Page 27 of Unbroken

“Esme will come around. Whatever it is I am sure she will open up. Maybe she’s trying to put some distance between the two of you now that she and Sam are Mated.” Rodyn looks up at me, face relaxed, no mask in place, just him sitting cross legged on the edge of the path.

“Maybe.” I shrug. “She looks like she hasn’t slept in days. I mean, I know she’s newly Mated but—"

“You doubt they’re fucking like rabbits?” Rodyn laughs as my eyes widen. “Micah Jones, I didn’t take you as a prude at heart at all. Not with my brothers as your Tethers.” He smiles, and I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed this side of him before. This feels easy between us, carefree banter between the two of us, but I guess it was hard won.

“You think I’ve reached the entire campus?” I ask as the tingling in my fingers and toes subsides.

“What does your magic tell you?” he asks as he stands, dusting the dirt from his gray joggers. Very underdressed by Rodyn’s usual standards, but hell, I am not going to deny that I like what I see.

I close my eyes, because yeah, I need to be serious here. My Earth Elemental magic has stopped flowing through me. The world around us is brighter, even more alive than it was before. There is a feeling of wholeness coming from the ground, and that is the only answer I need.

I shift my feet, stepping on something, I look down and see I am surrounded by black dahlias. I guess when the flower chose me, it wasn’t just a coincidence, it was the magic of this place.

“I think I got it all,” I finally say with a sense of satisfaction. I can’t believe that weeks ago I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing something of this magnitude, but I am different. I died, and I changed; a metamorphosis. I always wanted to be a butterfly, I guess in a way, I am. Shining and new with myriad colors, sans the wings.

“Do you trust me?” Rodyn’s question has my butterfly image crashing to the graveled pavement. He holds his hand out to me, and I pause. I can see the uncertainty in his eyes, a subtle flinch. He’s unsure what I’ll say, and I think it’s time we talk to one another.

“If you had asked me before that night, I wouldn’t have hesitated to tell you no. No, I don’t trust you. But I have learned enough about who you really are in these past few weeks to know that you were just as much a victim as your brothers.” He shifts his feet from side to side, and although our Tether is not complete, I can feel his vulnerability.

“You know, when I thought I died, the voice that kept me going was yours. You came for me. You held me. You begged me to stay with you. I wanted to. I was clinging to life for you because you’re right. You have to make up for all the shitty things you’ve done.” I smirk and his lips lift in a small smile. “We are going to be okay, you and me. You would’ve had my heart already, if you hadn’t tried to kill me, you dick.”

He closes the distance between us. He stops so close that I can feel the heat coming off his body. He reaches out tentatively to caress my face, we lock eyes. Anticipation floods me as I wait for him to touch me.

“I’ve wanted to do this from the moment I first saw you.” His finger brushes over my chin, his thumb strokes down my cheek and I lean in to feel his skin against mine. I close my eyes and feel the connection between us, the tiny thread from him eager for me. Warm thick lips press gently against mine and my stomach flips, exploding with butterflies. What am I, twelve? He brushes his lips over mine with a chaste kiss and pulls away.

“I don’t deserve you. I don’t deserve any of this, but damn it, I am fucking selfish, and I can’t walk away from you. So, you’re mine, Micah Jones, we will complete the Tether between us because going insane and pining for you for the rest of my life is not in my MO. Take me as I am with all my crazy-ass flaws because I am not an easy man to love. I am a dick, as you so aptly mentioned, and I can’t deny your truth. So, I will ask you again, do you trust me?” He lets his hand linger on my face before he takes a step back and holds out his hand for me.

This is it. The moment where I accept his words. Accept him. I lift my hand and let it hover over his. I have seen the changes in him, I know he is more than what he appears to be. My heart and mind both agree. I look up into his rich brown eyes. “Yes, I trust you.”

