Page 121 of Bones

I didn’t say the words out loud, but Deke knew. Of course he did.

Pressing his lips to the top of my head, he whispered, “That’s why you have me.”

I have him.

Not for a while. Not temporarily.

Not…

A thought hit me, instantly tightening my stomach in a way I couldn’t suppress. Bile burned in my throat, and the vengeance and violence I’d experienced earlier returned.

Times a million.

Deke’s hold tightened like he expected me to bolt and was ready to restrain me. “My one?”

Even though he’d clearly felt the change, I did my best to hide the homicidal intent that filled me at just the idea of Deke coming home smelling like another woman’s perfume. I forced my voice to be nonchalant. “I get that we’re soulmates, destined to be paired together. But I just want to make sure we’re on the same page about what that means.”

“I’m yours. You’re mine. For all of our immortal lives. End of fucking story.”

“I’m immortal?”

“Not anxious to test that, but I would guess so unless Absolve or someone else grows strong enough to change shit. The powers-that-be wouldn’t give me you just to take you away a short lifetime later.”

Huh.

“And you’re okay with just me for all that time?” I asked.

I might’ve, maybe, slightly, kind of been fishing for reassurances.

Deke didn’t let me down.

“There is nojustwhen it comes to you, Aurora. Waited centuries, and now that I have you, I’d have waited centuries longer, and it still would’ve been worth it. If I ever lost my damn mind and even looked at another woman, you have my permission to cut off my left nut and throw it to the moose.”

“Only the left one?”

“Or the right. Dealer’s choice.” Roughly fisting my hair, he tugged me so my body was half on his and his knee was pressed between my spread legs. “But know this… If another man touches you, I will rip his hands off, beat him with them, and then take my time killing him. It’ll be slow. It’ll be painful. And I’ll enjoy every second. Whatever you did to that bastard today, it wasn’t enough.”

“I kicked him in the crotch a few times, and then Denny turned him to dust.”

“Wasn’t enough,” he repeated.

“At least he’s dead, baby.”

His dark eyes lit, a small smile playing at his mouth. “You called me baby.”

Fifteen minutes.

His smile disappeared. “Tell me more about your relationship with that prick.”

“We snuck around for a while. It was exciting. I thought I was happy.Wanted. One day, he pulled me into one of the empty meeting rooms to fool around, and we got caught by Pastor Gideon. He lost his mind. Not at Ryan, even though he was the adult. At me and only me. He dragged me from the building, calling me every name and then some. Once we were at his house, all hell broke loose. Screaming. Pushing. Hitting.”

Staring at the brick wall, I saw every vivid detail like they’d just happened.

My lip had been split. My eyes were both swollen, and I’d known there was blood in them by the red film that’d coated everything.

I’d heard the floor creak. Bleary-eyed, hope had swelled in my chest that someone was there to help. That Ryan had followed us. But it’d been Claire. She’d watched from the doorway as he continued his abuse, smirking at me the whole time.

“I got a vision while he was beating the harlot slut out of me,” I continued. “Him with various members of the church in prayer meetings where theiroh-godswere far from holy. Like always, I hadn’t been able to hold back. What I’d seen spilled from my bloody mouth. I think, on some level, I’d wanted to scare him. Show I had some power. Something to hold over him. But it backfired. He lost his mind. He dragged me to my tiny bedroom at the back of the house and tied me to the bed. Bible in one hand and his other a tightly clenched fist, he’d performed an exorcism that’d ended with him burning me with the cross until I lost consciousness.”

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