Page 171 of Dark Haven Omegaverse

This was a glimpse of our future, the one I’d fight for. I wanted to know this version of him, to share these moments and fall even more in love.

“I love you, Hiro.”

He froze at my words, but I wouldn’t take them back, knowing that my life could be over at any minute.

Once we were back at Dark Haven, Hel could snap her fingers and someone would try to throw me into the void.

That put things into perspective for me, and I would not hold anything back now.

“I don’t expect you to say it back to me—” He slammed his lips to mine, kissing me with more passion than he ever had before. When he pulled away, he was smiling even bigger than before.

“I love you, too, Harlow. I didn’t want to say it too soon but it’s true.”

We stared at each other with goofy grins on our faces. The bond thrummed with happiness and all I could feel was him and me inside of it. Everyone else was muted and quiet, letting us have this moment that wasjustours.

The librarian cleared his throat as he approached, the books levitating over the table before slamming down with a thud. We had to scramble to catch the ones falling off the top. There were easily fifteen books in the stack.

“Thank you, librarian,” I said. He nodded sharply and went to stand off to the side. I assumed we could just call out to him and he would come back, but for then we had more than enough to look through.

We each grabbed a book and dove in. They were huge and the writing small, shout out to Loki for being the world’s best hangover cure or this would have gone very differently.

I moved onto a new book fairly quickly, skimming as fast as possible in hopes of getting through as much as I could in two hours.

We flipped the pages, spouting out information whenever something popped up. Which was generally vague.

We threw out random things we found, but overall, it was all useless.

Finally, I found something interesting. Thank, fuck.

“Here’s something on the blade that she gave me. It says it’s the only one that can truly send the demons back to hell and keep them from coming right back through the portal. So, the warded weapons Drake gave you guys aren’t going to be as effective. No wonder they just keep respawning like an awful video game.”

“I guess that’s why she gave it to you since you’re the one who supposedly is going to figure out how to close this. I don’t understand why she wouldn’t just tell you how,” he muttered.

I must have shown something on my face because he slid the books aside to look at me closer.

“What is it that you’re not telling us?”

I shook my head. The emotion was choking me. I couldn’t have formed words to tell him even if I wanted to.

“Harlow, tell me. I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.” There was a desperation in his tone, and I finally cracked.

“Hel said she’s going to sacrifice me. Well, it’s Hel, she didn’t outright say it but she confirmed it. Then she spouted some bullshit about how it wouldn’t be the end of life for me. Which I assumed meant she was going to make me a demon or something in Helheim, but she said I’d be something new, different. She’s so cryptic it’s hard to read between the lines. At the end of the day, it’s still pretty clear.” I glanced up and finally met his eyes. “I’m going to have to die for Hel.”

“Over my dead body,” Hiro said vehemently.

“I’m stuck at Dark Haven. I can’t leave Monty or Kol there and they can’t exactly go far from the portal. It honestly explains why he only came to me in short bursts before I came here. This is where I belong and now it’s apparently where I’ll die. Just when everything I’ve ever wanted is within reach.”

“You need to tell the others. They can keep you safe, Harlow. You’re not alone and on the run anymore. We have each other and between all of us, we can stop this. There has to be something else. Another way.”

“I don’t want anyone else to die for me,” I muttered, a single tear slipped out and he reached over, brushing it off my cheek.

He used two fingers under my chin to lift my face. I met his gaze and the fire burning in his green eyes was enough to steal my breath.

“You. Are. Not. Alone.” He said each word with emphasis so I couldn’t doubt it.

“Okay,” I relented. He nodded once and went back to his books, a new desperation in his body language as he flipped the pages.

He was the next to break the silence.

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