Page 107 of Moonlit Thorns

I look at my mother, tears cascading down my face because I know she’s right. I need to be with Anabelle, and that means saying goodbye to my mother—again.

“It’s okay, son. I’ll be here when it’s your time. Go, be happy. You deserve it.” She lets her hand drop from my face.

“I love you,” I tell her.

The moment the words leave my lips, I feel as if I’m being sucked backward through a tunnel.

“I love you too, son” sounds from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

And then once again, there’s nothingness.

Chapter

Forty-Three

ANABELLE

Sitting beside his hospital bed, I clutch Asher’s hand. I haven’t left him since they wheeled him in here three days ago.

The horror I felt when I saw him bleeding out on the ground still haunts me. I don’t think it’s an image I’ll ever get out of my head. All I could think of was that he was going to die without knowing I loved him. I never had the courage to tell him.

They had to restart his heart twice when he was on the operating table, and the first twenty-four hours after surgery were harrowing. I made a promise to myself that if he made it out of this alive, I would tell him exactly how I feel about him, no matter if I’m scared that he doesn’t feel the same or that he’ll still want to send me away.

I hear the door creak open behind me, then Sid’s voice. “Anabelle, you should really go home. Get some rest, shower.”

I shake my head as he comes around to the other side of the bed. “Is that your way of telling me I stink?”

He eyes me with pity. “That’s my way of saying you need to take care of yourself too. Whether you’re here or not won’t change the outcome. Let me take over for a bit.”

Asher’s brothers have been surprisingly kind and supportive over the past few days. Even Kol, who I have to thank for the fact that Galen is dead.

Apparently, security called Kol after Asher hung up on them before they could tell him it wasn’t me driving my vehicle when it burst through the gates. Kol saw that Galen had been about to pull the trigger and shot too, hitting him between the eyes and killing him instantly.

It took Kol a day to show up at the hospital because he was questioned by police. Sid told me what story to tell about my injuries when they came to speak to me at the hospital—I had fallen down the stairs. The doctor who had stitched me up backed up my story. Everything that had happened with Galen at the bar, I told the truth about.

Kol was released and not charged. I don’t know if that’s because they worked some billionaire voodoo magic or what, and I don’t care. No one should pay the price for killing a piece of shit like Galen LeBlanc.

I squeeze Asher’s hand and push the hair off his forehead. “I’m not going anywhere, Sid.”

He nods, accepting that he’s not going to get anywhere with me on this subject. Nero and Kol have already tried and given up.

We’re both quiet, gazing down at Asher. His skin is still a sickly gray color, nothing close to its usual olive tone.

“Do you think he’s going to wake up?” I ask in a low voice.

“The doctor says there’s no reason he shouldn’t.”

I wish his words inspired confidence. “I know, but it’s been three days.”

“His body has gone through a lot of trauma. It needs to heal.” Sid gives me a wan smile, and I nod.

“Any change?”

I turn and see Kol walk into the room.

I frown. “No change. Not yet.”

He nods and stands beside me, squeezing my shoulder. It’s obvious to me that this past week has really shaken him.

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