Undying Hate | Book Three

Thirty-four | Connected

Claudine swallowed and cracked her knuckles, taking a half-step backwards. "You were dead-dead. It's been almost two days. You were fucking dead."

Elias' head whipped to Sylvie, and she shrank back. "I don't know what I did."

She cast her eyes on all of them and picked at her cuticles. Why were they staring at her like that? Like she was dangerous. Maybe bringing people back from the dead changed them into something evil, like that horror novel about zombie pets. But one look at Elias crushed that idea, thankfully.

"I think we better go inside and have this conversation," he said finally, a contemplative look on his perfectly sculpted face. He was perfect. No evil zombie there.

They walked silently, Sylvie separate from the rest as they headed for the main house. She climbed the porch behind Rowan and followed them into the living room.

Claudine and Rosie hung back, looking like they wanted to be as close to Sylvie as possible, while her mates looked like they wanted to be as far away as they could. 

They probably hated her after pulling away and swearing at them. She wouldn't blame them if they didn't talk to her again.

Kian sat beside Rowan on the giant wall-to-wall couch, careful not to bump his ribs, and Elias sat on the end, steepling his fingers like he were about to review her work productivity in the last six months. Bossy Elias was hot but not what she needed.

She kept gazing over him, fearing he would vanish at any given second like it was all a dream. She wished he would just hold her.

"Explain," Elias said.

She sat on an ottoman in front of them while Claudine and Rosie sat to the right on the floor. They made her look like a schoolteacher about to start a lesson. Maybe that could be her next job. She blinked. Focus, she needed to focus. 

It turned out that two days floating in and out of realms and drowning in unbearable grief fucked up a person.

She stood abruptly and walked to the kitchen, grabbing herself a drink of water, her throat so dry she gulped down two tall glasses before refilling and returning to the ottoman. 

After clearing the scratchiness from her throat, she explained the cocoon, the realm splicing, the zappy orb fish and the song.

"The same song you hummed when he got sick the first time?" Rowan asked.

"Yes."

"It shouldn't work like that, though," Rosie said.

"Yeah," Claudine added. "He was like fully dead."

Elias groaned and rubbed his face. "You may leave now, shifters."

The women gave one last admiring look to Sylvie and left the house. Now there would be no witnesses. 

Sylvie wriggled in front of them as if she were about to get a chastising. She had been horrible to them in her grief; they had to be mad. The things she said to Kian-

"Thank you," Kian said suddenly. He walked over and knelt in front of her, taking her hands and kissing her knuckles.

"Thank you for saving him."

She offered a small smile before her hiccups started, and tears fell down her cheeks. "I'm sorry for being so mean to you!"

He kissed her hands again with a small smile. "Insufferable," he whispered. She pulled his hands to her lips and kissed his knuckles right back. The warmth of his skin sent a thrill across her lips even as she cried.

Rowan came over next, his movements still jerky and pained.

"I left you," she cried, tentatively reaching towards his cheek. To her relief, he leaned into it and inhaled deeply.