The Cost of Love

Chapter 34

I couldn't help but selfishly think, when would that be me? But I shook the thought away as fast as it came. It wouldn't be me. Connor promised he would fight it. He promised. I carefully brushed the hair away from his eyes with my fingers. I knew he was strong for fighting the poison for this long, but I couldn't help but stare at his chest, to feel a sense of relief every time I saw it go up in down with his labored breathing. 

This whole week I'd seen mates scream and sob over the loss of their everything. Adrian, however, hadn't witnessed it like this before. He stared wide-eyed at the doorway, the words from before dying in his throat. 

"Holy shit," he breathed. "It's horrible. It's all horrible." His adams apple bobbed up and down as  he couldn't tear his eyes away from the hallway. 

"I can't leave," I said, my voice hoarse  That got him to finally look away from the horror and focus on Connor. Understanding filled his features, and he nodded once. 

"I'll stay here with you, then." 

"Aid, you don't have to - "

"Stop," he interrupted, silencing me with a serious look in his eyes. "I know you don't want to go home, but you don't have to be alone here, Kiara." 

"I'm not alone," I said weakly. Yet, was the word hanging over the both of us. Adrian sighed and sunk into another metal chair. He scooted it beside me and hugged me close. I returned it, but I didn't take my eyes off of Connor. 

We spent a few minutes in silence, listening to the comforting stable beeps of the heart monitor. 

"I broke up with Isabel the other day," Adrian said. 

I turned around to look at him, my eyebrows raised in question. 

"I just..." he started. "After everything that's happened. After seeing all of this." He motioned to Connor. "Who am I to reject my mate? I told Isabel everything, and I told her I want to try with Savannah. Not that it's guaranteed she'll even give me a chance after the way I treated her, but I have to try. I can't lose her." 

I gave him a small smile. It was the first time I smiled in a week, I realized. "I'm happy for you, Aid," I told him. "Sav will forgive you. You can't stay mad at your mate for too long..." I trailed off, the somber mood coming back to me in full force. I remembered the determination in his features as Connor told me about the whole plan, about how he was meant to kill me and my family. About how he couldn't, because he loved me. Loves. He loves me. 

"The last thing I said to Connor was that I was going to destroy him if he ever came back here," Adrian stated, keeping his eyes on Connor's form. "I want to say that I'm sorry." 

"You will," I responded. "You'll be able to tell him. And he knows you were just trying to protect me. You didn't see how he looked when he was telling me everything. He... hated himself. For a long time." 

"He's lucky to have you, Keek."