Page 15 of As Darkness Fall
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Aaron asked as he came over to sit near me.
“Yes,” I said as his presence enveloped me, distracting me from the beautiful mural on the ceiling.
I instantly relaxed. Although I didn’t feel the same torture of my Soulbond with Johnathan, Aaron still had that cool, calming effect, where the gentle pulses of the bond’s energy were muted when he was around. It was peaceful and nice.
“Yes,” I said, closing my eyes for a moment to bask in the silence of the moment as the last of the adrenaline left me.
When I opened them, I was no longer on my back. I was curled up on my side. Against something warm. A person. Looking up, I saw it was Aaron. I wasn’t sure what to do. Part of me had been prepared to awaken with someone pressed up against me, holding me. I wouldn’t have been happy, but neither would it have surprised me.
Mebeing the big spoon, though? That was unplanned for, and now, I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t curled up against his back, either. Instead, I was wrapped tightly around Aaron’s leg, holding it close.
I swiftly pulled my hand back from where it was perched precariously close to his crotch. Aaron had declined to put on more clothes from one of the trunks, and my fingertips had been less than an inch…
I sat up. Hopefully, I hadn’t done anything untoward in my sleep. Aaron himself was passed out cold, leaning back against the wall, seemingly oblivious to my presence against him, but who knows for how long he’d been out. I could very well have already been curled up to him before he fell asleep. Was that a telltale smile at the corners of his mouth? Did he know where my hand had been?
Get a grip. It doesn’t matter.
Shaking it off, I looked around. Everyone was asleep now, some on cots, others resting against the table or wall. My gaze continued around until it landed on Vir. He was awake and staring at me, not bothering to hide his unhappiness.
Oh, well. I pushed his concerns to the side.
It’s not that there wasn’tanythingintriguing about Vir. Quite the opposite, in fact. There were a great many mysteries about him. And, in some ways, that was the problem.
I’d just gotten out of a Soulbond and discovered I had some sort of magical powers, or control over them, orsomething.Basically, I was slowly realizing that I wasn’t just a shifter. I was somethingmore. There were so many other, bigger things, to worry about right now.
I mean, shit, thedivineis real. Like, completely and totallyreal. Vir is a god. That alone was going to need a whole hell of a lot of therapy to process. The idea of being mated to one was so outside my mental capacity at the moment that I couldn’t process it. Literally couldn’t process it on any level beyond the surface.
Still, maybe I shouldn’t be a dick to him. I don’t need to rub Aaron in his face. Or my own,I noted, recalling how close my face had been to his crotch as well.
Walking a fine line was going to be the name of the game going forward. Keeping him at arm's length, without ruining anything…just in case. After all, if thiswaspermanent, I knew I would eventually give in to my Soulbond.
My mental fortitude and discipline were nothing to scoff at, and I was proud of it, but I’d lasted barely amonthwhile rejecting Johnathan, and it had nearly killed me. With him, I’d had a history of hatred, ofknowinghe was a terrible person.
I didn’t have that with Vir. I had unknowns, but even now, I could feel my Soulbond pushing my concerns to the side. What Ididknow of Vir was fairly positive. I doubted I could summon the same energy to deny the call to mate with him that I had with my ex.
In time, Iwouldgive in.
Which meant I had to find out how to sever it, and soon. Reluctantly, I got up and went over to Vir, sitting next to him.
“How are you doing?” I asked, letting my guard down so he could feel my sincerity through the bond.
“The Direen is in danger,” he said. ‘The Invaders will take over.”
“I was thinking about that, Vir,” I said quietly. “And I think you need to face the truth. They alreadydidthat. The entire place is a wasteland of bodies. You can’t go anywhere outside your lair without them finding you in a short period of time. What else is left for them to do there?”
Vir’s silence told me everything I needed to know. He hadn’t wanted to admit it, but deep down, he had already realized this truth. His guerilla warfare against them hadn’t stopped them from overrunning the Direen.
“The barrier is still up, though,” I pointed out. “Unless it came down while we slept?”
Vir shook his head, staring morosely at the ground as he accepted his home’s fate. He was doing rather well, all things concerned.
“Do you think they can bring that down?”
“No, actually,” Vir said, finally looking at me. “Now that I’m on this side of it, it’s become clear to me that it can only be brought down fromthisside. Which is impossible, because to bring it down would require me to have all my powers.”
“And since you were stripped of the real big mojo when you came through the barrier, that means you can’t bring it down,” I said. “Right?”
“Right,” he said.
