“You’re leaving?” I pout out.
“We’re going to meet Brazen in Salan, and we’re taking you with us,” he says before kissing me almost too hard.
“Oh,” I shiver out.
“You don’t have to tell him yet,” he sighs out.
“That’s not the problem. I’m just curious as to when I suddenly got approved for field detail again,” I murmur curiously.
“When we realized how fucked up everything is getting now that they’ve mutated the virus to start creating a whole new species. I told Clay I wanted you by my side during all of this, and he said he thought it was a good idea in case we needed you. Are you worried about being with me in front of Brazen?” he muses.
“You saw how crazy he got that night. I just don’t want it happening while everyone needs to stay focused,” I huff out.
“We’ll keep a low profile while out in the field to spare him the truth for a while,” he grumbles out, deliberately avoiding eye contact with me.
“I do love you, Hale, but I spent two years with him. I left him the first time he ever did anything wrong. I think I owe it to him to show some mercy so soon after our breakup.”
“I understand. I just want to know that it’s the only reason you don’t want to tell him,” he says with hesitance, and I step in front of him to pull his face down to mine.
“It is. I love you. Please just let me ease him into the transition.”
“I’ll do whatever you need me to as long as you’re not going back to him. If that happens, I’ll fuck his world up,” he almost growls, and I smirk as I pull him down to my lips.
“I’m yours,” murmur into his mouth, and I feel the wall behind me as my arms get pinned above my head by his strong hands.
“Good,” he breathes, “because I’m not giving you up ever again.”
I feel his erection that has either returned or never went away.
“You want to finish what we started?” I seduce.
He smirks a little, and releases my hands from their hold to douse my fire in ice cold water.
“Not yet,” he says with a mischievous grin.
“Really?” I huff.
He laughs lightly and pulls my hand in his while leading me out the doors to the outside. We make our way through a small playground, and tears fill up in my eyes when I realize where we are.
“Do you like it?” he asks so sweetly.
“You really did build a playground,” I murmur as my hand slides across a see-saw.
“I did. There’s a skating park on the back half, and there’s a swimming pool inside. There are tennis courts, basketball courts, volleyball courts… you name it. They’ll start growing up like normal kids instead of trained weapons without any reprieve from the real world. This will be a good outlet, and they’ll only be required to do the same amount of preparation as the others.”
Tears fill up in my eyes, and we walk into the school that holds children’s artwork and handprints for decoration. The lockers are a cold steel, but they are painted a vibrant red on the top and a boldly daring blue on the bottom. The rooms aren’t callous and unforgiving, they’re warm and inviting.
“We had all the hybrid children paint pictures, and then we had them come through and put their handprints on the wall. They got to pick their color of choice, and they spent the whole day decorating the school where they’ll be living. The dorms are upstairs,” he murmurs into my ear.
“Upstairs? Not the basement?” I gasp.
“They get a full view of the sun every time it’s in full glow, and they can see the tinted sky any time they want as well. No more basements,” he says while leaning up against a desk in a classroom.
My eyes take in the building that looks so much different than the one I was raised in. The softer lights feel more like a home than a prison, and the walls feel more peaceful, rather than suffocating.
“This is so unbelievable,” I gush, and then my lips rush his as my body presses firmly against his.
I can feel his smile behind the kiss, and he grips my hips to put me on the desktop.
