SWNOVELS Vicious Hearts: Chapter 42
I didn’t realize just how vile the air inside was until we stumbled out the front door into the street. I’ve been clinging to Cillian like a child since he freed me. But when he starts to help Neve lay Ares down, I let go of my grip to let him.
The two of them get the Drakos king down on the ground, Neve clinging to him and crying into his face as Cillian rips off the sleeve of his shirt and ties it tightly around the stab wound in Ares’ leg.
“Just muscle and some minor veins,” Cillian grunts quietly. “You’re going to get ten stitches, a tetanus shot, some antibiotics, and a fuck ton of great drugs. You’re going to be fine.”
“What I’m going to be is fucking punching you in the fucking nuts the first chance I get, you fucking psycho.”
Cillian grins.
So does Ares.
Neve turns and throws her arms around me, startling me.
“I’m so thankful you’re okay,” she sobs into my shoulder.
Something warm lights up inside of me. And some dark, frozen walls that have been standing guard around me for years slowly begin to crack, chip, and melt.
My family consisted of one person for so many years. Finn, who was as broken, aching, and lost as me.
I’ve never known this. And I want to know this all the time now.
Neve pulls away, crying happy tears as she drops to her knees next to Ares and pulls his head into her lap. I look up, the grin on my face so wide that it hurts as I stare up into New York City’s night sky, inhaling deeply.
Fresh air.
A fresh slate.
A fresh beginning, a chance to be reborn.
Sirens scream, whining closer and closer. A white Range Rover screeches up, Castle and Hades tumbling out of it and bolting for the front steps where we’re all standing. Behind them, another car skids in against the curb as Kratos and Callie come rushing over.
Strong arms circle me. I turn, tears running down my cheeks as I sob and look up into Cillian’s impossibly green gaze.
He searches my eyes. “Are you hurt?”
“Not anymore.”
His mouth crushes to mine, my arms circling his neck as the world around us disappears.
Two broken pieces, fitting together perfectly.
Two black, bruised hearts, beating together as one.