Page 16 of Allegiance

“Please wake up,” he said, knowing that if she touched him, and he partook in her one more time, he’d be lost.

It was already hard enough not to want to hunt her down, find her, and plead for forgiveness for being an asshole.

He was already struggling the last three months, setting her free, but New Orleans, and the Voodoo here, seemed to be controlling everything.

Every.

Damn.

Thing.

They said the city was a magical place, and he believed it. He was tortured daily by the memories, and now a fairy queen was haunting his sleep time.

Someone needed therapy or an exorcism.

That’s why he needed to run.

He had to break free.

For her.

Eve deserved so much more.

“Let me go,” he said. “Just set me free because you’ll be destroyed if you stay with me. I can’t protect you from myself.”

“I don’t need to be protected from you, Dakota. You can’t hurt me. I’m impossible to kill. I have to protect you from you.”

God.

He needed to get out of here.

“Please, let me go, Adder,” he begged, trying to reach that part of her.

Her laughter was musical, and as the tattoo on her arm appeared, he noticed one thing.

The scales were filled in.

“I thought you retired.”

She smiled.

“When you are given a life to protect and foster, you become more than a soldier. You become the protector. My mission is complete. Is yours?”

He didn’t understand.

Not.

At.

All.

What was she trying to tell him?

“Please,” he whispered, as she was so close to him. He knew what would happen if she touched him. He would be pulled back in.

It would be harder to fight that addiction.

That’s what she was.