Page 136 of Surrendering Hope (The Hope Legacy)

Fresh tears pour down my cheeks. He lifts his hand and chases them with his thumb. “Don’t cry, I’m okay.”

I fall on to his chest and wrap him in a hug. “I’m not crying.”

He chuckles. “What happened?”

I pull away and push his dark curls away from his forehead. “Ty shot you, and you almost died. Jed healed you. How do you feel?”

“I’m okay, just a little tired.”

“It’ll be the blood loss. I’d offer to help you out, but lord knows what it would do, and I don’t need to bind any more people to me. One is bad enough.”

He frowns and sits up, wincing. “Zee being bonded to you is not a bad thing.”

“Anyone being forced to put their own life in danger to save yours is a terrible thing, it’s taking away his free will.”

“He would do it anyway, any of us would.”

“That’s scary, Duncan. I don’t want that for any of you. If I could release you, I would do it in a heartbeat.”

“Natia,” he uses my name, which makes me snap my head to him. His chocolate brown eyes soften. “It’s got nothing to do with any forced bond and everything to do with us being friends and working together.”

Zee walks through the door with Emi and Aaden hot on his heels. “You’re okay?” Zee asks, coming to a stop at the end of the bed with his arms crossed.

Duncan nods. “I am.”

Emi huffs. “I’m going to kill the cretin. How dare he stand in the way of a Primordial and threaten him.”

Duncan frowns. “Zac tried to stop Jed from healing you,” I explain.

“Why?”

“He’s angry I gave Ty the key and promised him the Jar within the next day.”

“So he was looking to punish you by letting me die?”

“That’s right,” Emi says. “He’s overstepped the mark and he will pay for it.”

Aaden wraps a hand around her waist. “He’s already paying for it.”

My eyebrows lift. “How?”

Zee laughs. “When you threw him against the warehouse wall and he wasn’t powerful enough to get through your cyclone of crazy.”

“He was so mad,” Aaden says.

Emi smirks as a flicker of amusement enters her gaze. “And humiliated.”

I smile. Good, he deserves it.

“You’re doing your creepy smile again,” Duncan mutters.

I blank my features. “I understand his anger,” I say, “but I’m livid that he would allow any one of us to die.”

“Jed’s gone to have that out with him,” Emi says.

“You have a plan, right?” Zee says to me.

I tug on my braid. “I do.”

---