Page 116 of Promised in Blood

“You’re going to bring him back here?” Axl asks, visibly bristling.

He shakes his head. “I do not know what will happen. But I will not allow him to endanger Ophelia.” His eyes dart between the three guys. “Or any of you.”

I press my cheek against his chest, inhaling his comforting scent and wishing there was some way to make him stay. But it’s futile. He’s already decided, and nothing we say is going to change his mind now. And how can I expect him to choose not to go find his son simply because I am going to miss him too much and having him away makes me anxious? “When do you have to go?”

“It is best if we leave now,” Giorgios answers for him.

I lift my head and fist my hands in the soft fabric of the professor’s shirt. His handsome face is so serious and resolute.Solid. Invincible? “You have to go right now? Can you not wait until morning?”

His features soften a little, eyes crinkling at the corners. “The sooner I leave, the sooner I can return to you.”

Another tear rolls down my cheek, and I don’t bother brushing it away.

“You’ll be back before we have a chance to even notice you’re gone, right?” Malachi says, forcing out a laugh and trying to ease the thickening tension in the room.

Alexandros offers me a faint smile before giving me a tender kiss. “Precisely. And I will certainly be back before Christmas Eve.”

“We should leave, brother,” Giorgios says.

Despite wanting to cling to him even tighter, I force my hands to let go of his shirt. He holds onto me for a moment longer, pressing his lips against my ear. “Ophelia.” He whispers my name like a prayer.I will never leave you, agápi mou, he says, finishing the thought in my head where it’s just the two of us.

So why is he leaving me now? I choke on a sob and don’t voice that. Instead, I say the only words that matter.I love you.

Chapter

Forty-Two

MALACHI

“Hey, sweet girl.” I wrap my arms around her waist, rest my chin on her hair, and stare out the window with her. Together, we watch rain sluice down the glass. “He’ll be back before we know it.”

She leans back against me. “He just feels so far away.” She sniffs.

“He’s not though.” I place a hand over her heart. “He’s here.” Then I tap my finger against her temple. “And right here.”

“I tried to speak to him, but I couldn’t.”

“He’s probably trying to concentrate on finding Lucian. You can feel him though, can’t you?”

She tilts her head so she can look up at me, a smile lighting up her face. “Yeah.”

I wink at her.

“I found us the perfect movie,” Xavier declares triumphantly from the other side of the den.

Ophelia rolls her eyes and flashes me a grin. “What awful movie are we going to be forced to endure? Nothing scary. You know I don’t like horror movies.”

He plucks her from my arms and hoists her over his shoulder. “You’re going to love it, Cupcake,” he declares, giving her a smack on the ass that makes her squeal.

He smirks at me and jerks his head toward the staircase. “You coming, Kai? Axl’s upstairs too.”

I nod and follow him out, all the while trying to ignore the churning in my gut that tells me something bad is about to happen. It’s simply Ophelia’s anxiety I’m picking up on. Nothing more.

The credits roll downthe screen, and Ophelia sniffs, her head nestled in the crook of Axl’s shoulder and her back pressed up at my side. “I can’t believe you finally watchedThe Goonieswith me.”

“I can’t believe we got through an entire movie without any of us fucking.” Xavier snorts a laugh.

I take my pillow from behind my head and hit him with it. At least I try, but he ducks out of the way and laughs harder. I can’t believe we did either, but I guess we’re all missing the professor, and Ophelia’s happiness over one of her favorite movies wasinfectious. But now it’s over and there’s no mistaking the impact his absence has on us all. Which is weird as fuck because he’s left the three of us before. It’s not like we’ve spent every hour with him since he turned us.

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