Kelly Meding - Requiem for the Dead

Wyatt was sitting on the sofa in the exact spot I'd vacated, elbows on his knees, face in his hands. He seemed to have lost the bi-shift, if his normal fingernails and height were to be believed. His shoulders were shaking, and then his broken sob sent me racing across the room.

"I'm so sorry, Wyatt, I'm here, I'm sorry." I wrapped my arms around him from the side. His entire body tensed, then pulled away.

He held me at a distance, wide eyes taking me in, tears I'd hope to see stop instead falling more thickly. He studied me, sniffed me, never losing that confused, stricken look.

"I'll explain everything, I swear," I said.

"You're alive."

"And you'd have known sooner if you hadn't assaulted your doctor and run off, you bonehead."

He blinked and something wonderful lit up in his eyes. "I didn't want to believe them. I felt you still, right here." He touched my chest, his hand warm over my pattering heart. "I knew you couldn't be dead if I still felt you, but Aurora said—I didn't know what to think."

I lifted the hem of my t-shirt and hoodie, showing off the bandages. "It had to look real. Vale had my parents, Wyatt. I didn't have a choice."

His fingers traced my cheeks and brow. "You had a choice, Evy, and you made this one without me." He sounded utterly confounded as to why I'd have done such a thing. Maybe when he was down off his emotional roller coaster, he'd understand why I made the choice I had.

"Marcellus is alive, too."

"He is?"

Ouch. That one kind of hurt. "Yes, he is. I never intended to kill him for real, dumbass, but Vale needed to think I did. The whole Assembly is out for Vale now." I straightened up and pulled away from his touch, finding some courage lurking behind my guilt. "I know I hurt people, and I hate how badly I hurt you today, but I can't argue with the results."

He turned that over, every emotional tic easy to spot because I knew him so well. Knew he felt pain at my betrayal, joy at my resurrection, hope that the plan worked, and confusion over everything as a whole. He had every right to be furious at me, to yell and throw things and call me names. I wouldn't care if he did. The only reaction I couldn't handle was dismissal.

I didn't want to do this—any of this—without him.

"Did you think about me?" he asked.

"Yes. I knew this would hurt you, but I couldn't risk telling you ahead of time. The more people who knew, the bigger chance Vale would find out it was all a fake."

"Who did know?"

"Gina knew, because Vale contacted her first. He had some kind of leverage, apparently, to keep her quiet, but she didn't care. She's the one who told the Assembly about my parents. And Tybalt found out because she can't keep secrets from him."

"A problem we obviously don't have." The ice in his voice scared me. "You already knew Vale had your parents when we spoke this morning."

Shit, now he was going to deconstruct the entire conversation. "Yes, I'd just gotten the information, but I hadn't decided what to do yet. I did go visit Ava after I left you and…then I kind of winged it. The only Felia who knew, besides Marcellus, was an enforcer of his named Demetrius. He helped smuggle us out of the compound and into a crematorium."

Wyatt's eyebrows went up.

"Tybalt is presenting my ashes to the Watchtower as we speak," I said.

The eyebrows went down into a deep furrow. "How long do you plan on staying dead?"

"Probably a few days while Elder Dane remains dead too. He wants the Assembly to vote in a new Elder intead of—I don't know, that's his thing. He says the vote should happen within three days, and that gives me plenty of time to go looking for Vale. The bastard still has the vampires' cure."

I was letting all kinds of important things drop in front of three pups I barely knew. But who were they going to tell? They were hiding out in Wyatt's apartment precisely because they had no one else.

"And that's the reason for the new look."

"Pretty much. You can thank Gina for thinking that far ahead. Because of the Frosts, my mug was all over the news for two days. I can move around more easily like this." I reached for his hand, but he pulled back. Stabbing me in the eye would have hurt less. I swallowed. "Tell me how to fix this, Wyatt. Us. I love you so much. You're the other half of me, and I need you. I've never needed anyone before, and I need you."

"I need you too."

"I hurt you today, and I can't apologize enough for that. I hate what I did to you, and I'm not asking for you to forgive me. That has to be yours to give, and I probably don't deserve it."

He flinched. "I can't pretend this doesn't hurt, Evy. A lot. We've been through too much to not be totally honest with each other, and I am pissed. I am so fucking pissed at you for putting me through that again."

"Okay." Pissed was an emotion I could deal with—and it was a very human pissed because his eyes retained only the thinnest ring of silver around the black.

"And as angry as I am, I do understand, and I'm so grateful that I didn't lose you for good. But I need a little time to get through the anger."

"I get it, believe me." I turned my hand palm up, and he pressed his hand into mine. The warmth of his touch traveled straight to my heart, and a hot tear slipped down my cheek. "I thought I'd totally fucked this up and you were done with me."

"Never." He yanked me into his lap, and I fell against his chest, grateful for the contact. To hear the solid thump of his heartbeat. To smell his skin and know he was still mine. "You're stuck with me, Evy Stone."

"Good, because you're stuck with me too."

We sat together for a while, existing without talking. I realized that the boys had made themselves scarce now that Wyatt's temper was down below critical levels. It had been interesting how his emotions had so intensely influenced theirs—probably a Lupa thing, since I'd never seen the same rage-share among the other Clans.

"So did you actually stab Elder Dane?" Wyatt asked.

The left field question made me snort laughter. "Yes. Not deeply though, and he took it like a trooper. Dane's a tough old bird."

"Cat."

"Whatever."

"And this Demetrius, he actually cut you open?" A dangerous growl inflected that question.

I tightened my hold on his waist. "Yes, exactly where and how I told him to. Hurt like fuck, but it's healing, and I'm fine. You don't get to hurt him back, hero."

He made a noise that might have been a raspberry. "Spoil sport."

My cell phone rang, which scared the crap out of me since I didn't know the ring tone right away. "It's Gina," I said to Wyatt before answering. "Dead girl walking."

Kismet groaned. "Really?"

"You can forgive a bad pun because I have good news. I'm with Wyatt."

"Thank Christ. How is he?"

"Moody but intact." That got me a poke in the ribs. "What's happening on your end?"

"Therians are pissed, humans are confused, and the only thing we can agree on is that Vale is an asshole who needs to be found immediately so the Assembly can deliver some much deserved justice."

"Sounds about right. How are the Frosts?"

"They're really confused and demanding to see you. I keep telling Astrid to put off telling them you're dead, but I don't know how much longer she can."

"Maybe it's better if they think I'm dead." My heart hurt to even suggest it, and I hadn't realized until that moment that I kind of wanted a chance to get to know them. To talk to Chalice's parents at length and see what they were like. Maybe it was selfish though. Their daughter was dead, and they needed to grieve for her.

Right?

"It's more complicated than that, Evy. They saw Vale shift."

Crap. "How was that explained?"

"It wasn't. Dr. Vansis is calling it a post-traumatic stress-induced hallucination, but I don't think Mr. Frost is buying it. We're going to have to tell them something, and soon."