Page 54 of Sinner's End

“Addi, you can’t just walk away,” he says lowly.

“You’re hurting me,” I say. A tear slips down my cheek. “All of you are. You’re fighting each other constantly, and each time I end up as collateral. First my sister, then the succubus, and now this shit,” I say waving my hand in the air. “How am I supposed to choose you, one or all, if you can’t even get along for five fucking minutes? Each time one of you goes off on their own, I end up hurt.”

“Adreana,” Mana says, a stricken look on his face. “You know none of us ever meant to harm you.”

“And yet we did,” Kaleb cuts in.

I turn to face him, shocked that he agrees with me.

“Watch it, half-breed,” Mana threatens.

“That’s exactly what she’s talking about, though. I say something you don’t like, and you want to go twelve rounds. She says we all need to talk, and instead you try to fuck her into submission,” Kaleb counters. “You don’t listen. You only have yourself in mind and fuck the consequences.”

“We are all guilty,” Lethe says, standing beside Kaleb. “I stole her to protect her but I never took into account what she wanted, what any of you wanted.”

“Do you understand?” I ask Mana directly.

He shakes his head. “I can’t let you go,” he says softly.

“I’m going home, Mana. And you can’t stop me.”

“I love you,” he says, his voice cracking. “We all love you.”

His words pierce my heart. I love them all as well, but Ican’t keep doing this. They have turned my entire world upside down in a matter of days. And even though I’ve never felt so free, I have also never been so fucking terrified.

“If you love me,” I say softly, “You’ll let me go.”

I watch as Mana falls to his knees in the mud, his head in his hands.

“Then go,” he croaks.

I don’t look back as I walk away, back into the house I grew up in. A place I no longer consider home, because none of my men are here. My shoulders shake as tears overwhelm me, my heart cracking wide open with every step away from Mana, Lethe, and Kaleb.

A loud wail pierces the air and I almost turn around to go back to them, to him. I feel Mana’s pain all the way to my soul. I never thought he would say the words, but now that he has, I know nothing will ever be the same again.

I enter my yard through the back gate, wanting to go inside, shower, and cry myself to sleep more than I want my next breath. But I have never been that lucky. On my back porch sits Bowen with my beautiful Daisy, her head resting on his lap while he scratches behind her ear.

“I heard what you said,” he says before I can speak. “I’m not here to try to talk you out of your decision. I just want to say something, and then I’ll leave. Please.”

I stare at him for long moments before nodding.

“I want you to know that we all love you, each in our own way. But of the four of us I am probably the one with the most damage.” He looks up at the cloudy sky before returning his gaze to me. “When I fell, it broke something in me. I’m not like Lethe, who fell for a purpose. I fell because I was bored. I spent too much time on earth with the humans and one day I just couldn’t go back.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I don’t want you to say anything. Nothing you say can fix who or what I am.”

“Then why are you telling me?” I ask with a frown.

“So, you know this is all my fault,” he replies. “I mess with Mana and rile him up. I push Kaleb’s buttons to see how he will react. I fuck with people.”

“What did you do?” I whisper, a coldness wrapping around me that chills me to the bones.

“Emma came looking for you at Harken, the night in Mana’s office.”

“No!” I gasp.

“I led her upstairs before I joined you and Mana. I showed her what was happening, that Mana and Kaleb chose you over her.”

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