To Kill a Vampire - A.K. Koonce Page 0,49

friend,” Asher finally says in a gravelly voice.

I nod adamantly, blinking back steadily growing emotions that are clouding my chest and mind.

“It’s okay to have loved him,” Asher says in a whisper. I glance to him but his silver eyes remain on the horizon, as if he can still see the hybrid there.

My fingers slip into his, pulling his attention down to me. A breath shakes from my lungs as I cling to his warm hand.

“He was a good friend. I did love him.” He swallows slowly, nodding just slightly. “He reminded me of you, and in a way he reminded me of me.” The uncertain feelings I always seem to have define everything about Declan. He wanted acceptance in an unaccepting world. If the world had been different, would he have been different as well? I think of the way he accepted me and understood me when I was most alone in my life. “I loved him like family. He was my family.”

Asher pulls me to his chest, his strong arms sweeping away the drowning sorrow that is rising in me. He presses a soft kiss to my temple and whispers into my hair, “He loved you, too.”

My lungs falter, hating that I failed the one mystic who might have needed me most.

I slip my hands around Asher’s waist, holding him tightly to me. He grounds me in a way. Makes me feel whole, more solid, stronger …

If I could have been stronger, could I have saved him?

“Do you ever think about how different everything could have been?”

My eyes close tightly as I breathe him in. My hands fist into his soft white shirt, clinging to him like he, too, might drift away from me. He’s here, and I’m never letting him go again. Nothing can separate us now.

I won’t let it.

“You changed the past,” he says. “Don’t ever think about what it might have been. What it could have been. Trust me, it doesn’t fix anything to dwell on the past. It is what it is.” His chest expands, a heavy breath shaking from his lungs. “It’s a new world today. Because of Kenzent and Declan, your mother, and Ky. Because of you, Fallon.”

A small smile presses to my lips, and tears streak down my cheeks as I nod into his chest. The tension between the mortals and the mystics has subsided. The sun rises, warming my skin, sending a tingling feeling across my body.

A new life starts today. A brand new world is quietly being built all around us.

And it all started with one beautifully lethal hybrid-vampire.

Epilogue

One Month Later

Asher

I never thought I’d find someone to spend my life with. I never thought that person would be as amazing as Fallon … I never thought she’d love me.

I can’t take my eyes off of her even as my best friend starts his bonding vows with Luca. The air is tinged with a smell of salt water and a hint of burning flesh as Kaino bonds Gabriel and Luca’s hands together.

Kaino’s words aren’t sweet like Kenzent’s were the day Fallon and I were bonded. Today Kaino’s words are short and to the point.

My attention slips from Fallon’s soft hair that tumbles down her back just long enough to see Gabriel and Luca raise their tied hands proudly in the air for all to see. I give a triumphant cheer along with everyone else, clapping loudly, but Gabriel’s blind attention is held on the woman he loves, as if he can see her wide and beautiful smile. The wind tears at her long white dress.

Then without fear they jump.

A gasp slips from Fallon’s lips, her attention turning abruptly to me.

“They’re fine,” I whisper to her, my hand squeezing hers.

“What if they’re not?” Pale green eyes wide with worry look to me with urgency.

“Then the water fae will sort them out,” I tell her with a playful smile pulling at my lips.

She shoves me hard, making me stumble slightly, a laugh rumbling through my chest.

“They’ll be fine.” I hold her worried gaze. “Do you really think a water fae would have the nerve to harm Luca?”

The line between her brows smooths as she begins to nod. “You’re right; they’re probably fine.”

“I have a surprise for you,” I whisper against her hair as I slip my arms around her waist, walking us away from the small crowd. We linger at the edge of the forest watching the mortals and mystics for a couple of minutes.

With ease she melds into me, her back