Page 88 of Tears of Revenge
Marcus crooked a brow, and Varos intercepted whatever stupid comment he’d been ready to make. “Then why don’t we donate it? Someone already ripped off the tags as it is.”
Marcus snickered from the corner.
Gazing over the ocean of new clothes surrounding her, Avalon slowly nodded. “Okay.” Then she looked up at her men, furrowing her eyebrows. “What are you three taking with us?”
“You.” Marcus answered without hesitation.
“Me? Just me?”
“What else would I ever need?”
Avalon gazed between the men, worrying her bottom lip.
“I believe Marcus mentioned all we need,” Lysander confirmed.
“You don’t have a favourite sweater or anything you want to take? Or are those things you detach from over the years?”
“I did,” Varos admitted softly, making his way through the piles around her and taking care not to step on anything. He sat behind her and pulled her into his lap. “Humans are trained to accumulate all these possessions: the most fashionable clothes, the newest car, a beautiful house. But when the years drag on and you can have everything you’ve ever dreamed of, your values shift. I’m not saying that they are wrong, but when you’ve bought everything that money can buy, you cherish the things you can’t: friendship, love, happiness.”
Avalon leaned into him, face tilted back to look at him. “Are you happy?”
“I am.”
“I think I am too.” She sighed and shook her head looking back down and fidgeting with the shirt in her hands. “I mean, I am in certain ways. I’m happy to be with you—all of you. But I’m still trying to be okay with the creature I am now. It’s odd to describe because I’m over the moon to be here, but scared of myself and what is to come. It sounds ungrateful…” She trailed off.
Lysander and Marcus knelt in front of her, Lysander taking her hand in his. “You’re not ungrateful. Your world has been flipped upside down and now you are trying to fit the pieces back together—plus some. It will take time.”
“Good thing you have plenty of it,” Marcus assured her, brushing his knuckles along her cheekbone. “You’ve been doing wonderfully, taking it all in and discovering it all little steps at a time.”
“I’m excited but still so nervous, but it helps knowing that you three will be by my side.”
They all leaned in, Marcus and Lysander kissing her cheeks while he kissed her hair.
She was their whole world.
Thirty-Two
Avalon
She clung to the enormous cup filled with blood, sucking on the straw just for something to do. Lysander and Marcus were sitting next to her in the back seat of their SUV while Varos drove. It was the middle of the night. The streets were deserted and most humans were fast asleep. She watched the buildings fly by as they drove south to Hobby Airport. Lysander had been out all day fuelling the plane, packing their belongings, and making sure everything was ready for take off.
“Have you flown before?” Marcus asked, casually laying his arm around her and rubbing her shoulder.
“A few times, but never for this long.”
“Are you afraid?”
“No, but only because Lysander promised that he knows what he’s doing.”
Lysander chuckled, his hand tightening around her thigh. “Actually, with flights this long there legally has to be two pilots on board. So, on paper, Varos and Marcus are my co-pilots.”
“You just dug yourself a hole,” Varos laughed.
“Just on paper?” she asked, trying to keep her confidence.
Marcus’s lips brushed over the cleft of her ear before placing a soft kiss behind it. “Remember, you’re indestructible. Even if something goes bad, you’ll be able to stand up, brush off the dirt from your clothes, and walk away.”
He was probably right, though her brain still had trouble fathoming the idea.