Page 277 of Nemesync
Elijah’s eyes met mine, and my reflection looked so much healthier. “You’re here too.”
I smiled at his words.
It’s like they adopted me, and I loved them for making me feel like home everywhere they go.
“Do you really have time for vacations?”
Niko let out a small laugh, “We have people there to continue making the thing work. Just like when we went to do our training in Russia.”
I looked at them one by one, “You never talk about Russia, how was it?”
Elijah’s gaze turned empty really quick, Niko’s eyes did the same, but with a soft smile playing on his lips. “Little Z, we don’t talk about it because it was fucking hard, and we came back just before the end of our second year there because we learned that you’d been kidnapped.”
Oh.
I sensed Elijah’s hand freezing on my skin, his eyes drifted toward me, like he was waiting for a reaction, he felt guilty that he didn’t protect me.
But it wasn’t his fault, he saved me.
Even then, he saved me.
I took his hand in mine and squeezed it before replying to Niko. “I’d love to go there and visit.”
“One day, Little Z.”
I sat next to Elijah, feeling the warmth of his touch on my skin. I caught him stealing glances at me, his hand moving from my back to my arm, to stop at my neck. He got up and poured us wine with a small smirk.
“To us,” Niko proposed, clinking his glass with mine.
Elijah chuckled and kissed my temple before sitting back. “You know, back in the day, I was a bit more impulsive, and Niko... well, he was still Niko.”
Niko shot Elijah a mock glare. “Impulsive is an understatement. This man nearly set the fucking kitchen on fire once. With Ben in it.”
Elijah raised an eyebrow, smiling. “I was testing the limits of culinary artistry, and Ben pissed me off.”
“Culinary artistry my ass. We almost had to call the fire brigade and spread Benny’s ashes in the ocean.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, Elijah’s hand brushed mine subtly, before taking my fingers completely in his. Then he continued, “And then there was the time we decided to try our hand at self-defense on this very beach. This cunt thought it would be a good fucking idea to teach me a lesson.”
Niko chuckled, “He had this violent aura even back then. But now,” he added, turning to me, “you’ve managed to soften him up, Zanae.”
Elijah looked back at me, “Don’t listen to him. Niko’s version of ‘softening up’ equals not killing him.”
Niko grinned, “Well, you deserved it back then. But now, it seems you’ve found your match, Elijah.”
His gaze softened as he looked at me, and he squeezed my hand. “Exactly.”
I love this man, I love them, he’s making me forget everything.
And for a moment I even forget that I’m fighting for my life.
Elijah
I settled on the sand next to Niko, our attention fixated on the silhouette of Zanae wading into the dark waters.
He glanced at me, teasing, “You’ve got your own mermaid to guard now.”
I did.
