Sunset to Sunrise (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #7.5)

It was all I had to give, all I could do to make her understand. There were no further words needed. I’d said what had been building in me.

Alexa’s silence said more than she might have realized. It was her own way of quietly refusing to acknowledge what had to be done. There was only one way to free me from the chains her power held me in. I had escaped final death at Shya’s hand only to become her slave. It had to be Alexa’s decision to set me free. Until then, I would have her back because, though I was completely under her spell, it didn’t force me to love her. That I did of my own free will.

I stepped aside to let her pass when she left the room. Guilt and sorrow followed her. It was all I could do to remain where I stood. Watching her go, I knew things were far from settled between us. I never thought I was blameless. It was because of our forbidden desire for one another that she had refused to let me die the night I begged her to. I was just as guilty of crossing the line as she was.

Hard times lay ahead. As long as Shya sought the scroll, Alexa was in danger. I would do whatever she needed of me. In the meantime, I would wait. In the chains forged from her need to possess me. In my own prison born of a love that was never meant to be. Our time would come. Then this tale of forbidden love would come to an end, one way or another.

“Hey, Alexa,” I called after her. “Welcome home.”