Page 75 of Donovan
I sat at the worn oak table, my fingers moving over the keyboard, checking through old email accounts out of habit.
It had been a year.
A year since the battle in the woods, since the last of the rabid vampires had fallen, since the Guild had vanished into silence.
A year of stolen breaths, of cautious hope, of trying to believe we’d finally outrun the past.
A year of peace.
But peace could be deceiving.
The Guild had gone dark after Kit made his choice, but silence wasn’t the same as surrender. We both knew that.
Then I saw it.
An email from Finn. My breath caught in my throat. For a moment, I couldn’t think, couldn’t move.
The world around me shrank, the text on the screen blurring as my heart pounded so loud it drowned out everything else.
I barely registered the sound of footsteps before a warm hand squeezed mine, grounding me.
“What is it?” Declan’s voice was low, cautious.
I swallowed, my throat dry. “An email… from Finn,” I whispered.
Declan’s eyes flicked to the screen, sharp and assessing. “It could be a trap.”
My thoughts were already spiraling in that direction. A year of silence, and now this? Just an email, sitting there, waiting to be read. It was too easy.
“It could be,” Declan acknowledged. “Or there’s a small chance it isn’t—and it’s actually from your brother.”
I hesitated. Then, before I could second-guess myself, I clicked the email. My eyes darted over the words, my breath hitching as I read Finn’s message aloud:
"Donovan, I should’ve written this earlier, but I kept putting it off. I don’t know if this will even reach you, but I need you to know. I’m alive. And I’m happy. I found my mate, and I have a life now, one I never thought I’d have. You don’t need to worry about me, but I hope… someday, we can meet again."
"I sent a similar email to Asher. I hope he’s alive too. If you ever find him, tell him I said to take care of himself."
Silence stretched between us as I leaned back in my chair, shaken. He mentioned Asher.
Declan’s gaze darkened, his expression unreadable. “Both your brothers might still be alive,” he finally said.
That meant?—
“Asher wasn’t killed off by Gael,” I murmured, my stomach twisting.
Declan’s jaw tightened. I knew how he felt about Gael.
There was no love lost between them, and the idea that Gael hadn’t finished the job… that Asher might still be out there somewhere… That changed everything.
“What do you want to do?” Declan asked, his voice careful, controlled.
I stared at the email, my mind a warzone of logic and emotion. My instincts screamed caution. This could be a carefully laid-out trap, bait to draw me out.
But my heart, that stubborn, reckless part of me, wanted to believe it.
“I keep thinking it’s some elaborate trap set up by the Guild,” I admitted, voice rough. “But… my heart tells me it isn’t.”
Declan didn’t hesitate. He reached out, squeezing my hand again. “Whatever you decide, I’m with you.”
