“She’s done. Now we just have to wait on her to wake up,” Clay murmurs softly, and Hale hands me two vials of olophine.
I start to take them, but I feel my body releasing the savage on its own when my need for it no longer stands. Everyone gasps as my eyes return to normal without the injection. Hale’s eyes are wide in disbelief as my pupils return to smaller size, and he kisses my forehead while pocketing the medicine I didn’t even need.
“I’ll add that to the list of bizarre too,” Gabe huffs out in exasperation.
“She’s amazing, isn’t she?” Hale coos with adoration seeping from his tone.
I smile as my lips fall on his, and I yawn out my exhaustion from the tiring few days I’ve suffered. He pulls me to his softly firm chest. Then I feel a cool hand on my shoulder as Brazen’s comforting touch offers me a hint of his amazing ability to give me peace.
“Thanks for not tearing me apart,” he says with morbid humor.
“Thanks for not being scared of me,” I murmur back while offering him a warm smile.
“Never,” he quietly releases, and then he walks over to join Clay as he stares down at the girl he prays he has saved.
“You really did a number on her. I’m almost scared to give her blood. What if she wakes up and she’s not better?”
“She will be. I know you, Clay, and I know you wouldn’t be done with her if you hadn’t thoroughly checked each strand of her blood. You were meant for her because of this reason. Now wake her up.”
He sighs out, and Brazen pats his shoulder while moving to the fridge to pull out several packs of blood. He hands it to Clay, and I can see the hesitance in his eyes. It’s mingling with guilt, which tells me he’s not scared to wake her up because he’s worried what she’ll do, he’s scared to face her after all she has been through.
“She’ll love you as much as ever, Clay. You didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t know. She needs you right now.”
After taking a deep, shaky breath, he pours the blood into her mouth while massaging her throat with his hand. Angelica and Grayson move to join us, and her hand rests on my shoulder as she watches the blood going to work. Everyone’s breaths still, and then we all tense up when Symphony coughs in her first deep breath.
Her eyes are the first thing I find, and I sigh in relief when I see the true blue they should be. Clay’s eyes water as he strokes her hair, and her trembling body lies as still as it can under the circumstances.
Tears begin surging from her eyes as reality overwhelms her, and Hale’s grip tightens on me when he realizes how close he was to feeling like Clay. She sobs louder, and Clay seems uncertain of what to do. He pulls her hand in his, and she leans over to bury her head against his body.
Tears fall from his eyes as he strokes her hair while holding her to him, and she slithers up to rest her head on his chest before muttering, “I’m sorry,” through her wails.
“No, baby. I’m the one who’s sorry,” he chokes out, and her lips find his for the first time in so, so long.
The table rattles as he jerks her up, and Hale motions for everyone to leave and give them some privacy. Gabe smiles with tears staining his aged eyes as we walk out, and he pats my arm softly.
“She’ll have a lot to say once she calms down,” he chirps.
“She’ll have a lot of scars to heal first. I don’t want to grill her for information. Anything she gives us will be null and void anyways. Once Ty realizes she’s gone, he’ll abandon all of his hideaways, his plans, and anything else she knows about. He’ll have to restructure his entire plan of attack.”
“Ah,” he sighs, and Hale’s arms wrap around me as his soft lips consume my neck.
“I’m taking Araya to bed. Should we use the same room?” he murmurs to Gabe.
“That will be perfectly fine. Thank you for trusting me with all of this. I fear I may not be strong enough to help you, but I promise I’ll die trying.”
I place my hand over his, feeling how much it has been softened by time and wrinkles, and then my eyes stare into the ones riddled with worry and dread.
“No one else is going to die. I wouldn’t be here if that was a fear of mine. He doesn’t have a true link to her like real counters do. Now that she’s reunited with Clay, he has nothing. He’ll be angry and careless when he feels too invincible, and that’s when I’ll kill him. I promise you will be safe as long as I’m alive.”
He lets a bit of a laugh free, and then he leans down to kiss the top of my head.
“I always forget how truly strong you are. There was a lot of heart put in that small body. You still amaze me, and I still feel so small next to you.”
“You shouldn’t. What you’ve done for these hybrids has saved them from turning to men like Ty. They have a better life they’re proud to live, and they aren’t dwelling on the pains of their past.”
“That’s the reason I isolate them from full bloods. Seeing them usually brings their minds back to a time of torture.”
“Brazen hasn’t ever tortured anyone,” I murmur while glancing over at my full blood who is helping an older lady move some of her fruit back to her stand before closing time.
