"No. But I won't ever leave you alone. I swear it."
Danger tightened her hold on him. She didn't know who had it worse. The one who had no memory at all or the one who knew and couldn't speak of it.
She didn't want the night to end. Unable to stand it, she captured his lips to taste him one last time. To inhale his warm, masculine scent and to let it carry her away from this moment of pain.
Not even love could save them. Nothing could.
"I love you, Alexion. I love you, Ias. With all that is within me and more."
"Je t'aime pour toujours."
"Moi aussi."
And then she did the hardest thing she'd ever done in her life...
She let go of him and stepped back even though every fiber of her being screamed at her to hold on regardless.
Unable to look at him without falling apart again, she turned, took a deep breath as she wiped away her tears, and headed for the garage.
Alexion cursed as he watched her leave. I'm stronger than this. But the problem was, he wasn't. Not even his powers and Acheron's combined could alleviate the ragged misery that engulfed him.
Danger had unleashed something inside him and set it free. He would never be the same again.
He just wanted one more day with her.
No, that was a lie and he knew it. One day would never content him.
He wanted it all.
He took a deep breath and expelled it. If wishes were horses, even beggars would ride. It was a saying he'd learned from a Dark-Hunter three hundred or so years ago.
In every incarnation, he'd learned something new.
In this one, he'd learned how to love... no, that wasn't true. He'd finally learned how to live.
And tonight he would learn how to leave.
Grinding his teeth, he forced himself to follow Danger. And with every step he took, he reminded himself of the greater good.
That was what sustained Acheron. It was what had kept his boss going for thousands and thousands of years. It was what made the unbearable tolerable.
Closing his eyes, he summoned the numbing calm. Later, he would weep for what he had lost. But tonight, he would keep Danger safe and do his job.
May the gods show their mercy to Kyros and Stryker. The Alexion would not.
Danger paused outside the building where the Dark-Hunters were gathering. By the cars in the parking lot, the total cost of which would amount to the GNP for a small nation, she would say they were already here and yet...
"I don't feel my powers draining," she said to Alexion. "How can that be?"
"It's a trick. Somehow Stryker must be disguising it."
She shook her head. "I don't think so. Maybe he knows some way to keep us from draining each other's powers."
The look on his face chilled her. "Trust me, Danger," Alexion said as he paused to look at her. "There is no way a group of Dark-Hunters are together without draining each other. Stryker would never be able to gain that ability. The only way for it to happen would be if Acheron were here himself. Since he's not... It's not possible. The gods would never allow it."
She wasn't so sure, but she trusted him. If anyone knew the truth, it was Alexion.
As they walked in the front door, she half expected someone to stop them. But there were no guards, no Squires...