“This has to be over.” Krystian turns desperate eyes onto me. “Please let this be over.”
Everett, who has remained silent up until now, stands abruptly.
“All right, everyone but Thea out,” he barks.
The guys blink at him.
“Ex-fucking-cuse me?” Krystian asks.
“I want you three to do a perimeter check,” Everett instructs. “Until we know for certain this is over, we need to be on our guard twenty-four seven.”
Zaid, Rafe, and Krystian all exchange an indecipherable look before they nod and stand. One by one, they stop where I sit, kissing whatever part of me they can reach—my head, temple, and cheek.
“We’ll be back soon,” Zaid says, grabbing his coat off the hanger.
The other two nod and follow him outside.
Leaving me alone with a hulking, surly beast.
I push food around with my fork, heaving out a breath. “I know you sent them away so you can get me alone.”
“We need to talk.” Everett folds his arms over his chest and jerks his chin towards the living room. “Let’s move somewhere more comfortable. We both know you’re not eating that.”
I agree easily and shuffle towards the living room, my feet dragging. I feel…different. I have memories of my past now, but I’m not sure I even want them. They paint a picture that’s nothing but jagged lines and bloody strokes.
God, why couldn’t my past have been beautiful and loving? Why does it need to be a double-edged sword that stabs and slices?
I move onto the couch and place my legs underneath me. Everett sits opposite me, his expression for once unguarded but no less intense.
“What do you need from us, Thea?” He leans forward, as if to take my hands in his, but pulls back before he can make contact.
But fuck that. I want him to touch me. I want them all to. The last thing I need is for them to treat me like I’m made of glass. At one point, they saw me as their equal, a warrior just like them.
I capture his hands in mine, holding tight.
“I…I don’t know,” I confess, exhaling raggedly.
“Do you want to talk about what you saw in the vision? Talk to a therapist? Do you want us to slow down with you, give you space?”
“No!” I say quickly. Then, working to lower my voice, I repeat, “No, I don’t want space.”
Everett swallows. “I don’t have memories of you before we met a few days ago. None of us do, but I wish I did. I wish you didn’t have to carry this burden alone.”
My heart swells then meets resistance against the barbed wire surrounding it. “I don’t want you four to remember everything. It’s not… It doesn’t have a happy ending.”
“But we must’ve had good times as well, right?” A surprisingly vulnerable expression crosses his face.
My lips twitch. “We did.”
“Tell me about the good times. If you want.”
So I do.
Everett chuckles when he realizes even his younger self was an ass to me, then he glows with pride when I describe how I bested him in the training ring. I don’t mention Ares once as I describe the very few memories I have of us all together.
Somehow, I find myself leaning against him on the couch, my back flush to his chest and his arms coiled around mine.
“You know, when we first met, I never would’ve thought we’d end up here,” I say, tilting my head back to smile up at him. “Who knew you were just a big teddy bear underneath that gruff exterior?”
