Page 50 of Gambling with Time

“How am I supposed to fight if you guys trap me in the middle of all of you?”

“You can fight the monsters that get through,” he replied.

I crossed my arms. No way. That wasn’t together. And it felt like he was suffocating me with protection I didn’t need. Just because I was pregnant didn’t make me less of a capable, bad-ass woman. Although, he’d been pretty mild since finding out, so maybe it was the hormones talking.

“That will set us up for failure,” Bellamy said.

I wasn’t sure if he was only saying it because he could hear my thoughts and see how close to the edge I was and didn’t want me to say, ‘Fuck this, I’ll do it myself.’ Was I fully aware I would fail? Yes. But that stupid thing called pride pushed at me.

One of us would have to give if this would work.

“Sammy, don’t look at me that way. I know that expression. And I swear to all of the Gods, if you try to run off, you will find yourself locked in a tower.”

I pressed my lips together and looked at the other two who had been quietly watching us. “Alastor? Lex?”

Alastor ran his hand over Cerberus’ soft fur as he leaned back in his chair. “I think we need a compromise. It isn’t realistic to expect you not to fight. You have been a demon hunter from the moment I met you, and I’m sure that will never change. But I can see Raiden’s point of view. And part of me wants to offer up my tower room for the purposes of keeping you safe.” He paused, his eyes darted between the two of us. I opened my mouth to argue the idea of actually locking me up when he held up a single finger. “But, if there is something I have learned from my father, it is that life is better when your partner has her full agency. My mother was not always the happy and kind Goddess she is now. When he first trapped her, she lost it and almost tore the palace to shreds in her anger. So as much as I want to protect you, Samantha, I want to protect what we have together more. Which might make me a selfish bastard, but I’m okay with that description if our relationship stays strong.”

A smile tugged at my lips as his words made me feel like I was going to melt. I turned to Lex, and he shrugged.

“Ditto? Alastor might have the flare for the dramatics from his dad, but he’s right.”

I laughed but sobered as I brought my gaze back to Rai’s.

“Rai, I need you to trust in me.”

“It doesn’t look like it matters, because I’ve been out voted. The odd man out again.”

I sucked in a shocked breath. He couldn’t really feel that way, could he? I thought we had gotten past that.

“That isn’t true,” I said. Emotion clogged my throat. This life growing inside of me was making my moods swing wildly, and it was starting to make me feel a little crazy. “We are a team. If one of us doesn’t agree then we won’t do it.”

He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. A puff of smoke flowed from his nose, trailing lazily to the ceiling, before he sighed. “Alastor is right. I think you need protected, but in reality, you are one of the strongest people I know, man or woman. If anyone can hold their own in a fight, it’s you. I’ve watched you grow up becoming the beautiful, strong-willed, powerful woman you are. That is who I fell in love with. And this new life,” he said, closing the distance between us, his hand landing on my stomach. “It is only going to make you fiercer. You protect what and who you love with everything you have and for me to ask you not to, that was my dragon speaking. Because although I can see all of that, all he sees is someone he considers his throwing herself into danger, again.”

Tears flowed down my cheeks, and I rested my hand over his. With a shaky breath, I wiped them from my face. Pull it together, Samantha.

“So we are going to do this?” I whispered, meeting each of their eyes.

CHAPTER 29

Bellamy

The city was quiet this late. Only the monsters that go bump in the night were still out and about. Not that there was any reason for them to be. With all the humans home and safe in their beds, there was no point. Even Fantasia was closed.

I strolled through the streets searching for the vampire that tried to turn me over to the Leyak. He was probably running scared with his boss eliminated.

The warehouse had been empty, the demons that sided with the dark mage scattered in the wind. Some may have returned home, pretending that they never attempted to reach for another life. In a way, I understood them. It was why I came here in the first place, driven to find something, anything to replace the hole that had been left in my life when Tristan found a new family.

Not that I hadn’t been able to see him still. It was different. Because even if I hung out with him, the bond he had with his harem and his twin brother, I felt like I was on the outside looking in.

A rock jumping over cement drew my attention to the alley I was just about to pass. I narrowed my eyes, looking into the inky darkness of the shadows that clung to the walls. My gaze caught on a figure as it launched from the bricks and rushed past me in a blur.

Vampire. And with how he ran, I would put bets on it being the one I was searching for. Damn.

“I just want to talk!” I shouted. If it was him, he’d hear me with his sensitive ears. A second later, I was proven right as he came to a stop five feet in front of me.

“So talk,” he said.

“I know you were only following orders. Even when I didn’t have my memories, I saw that.”

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