Page 107 of Live Like Legends

I walked my fingers over his chest and up to his lips, tapping my index finger against them. “Then he doesn’t know me very well, now does he?”

“Dani…”

I moved quickly, maneuvering myself so I was straddling his waist. I leaned down to speak against his mouth. “Men like Ariel will never trust you. No matter how hard you work or how much you plead. You’ve proven you’re a threat to his authority and he will make you work until the day you die thinking you will everhave a chance of getting him off your back. In his mind you’ve done a million and one things wrong.” I gave him a peck on the lips. “Why not add another to the list?”

I pushed open the door of Natalia’s home, feeling an overwhelming sense of contentment. This place felt safe. It was nothing like the feel of being in Nick’s arms, but it was a close second. Nick stood close behind me, his sword strapped to his back like the showoff that he was.

Noise came from around the corner where the kitchen sat. A pair of black combat boots caught my eye and a familiar nonchalant snort made my ears perk up.

“About time you sprung out of that place.” Elise tilted her head to the side, her black hair following her movements.

The last time I had seen Elise was at Nick’s house. We had said a few words, but it wasn’t enough. Everyone had been so frazzled about what happened and Nick had been so adamant on my healing that we’d left without so much as a goodbye.

Everything in me knew she would hate it, but my feet were already moving. I didn’t hesitate when I threw my arms around her, pulling her into a hug, I felt her arms stiffen and her spine go ramrod straight. The air was sucked out of the room and the silence that surrounded us was awkward to say the least.

I didn’t really care.

Her arms didn’t move to hug me back, but she did place her hands on my forearms, pushing me back. She furrowed her dark brows. “You could have just said you missed me. I would have preferred it.” Her lips quirked up into a small smirk.

“You should be happy someonewantsto show you that much affection,” Reese said, coming down the stairs. He looked over to me. “I’m guessing you got everything worked out?”

Once he was at the bottom of the stairs, I realized he was holding a sleeping Axel in his arms. I looked from the napping hellhound to him. Reese rolled his eyes as if sayingdon’t say a fucking word.

“Yeah, basically. It helped that I had a little luck on my side, huh?” I reached into my back pocket, pulling out his arrowhead. Reese smiled at me. “I’m sure you’ll be wanting it back.”

He shook his head, slightly jostling Axel. “Keep it. Well, keep it fornow.”

“Oh, Blondie, giving gifts so people will like you? That’s so sad,” Elise taunted.

Reese narrowed his eyes. “You’re just mad because I’m stealing all your people to the side of team Reese. Even your fucking dog likes me more than you.”

“Ha, right.” Elise whistled, her eyes flashing a red so quickly that you wouldn’t have noticed if you weren’t paying attention. “Axel, come here.”

Axel yawned and shuffled out of Reese’s hold, causing the blonde angel to bend down a bit so he could scamper over to his mother. Elise leaned down so he could jump into her embrace, licking at her face. The dog nestled into her arms comfortably. She smirked over at Reese, who crossed his arms over his chest.

“I’m just going to safely assume Ariel has no idea you’re here?” Reese asked.

“Not exactly,” Nick answered, shrugging.

“Rebellious little angel. Who would have thought having a demon girlfriend would make you such a renegade.” Elise placed Axel down right as he let out a little bark, as if agreeing with her.

Nick looked over to me, his mouth gaping open. “Well, I…”

Elise laughed. “Oh, no, pretty boy. That’s a compliment. I only give out very few, so I would consider yourself lucky.”

I nodded, letting him know she was right. My smile towards him faltered a bit when I caught her grey eyes falling towards the scars at my arm and my exposed thigh. I had changed my clothes before we left, but I wasn’t ashamed of what had happened to me. I wasn’t going to hide the evidence that my time with Dimitri had really occurred.

Her eyes locked onto mine and her expression wasn’t one of pity or empathy. “Dimitri is a real piece of work.”

“Yeah, that’s one way to phrase it.”

“You wear those scars proudly. Their reasoning for being on your skin sucks fucking dick, but we move on. You take your moments to deal, but then you get back up and you continue to be just as powerful as he wanted you to be, but—” she narrowed her eyes at me. “You don’t do it for him or his agenda, you do it in spite of him. You do it for you.”

I pressed my lips together, a crying laugh threatening to erupt. “What is with everyone being so profound lately? Like seriously, what the fuck?”

“I think they’ve spent way too much time with the High Priestess.” We all jumped when Zane’s voice echoed around us. He appeared at the top of the stairs, shaking his head. “I would really love it if any of you would find some way to announce your presence rather than loitering in her majesty's foyer as if you hold residence here.”

“Some of us do, oh large one.” Elise tipped her head up to speak to him.

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