Page 324 of Redeemed

The pain in Xander’s eyes matches my own.

“It almost is,” I tell her. “Lean against me, okay? Let yourself sleep.”

“But—”

“Shh, shh. We’ve got you, Haven. I promise.”

Xander

Bythetimeweget back to Birchwood, Wes is exhausted but awake. Athelia is curled up in between him and Cal with her head on Cal’s lap. With one hand, Cal is stroking Athelia’s hair, and with the other, he still has his fingers on the inside of Wes’s wrist. I don’t think he’s stopped checking his pulse during the entire drive, and Wes hasn’t tried to pull away.

Kellan pulls up in front of their house, and the vehicle rolling to a stop wakes Haven and Athelia. The rest of us—other than Wes—are still too wired to fall asleep.

“How is he?” Athelia asks quietly as she sits up.

“You know you can ask me that, right?” Wes quips with a playful smile.

“He’s good,” Cal says. “The only way he’s dying tonight is if I kill him for being so goddamn annoying.”

“Not funny,” Athelia says flatly.

“Hey.” Wes tugs her in for a quick kiss. “Not going anywhere, my soul.”

Kellan opens the side door. “Come on. I wanna get some sleep.”

I reach to take the car keys from him, but Cal snatches them and tosses them to Lucas.

“Hey!”

“No way in hell you’re driving. Not after the amount of blood you gave Wes tonight.”

“He’s got a point,” Lucas says. “We’ve had enough close calls today.”

“Fair enough,” I grumble.

Athelia hugs Haven tight, and I frown when Haven winces. We all knew Isaiah would hurt her, but I guess I’ve been subconsciously denying it.

Once Athelia is out of the van, Haven crawls over to me. I’ve barely gotten to touch her because she fell asleep against Lucas, and I couldn’t move until the transfusion was done.

Lucas gets us moving again, and I grunt in shock when Haven climbs onto my lap so she’s straddling me. She frames my face in her hands and lowers her lips to mine. It’s everything I didn’t realize I needed until she put her hands on me.

“I love you,” she whispers against my mouth. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

With a shocked breath, I pull away to stare at her. “Haven.”

Tears flood her eyes. “I think I always have, Xan. I think—”

I don’t let her finish. With my lips on hers, I shift her so she’s closer to me and hold her head gently. I deepen the kiss until Haven is panting into my mouth. God, I’ve missed this.

“I love you, too,” I say breathlessly. “I have since the moment I first laid eyes on you, doll.”

Haven frowns. “When you found me having a panic attack?”

With a chuckle, I shake my head. “No, it was before that. Remind me some other time, and I’ll tell you the story. For right now…” I kiss her again. “God, Haven, I missed you.”

“I missed you.” Her fingers run through my hair. “But I knew you’d come for me. I… I was worried you’d be too late, that Isaiah would—that he’d—” She breaks off with a whimper.

“Hey, hey. Just… come here, Haven. Let me hold you. He’s never touching you again. That’s what matters.”

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