, true answer to that question that doesn’t begin with, I’m not sure I’ll ever be okay again.
And since we can’t say that, at least not now when we still have so much left to do before we can rest, I do the same thing Jaxon did and answer, “Yeah.”
His sad smile says he knows exactly what I’m doing as he grabs hold of my hand and squeezes it. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
“No,” I tell him. “It’s not.”
“But, Grace, I threw the spell away and never thought about anyone finding it—”
“Still not your fault,” I say, cutting him off. “If it’s anyone’s, it’s Cole’s. Or maybe it’s your father’s. I don’t know, but assigning blame isn’t going to solve anything right now, not when I have to—”
“Don’t go in there,” he tells me again, clutching at my arm. “You can’t do the match by yourself. You’ll lose.”
“Probably,” I agree. “But I have to go in there. There’s no other choice.”
“There is,” he counters. “There’s always a choice. You can forfeit—”
“And what? Go live as a prisoner in your parents’ dungeon?”
“Better a prisoner than dead,” he answers me. “I can’t come find you if you’re dead.”
“You won’t be able to come find me anyway. I’m pretty sure your parents will make sure of that.” I lean forward, bring