“I told you that we were bound for all eternity, my darling. We were always going to find you. You’re our beating heart,” Kai tells me, the strength of his conviction flowing into me until I can stand a little taller. I open my eyes, my mind clearing a little more with each word, each syllable they make.
“What happened? Why am I here?” I ask, desperate to know the truth.
“Your…uncle…took you,” Ash replies, seeming a little unsure of his words. “And we think my father is involved too.”
“Adrian?” I question, my head giving a slight shake. “Took me?”
“Yes, and we think that he might be drugging you to keep you compliant,” Loki interrupts, a sound of pain followed after. “What? She needs to know,” he hisses, but I can barely hear him, my mind replaying all of the times that I ate, then felt so exhausted I had to sleep for hours. All of my confusion, all of my weakness suddenly made more sense.
My fingertips trace the fading bruising on my hips, the ones in the shape of fingertips. The nightmares, the visions of shadowed men, and dreams of Robert, the guy who tried to rape me.Were they imagined too?And what about my baby?
“Princess?” Ash asks, his voice laced with concern. “You still there?”
“Yeah,” I reply softly, clearing my throat and blinking.One thing at a time, Lilly.“ I think it’s in my food. The drug, I mean.”
Silence.
“Shit,” Ash curses, followed by the muffled sound of something smashing that makes me wince. “Keep it together!” Ash barks, but clearly, the comment is not aimed at me. “I’ll sort it, Princess. Don’t stop eating.”
A fissure of pleasure rolls through me like a feline stretching at his commanding words.
“So, what’s the plan?” I question, getting back to business, though the wonderful warming haze of knowing that they exist, that I didn’t dream up our time together, settles over me in a comforting blanket. Roman’s head is turned the other way, giving us as much privacy as he can, though I’ve got the feeling whatever happens next will involve the twins.
“That’s our girl,” Loki praises, and I can hear his smile, lighting up the sunny day even though I’m hundreds of miles away from him as I stand in the rose garden.
“My birthday is in two weeks,” Kai interjects, and I can just picture him pushing his glasses up his nose as he speaks, my breath hitching at the thought of the gesture. “We plan to fly to Amsterdam to celebrate.”
“Okay…” I say, trying to figure out what the next step is, but my fucking head is still so clouded.
“Once we get there, we’ll catch a plane to England, and with the help of our Shadow Crew friends, we’ll come and get you,” Ash adds, taking up where Kai finished.
“Oh.” I look back up at Roman, seeing a smirk on his admittedly pretty face. “Oh!” I gasp when it finally clicks. “The Shadows, Willow’s brother’s crew!”
Roman winks, then looks over his shoulder, his brow dipping.
“Gotta hang up now, pixie girl,” he tells me, his voice softening when he sees what must be my face falling.
“I love you, wife,” Ash murmurs in my ear, and if I close my eyes, I can pretend that he’s the one holding me up instead of a stranger.
“I love you, husband,” I whisper back, trying and failing to keep the tremor out of my voice.
“I love you, Pretty Girl. Give our baby a rub from me,” Loki tells me, his voice thick, and my lip trembles, tears freely dripping down my cheeks.
“I will. Love you too,” I respond, my heart aching so fiercely that I rub at it, trying in vain to ease the hurt.
“I love you, darling,” Kai whispers, his voice etched with sorrow.
“I love you too, my soul,” I tell him, feeling as though no truer words have ever been spoken. They are my soul as it no longer resides in me, and the pain of being parted is almost unbearable.
“I swear to you on my blackened heart and all that is left of my soul that we will come for you, and fucking dance in the blood of those that have harmed you, my love,” Jax vows, and his declaration is full of love and vengeance in equal measure, making my heart thrill.
“I love you with all that I am, Jax. All that I will ever be,” I say in return.
“Good girl,” he commends, his deep voice a rumbling growl that sends a shiver to my core, lighting me up from the inside out.
Before I can say another word, I hear footsteps on the grass behind us, and Roman plucks the earbud out, pocketing it and turning us around as I wipe my tears off my face with my sleeve.
I see Jacky hurrying over, her face damp and eyes puffy, and the thought that maybe her father’s accident wasn’t so accidental suddenly occurs to me. I freeze for a moment, but then realise that although I feel sorry for her, it doesn’t horrify me, nor the idea that my guys may have had a hand in the misfortune of an innocent bystander. I’m clearly not as lily-white as I used to be, and somehow, I’m not ashamed of that.