Reaching Retribution(9)

When I hear the sound of a door opening, I pull back and look around the room. “It’s okay. It was just David and Emma,” Colton says.

I turn back and look at Colton. He’s watching me. Normally, I would squirm under his gaze, but today I don’t. I lean forward and kiss him lightly again. “I’m sorry.”

“I love you too. I’m sorry I didn’t say it back before.” Colton wraps his arms around me and pulls me against his chest. I curl into this side. I can hear his heart beating in his chest—the heart that belongs to me. He holds my heart and I his. I wrap my arm around his waist and pull him closer to me. “There was nothing I could do, Ry. I watched you die right in front of me again, but I couldn’t do anything this time. I couldn’t,” he choked. I roll over and prop my arms on his chest.

“I couldn’t let her die, Colton. She’s Bragden’s soulmate.”

“What?”

“James told me. I was given that vision for a reason which means that Incendia has a bigger role in all this. We need her alive.”

“We need you alive too, Ryanne,” he tells me. “You’re my soulmate.”

“Which is why I’m here,” I say.

Colton reaches forward and tucks a loose curl behind my ear. “How are you here?”

“I overcame some things,” I vaguely say.

“I understand,” Colton says. I’ll reveal everything to him one day, but for now, I think that I should keep it to myself. I start to crawl out of bed, I really do need to take a shower, but Colton pulls me back. “Just let me hold you for a little bit.”

I lean back down and rest against his chest. I’ll never walk away from him again.

Never.



After my shower, I call everyone back into the hotel room. They are all sitting around waiting for me to start talking. I’m trying to ignore the large blood stain in the middle of the carpet. I don’t need to be reminded that I died recently…again. However, my eyes keep landing on it. I died in that spot. In that exact spot…I pulled a dagger out of my skin.

I tear my eyes away from the spot and move toward the door. Before my gaze gets there, I meet a pair of grey eyes staring at me. Without thinking, I run across the room and launch myself at Liam. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I hug him too me. A second later, I feel his arms wrap around my waist and my feet are lifted off the ground.

“I’m so sorry,” I whisper to him. I don’t know what he went through specifically while I was…preoccupied on another plane…but I know that he was probably affected. Claire told me that if I didn’t make it back Liam would have died.

Putting me back on the ground, Liam crouches down so that he’s at eyelevel with me. “Please don’t put us through that again,” he whispers. I’m aware that everyone is watching us, but I don’t care. “There are too many people here that love you, and none of us like witnessing that.” I can see the sadness in his eyes. My eyes move back to the bloodstain on the floor again, but Liam grabs my chin and makes me look at him.

“I don’t care what happens to me, Ryanne. I accepted the consequences when I gave you that pendant, but look around you. Look at all these people that just watched you die.” When Liam lets go of my chin, I glance around the room. Like I suspected, everyone is watching us—all with relieved looks on their faces. “You keep this group together,” he whispers to me. I return my attention to him, and bite my lip, trying to keep my tears down.

Stepping forward again, I hug him. Liam always knows what to say and what I need to hear. He’s amazing like that. I pull back, but before I step away, I place a small kiss on his cheek. He gives me a surprised look, but stands back up and moves beside Natalie.

Trying to lighten the mood, I give him a small smile. “At least I still haven’t gotten shot again.”

“Don’t jinx it,” he mumbles, but I see the small smile he’s trying to hide.

I start to head back to Colton when someone else grabs me and hugs me. Instantly recognizing Bragden, I hug him back. Because of me, he almost lost his brother. I apologize to him like I did Liam, but he instantly starts shaking his head. He doesn’t say anything though. He doesn’t have to. I can read everything I need to from his expression.

Letting go of me, I finally make it across the room and back to my soulmate. “Ok, I think we need to leave here. We need to get back to finding other mages. We need to go back to the plan.”

“Ryanne, you just died,” Emma says.

“And now I’m alive. I’ve died before, you all know that. I’m back, it’s all good. Let’s move on from that. We need to stick with the plan.”