Page 29 of Hitched to the Vampire King

“He wouldn’t have given the bloodsuckers the satisfaction of seeing him afraid,” she concluded.

I sighed, finding a bitter comfort in their words. Somehow it helped me to believe that he’d faced his end with courage. But I couldn’t erase the guilt that clung to me like a second skin, or the gnawing feeling that I should have been there with him. If we hadn’t gone to the Academy that night,noneof this would have happened.

“Please don’t blame yourself,” Jaden said.

I gave a weak laugh. “That obvious, huh?”

Her half-smile did little to lift my spirits. “I know you. And I know how you operate.”

“Thisisall my fault though. It all started with me.” I jerked a thumb over my shoulder at Gabriel. “And him. Because I discovered he was my mate, I opened the floodgates to all of this. If I’d just let Chris…” I couldn’t finish that sentence, could barely even stand to think it.

If I’d let Chris execute Gabriel, I would have lost my mate. And just the thought of that hurt more than any other pain I’d ever experienced.

“No,” Jaden said, her voice shaking with anger. “This didnotstart with you. It started with the Academy. They’re the ones who were lying to us. They’re the ones who were using us to commit their murders. You are not at fault here. None of us are. But we will be the ones to take the Academy down. I don’t care if we have to dismantle it one person at a time. Wewillstop them.”

Josh chimed in, his voice firm, “She’s right. You can’t do this to yourself. This blame is not for you to carry. The Academy played us. Chris’s death is on them. Not you.”

The conviction in their voices soothed my frayed nerves. They were right. Dwelling on what-ifs wouldn’t change the past. But it was hard—so incredibly hard—not to spiral down into a vortex of guilt and self-blame. Especially when there was a little voice in my head telling me if I’d just kept my head down and my nose out of the council’s business, Chris would still be alive.

“Promise me you won’t hold any of this against yourself,” Jaden said, staring me in the eyes.

I gave a slow nod.

“Good. And when you forget that promise, I’ll be there to remind you,” she said with a half-smile.

I made a small noise, slightly amused that she knew me well enough to know I would eventually backslide into the guilt again.

“What happened after they took you?” Jaden asked.

I waved a hand. “The usual. Torture, torment, and threats of death. They kept Gabriel on a constant regime of holy water injections, to keep him down. I stayed in wolf form to avoid any more liquid silver injections. Eventually, Elias showed up, and he gave me the idea to feed Gabriel my blood. Once he was alert again, we escaped the cages and got the hell out of there. We found Avery along the way, and she’s the reason we made it here. Without her help, we’d likely be in the belly of some alligator right about now.”

“Remind me later to thank her for helping you,” Jaden said.

After a moment of silence, Josh pressed his hands against his thighs and stood. “I think we’ve chatted enough for now. Why don’t you go take a shower and then get some rest?”

I stared at my filthy hands. “Yeah. Did Aimee say how long we can stay here?”

“I’m guessing you didn’t hear her downstairs when she said we’re welcome to stay as long as we need?” Jaden replied.

I shook my head. It’d all been a buzzing of noise.

Jaden took my hands and helped me up. “She also said there’s a bathroom down the hall from here. So let’s go find it and get you all cleaned up.”

“I can shower by myself,” I told her.

Jaden chuckled, though the sound was quiet compared to her normal laugh. “I know that. But I need to fetch the bag of supplies I brought you, so best we go together.”

“You brought me clothes?”

“Of course,” she said, patting my arm. “I figured you’d need them. We brought one for Gabriel too.”

Emotion welled within my chest, and I tugged her into another hug. I had a feeling we’d all be hugging each other a lot for the next while. “Thank you.”

Jaden squeezed me. “Of course. That’s what best friends are for.”

ChapterTen

After a long showerand a quick meal, I slept. The fatigue from days of fear and adrenaline clung to me and pulled me down into a hard, dreamless sleep. It wasn’t until I felt the bed dipping beside me as a familiar and comforting presence slipped under the covers that I woke. I had no idea how long I slept, but moonlight streamed through the now uncovered window, highlighting a freshly showered Gabriel.

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