Page 82 of Blood Bound (Blood Mafia 3)

It takes a minute, but Zander opens the door. His mop of curly hair is a mess and he leans against the door frame with a yawn.

“Morning, sunshine.” He gives me a lazy smile.

“Hey. How are you feeling?” I touch the skin on his neck. There’s no scarring.

Thank you, Odin, for supernatural healing.

Yes, I realize Odin doesn’t have anything to do with this, but we’re going with it.

“Like a brand-new man. God that was lame.” He wrinkles his nose and opens the door so I can come in. I drop my hand from his skin and enter.

“Humor as deflection always works, trust me, I’m an expert.”

He laughs. “Solid advice, D.”

I poke his back and chuckle. “Shut it, Z.”

We sit on the couch and silence stretches between us for a few minutes. I bite my lip, hating that I have to address the elephant in the room.

“I’m sorry for what happened to Tyra and X, Zander. If I had any idea, I wouldn’t have let you all stay here.” I pick at a loose thread on my shirt.

Zander’s apartment smells like them. Tyra had this flowery perfume I honestly didn’t notice until now, and X’s musky amber mingles with the sweeter scent in the best way. Complementary.

Perfect.

Like they were together.

Placing his hand on my knee, he squeezes it. “Demi, you can’t carry the weight of it all. We made the decision to go along with you, knowing the risks. You didn’t force us to go.”

Deciding not to harp on about the issue, I shrug. “Thank you for saying that, Zander. It means a lot to me.”

He pats my leg and removes his hand. “We’re going to get X back, right?”

“I called Blaze, he has contacts in the Underworld apparently.”

“Evelyn mentioned that this morning.”

I meet his steady gaze, knowing full well by the look he’s giving me she told him what I said.

“I really fucked up,” I tell him.

With a shake of his head, he sighs. “We all fuck up from time to time. What matters is that you don’t continue to do it. When are you going to talk to her?”

I wonder if she’s listening right now. Odin knows she can hear everything that’s happening in this building if she wants to. I hope she’s out and not listening to me talk it out with Zander.

“Tomorrow. Mateo said I should give her a day.”

He smiles. “I never thought I’d see the day when you took advice from him.”

Dropping my head onto the back of the sofa, I roll my eyes. “Ha, ha. You’re funny now that you’ve died and come back, you know that?”

“Maybe,” he says, rubbing his jaw. “Something dying taught me is that there’s too much beauty in the world to waste time being mad or sad.”

I understand what he means. Coming back to life is an odd feeling, but what if I never got the chance to heal? What if one of these days someone truly kills me?

“I heard you, you know?”

His question pulls me out of my head. “Huh?”

---