Page 76 of Donovan
The weight of those words settled deep in my chest, grounding me in a way I hadn’t realized I needed. I stood, closing the laptop with a quiet snap.
Declan watched me, steady as ever. I cupped his face, brushing my thumb along his jaw before pulling him into a slow, deliberate kiss.
He responded immediately, warm and familiar, a solid presence in the storm of my thoughts.
When I pulled back, my lips barely parted from his, I murmured, “I know.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
DONOVAN
Declanand I moved soundlessly through the forest, our footsteps muffled by the damp earth. The meeting place Finn had provided lay ahead. A secluded clearing deep in the woods.
It felt surreal to be here, chasing the ghost of a brother I thought long dead.
I wasn’t even sure if it was Finn who had sent the email. I had combed over every word, searched for anything that might tip me off, but nothing had felt off about it.
And yet, the doubt lingered.
Still, if I had chosen not to come, I would regret it for the rest of my life.
Beside me, Declan reached out, squeezing my hand once before letting go, a silent reassurance.
“We’ll be fine,” he murmured, his voice low but steady. “We scoped out the area. That’s why we got here an hour early. If we sense something’s wrong?—”
“We bolt,” I finished, my voice just as quiet.
Declan nodded, the confirmation grounding me. We had contingencies in place, escape routes mapped out. Even if this was a trap, we wouldn’t go down easily.
The trees thinned as we approached the clearing.
The first thing I noticed was the old cabin, weathered and forgotten by time. Then my stomach clenched as I saw the smoke curling from the chimney.
Someone was here.
I tensed. Next to me, Declan was already reaching for his weapons, his entire body coiled like a predator ready to strike. A shadow moved near the cabin door.
“Peace,” a voice called out, deep but calm.
I froze. A man emerged into the clearing, golden-haired and green-eyed, his features familiar yet wrong in a way that sent a jolt through me.
For a second, my mind couldn’t reconcile what I was seeing.
“Declan, wait,” I said quickly, recognition crashing over me. “Gabriel?”
The vampire gave a small nod, his gaze sharp as it flicked between us.
Then another figure stepped out from behind him, moving forward with a kind of quiet confidence I remembered too well.
Finn.
My throat closed up. His dark hair was a little longer, and there was something new in his expression. A sense of peace, of belonging, that hadn’t been there before.
He looked different, yet so achingly familiar that my chest ached. Before I could speak, Finn moved, slipping past Gabriel and walking straight toward me.
Then he threw his arms around me. I staggered back a step but caught him, my arms coming up to grip him tightly.
Finn clung to me like he had once thought he’d never get the chance to again, and maybe I had thought the same.
