Page 160 of Rising Out of the Darkness
“Lena—”
“No!” I shouted. “Don’t you dare try to placate me!”
“Elena, you need to breathe.” He reached out his hand toward me, to which I shoved away.
“I’m breathing. You don’t get to tell me to calm down right now, I have every right to be upset. My entire life has been a facade, and I want to know why.”
“You’re right, Lena,” my father whispered.
“Talk!” I growled.
A small smile tugged at the side of his lips.
“Are you seriously smiling right now?”
My outburst caused a chuckle to exit his lips, to which he slapped a hand over his mouth in effort to smother. I rose to my feet, suddenly overheated with anger.
“No, no…Sunshine, I’m sorry.” He chuckled again, raised both hands in defense. “You just remind me so much of your mother right now. She had a fire within her, just like you, Lena. Whenever she thought I was about to do something wrong, she let me have it. Which usually happened about three times a day.” He smiled sheepishly at me, as a bit of my fury fizzled out.
“I should have listened to her all those years ago when she told me you were strong enough to handle the truth. Althea always knew you were meant for greatness, Lena, and I should have had more faith in you. For that, I’m so sorry.”
He reached out to grab my shaking hands. This time I allowed it. When I met his gaze, his eyes were clouded with tears.
“I’ve made some irrevocable mistakes, Elena, but everything I did was to protect you both. Everything.” He whispered the last word, and a tear slid down his cheek as I choked back a sob.
He pulled me into his arms and we cried until the frustration and the fury melted away. It was one thing to be angry with my father, it was something else entirely to watch the stoic man in front of me fall to pieces as well. Guilt weighed heavy on my chest, once again awakening my dynamis.
As I pulled back to wipe my eyes, something golden flickered between us.
“Elena…what is this?” My father rubbed a rough hand over my now glowing bond on my wrist.
Pulling my hands out of my father’s grasp, I opened my mouth to speak when a deep voice behind me beat me to it.
“It’s a mating bond, Warren. The one I tried to tell you about a week ago.”
Declan’s arms wrapped around me, and my teeth crushed against my bottom lip as my father’s wild eyes scanned over Declan’s wrist as well.
My father tugged me out of the way and grabbed Declan’s tunic until they were face to snarling face.
“Warren!” Bri shouted at the same time I yelled at my father.
“I told you to stay away from her!”
“And I told you I loved her!”
“You’re dangerous!” my father snarled.
I’d had enough. “So am I!” I seethed, blasting my dynamis towards both, making them fall back on their asses. “Now listen!”
Declan bit his lip to hold in a smirk, while my father’s face couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be angry or proud.
“I am a grown woman, capable of making my own decisions!” I shouted towards both men. Bri waved her fingers for me to continue. “I love this man, and I know very well what the consequences could be now we’re together. There are so many unknowns and fears about what could happen, but you know what? Damn them all!”
Declan and Bri both chuckled into their fists, and my father still sat with his mouth gaping wide.
Taking a calming breath, I tried to quell some of the fury. “Declan makes me a better person, Father. He’s helped me learn to love myself and taught me how to find the inner strength that has been hiding within me for so long.”
“I can see that,” my father breathed.
