Page 84 of Taken By the Blood God

I cleaned up the remnants of my spell and went to find my phone. It was time to call reinforcements.

An hour later, Ally and Sela arrived together, carrying a box of petit fours from Marjorie’s bakery. I’d asked them to pick it up from the bakery on their way to my house. As soon as Ally walked in and saw my face, she hurried over and threw her arms around me.

“Minmin, what’s going on?” she asked, squeezing me tightly.

I sank into her hug. I hadn’t realized how much I needed it until she was here. When Ally released me and stepped back, she saw the tears in my eyes. Which made her eyes fill as well.

“What’s wrong? Are you sick?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No, no. I just realized how much I missed you.”

Then, she was hugging me again. “I missed you, too.”

“All right, all right. It’s my turn,” Sela said, nudging Ally out of the way to give me a hug.

My niece just laughed and moved aside, picking up the box of petit fours where Sela had left it on the table beside the door.

“You okay, Minerva?” Sela whispered in my ear.

“I will be,” I whispered back.

Releasing her, I looked at them both. “Let’s go into the kitchen and have some tea with our treats. And I’ll tell you why I asked you here.”

Once we sat down, I let the entire story spill out. How Talant lied to me. How much it hurt because I’d been falling in love with him.

And the fact that I was pregnant.

When I was done, they were both looking at me with their mouths hanging open.

“This all happened since the last time we talked?” Sela asked.

I nodded.

Ally shook her head. “I didn’t even know that you were interested in Talant like that. Why didn’t you tell me? We’ve been talking a couple of times a week since he’s been here!”

I shrugged. “You just mated Dax. And you had a lot to deal with leading up to waking Talant. I didn’t want to give you more to worry about.”

My niece scowled at me, crossing her arms over her chest. “And if I told you something like that, what would you say to me?”

“It’s not the same thing,” I insisted. “I’m supposed to take care of you. Not the other way around.”

Her eyes narrowed even more. “I don’t agree. I’m an adult now. I’ll always need you, just in a different way. But because I’m an adult, that means that we take care of each other. Understand?”

I nodded, blinking back more damn tears. Goddess, I loved my niece so much.

“Okay, now, back to your issue with Talant and my future cousins,” Ally said. “You asked how you could let him back in when he had the power to hurt you so much? The power to bring you to your knees?”

I nodded.

“You realize that you have that same power over Talant, right?” she pointed out. “He said he loves you and that he’ll wait as long as it takes. What is love, but giving your heart to someone and giving them the ability to hurt you to your core?”

She had a point, but before I could say that Sela interrupted.

“Tal deserves to have his ass kicked for lying to you,” she said.

“I don’t disagree, but I’m not sure what comes after that.”

Sela rested her elbows on the table, leaning over them, a serious expression on her face. “Can you forgive him?”

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