Page 10 of Unleashed
My jaw tightens. “I didn’t know who else to call.”
“I’m glad it's me.” Our gazes lock for a second, and I see nothing but peace in her eyes.
“Fuck,” I mutter, roughing a hand through my hair. “I lost myself when he took her, Leandra. I swear to God, I’ve never experienced anything like it. That complete darkness, like there’s?—”
“No hope?”
I glance at her, her green eyes soft and caring. Sympathetic. “Yeah.”
“And you called me.”
“After—”
“It doesn’t matter. You took the time to make that phone call,” she says with a half-smile. “You controlled yourself, controlled those Del Rossa instincts enough to pause and make that call.” Her tone is delicate, attempting to cushion the jagged shards threatening to tear me apart. “You were ready to go scorched earth. And maybe you still are. But you didn’t. You listened. And I know that took everything in you.”
I stare ahead, letting the silence hang. “You told me if I kept chasing vengeance, I’d lose her for good.”
“You know the story,” she replies, firm but kind. “Alexius nearly broke us when he locked me away. When he thought control meant protection. It doesn’t. You and I both know that.”
I grind the cigarette under my boot, then settle my gaze on the furthest point of the garden. “I wanted to kill my brother when he did that to you.”
“I know.”
I glance at her. “I want to be what she needs, Leandra.”
“What she needs isn’t your war. She needs your honesty. She needs to feel safe with you. Not because you threaten everyone around her—but because you choose her over your mess. Because you control your beast for her.”
“And what if I lose her because of that?”
“Then at least you know you haven’t hurt her more than you already have.”
A hint of a smirk curls at the edges of my lips when I look at her. “You went from interrogating her to giving me relationship advice. That's quite a leap.”
Leandra shrugs elegantly, her smile almost apologetic. “I was quick to judge out of purely selfish reasons and acted like you were mine to lose. But now…Now I speak as a woman who loves a man who’s very much like you.”
I cock a brow at her. “Alexius and me? Alike? I doubt it.”
“Oh, but you are.” She grins. “You’re both fire with no off switch. Rage, hate, love—whatever it is, you don’tfeelit, youliveit. You let it consume you, define you. And when it’s love…” Her voice softens, but her eyes don’t lose their edge. “You burn the whole world down just to hold on to it.”
I glance away, jaw flexing.
“You don’t know how to love in halves,” she says quietly. “Neither does he. And that’s beautiful…until it’s not. Until it hurts the people you love.”
I huff out a breath, dragging a hand down my face. “So what? I just tone it down? Learn to love like a fucking housecat?”
She laughs, soft and knowing. “No. You learn to hold back when it counts. To bleed for her in silence instead of blowing up the world to prove a point.”
I exhale slowly, pressing my palms into my knees. “You think I can be the man she needs?”
“I think you already are,” she murmurs. “But you need to stop fighting to keep her in a cage and start fighting to deserve her.”
Her words hit harder than I expected, because they’re true.
“I’ve fucked everything up.”
“Yes,” Leandra says simply. “But it’s not too late. Just don’t make her climb through the wreckage alone.”
She nudges my shoulder then stands. “You didn’t come back here to run from your mistakes, Isaia. You came back to become someone she can run to.”