ChapterSixteen

RODYN

Three little words is all it takes. My heart feels like it’s going to explode out of my chest. It’s not I love you, but it means more. Especially between us. Trust is so easily lost, and I never gave us a chance, building our foundation on deception from the start. I can’t ask for more than what she’s already given me. Her trust in me is like gold, precious and rare. I will cherish it for the rest of my life.

“Where are we going, Rodyn?” Micah asks as I pull her enthusiastically behind me. We move through the Willow woods. There’s a slight breeze, bringing the fresh scent of renewal with it. We are a couple of months away from Spring, but Micah’s power brought forth rebirth in the land and everything is green.

“I am sure my brothers told you that we spent most of our time in these woods. This is where we played and escaped from our mother most days. We never spent more than seventy-two hours away from this place, but I guess now I know why,” I say as I pull her along down a winding path, cutting away from Sanquin Lake and the Staff Houses to the deeper part of the wood at the edge of the Academy’s barrier.

“Yeah, that she was hiding you. Why make a deal only to renege on it? She definitely wasn’t trying to protect you from Lucifer. Why incur his wrath? She must have known she was on borrowed time?” Micah says thoughtfully as a large stone moon gate comes into view, forming a large, round break in the forest around us. The circular stone door is made of jagged stones, as if they had been hand cut. A heavy wooden door with cast iron fixtures closed the world behind it away, a hidden treasure only a few people knew about. In this part of the woods, the trees are denser, taller, older. The canopy overhead blocks out most of the sunlight, bathing the dark green foliage in shadows, dropping the temperature drastically.

“Protect us she did not. Honestly, I believe she wanted to use us here on Earth, in the same capacity that our dear old sperm donor sought to do in the Underworld. Now that we know the truth about who and what we are, things seem so much clearer,” I reply. I have had a few days to think on our mother’s intentions, and I’m damn sure it wasn’t motherly love.

“Where are we, Rodyn? It’s freezing. I guess I better put my Fire Element to good use.” Micah’s body shivers before her hands suddenly begin to warm, warming me in the process. I turn to gaze over my shoulder as my hand touches the round cast iron doorknob of the heavy wooden door of the moon gate. “You are full of surprises, Miss Jones. You’re getting me all hot and bothered. So forward.” I wink.

Micah throws her head back and laughs, and God I’ve waited for the sound to finally be directed at me. “Well, well. . . Rodyn Larrieux makes jokes. Who knew?”

I put my shoulder against the door and give it a shove. “I never got an opportunity to really flex my humor muscles, but I will be more than happy to practice if you keep responding like that.” I point to her big smile, and I can see she has no idea what I’m talking about as it slips away from me.

“Like what?” Micah says as I pull her behind me, closing the door behind us. She is quiet for a moment, gasping in shock and awe right on cue as her hand slips from mine. Her mouth parts, eyes widening as she digests the space in front of her.

“Like this, just like this. Like you haven’t a care in the world or a burden to bear. Happy, Micah, this perpetual state of wonder. I want to make you happy, because you deserve to be.” She turns, her face unreadable as she stares back at me, and my hands clench at my sides. This is a shove your hands in your pockets kind of moment, but I am in joggers, damn it. What the hell do I do with my hands while she scrutinizes my words?

“You can’t say things like that and distract me with a place like this. When you speak from your heart, I want you to have my full attention. I hear you and see you, Rodyn.”

She closes the distance between us, her hands reach out and lay on my shoulders. Her ember eyes flicker like a campfire against a starlit sky and I get lost in dreams of our future and what it could be, what I swear it will be. She rises up on her tiptoes and kisses the corner of my mouth, then reluctantly pulls away.

I want to reach out and grab her, why am I afraid to do what normally comes natural to me? To control, dominate, and claim her as mine. If I act on my impulses, will she pull away? This fragile healing wound between us needs to heal slowly with care, not a quick fuck against the wall. Although, a quick fuck would be nice. Okay, I need to stop thinking.No, when Micah wants me, it has to be her choice, her move, not mine. I don’t get that right.

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