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The Druid makes the mistake of following me. Strong fingers latch around my throat, but you see, I live for a firm grip on my throat. Death has had its grip on me since my mother birthed me. I bare my teeth and deliver a steel fist to his ribs. Another and another until his grip loosens.
He falls backward into the water and that is when the end comes. His greed and need to show off his wealth are his downfall.
Where my cotton T-shirt and jeans are heavy, his three-piece suit and sleek dress shoes weigh more than he can bear.
I grip a fist full of his hair slip him in five feet of water and let gravity take over. He thrashes, fights, and struggles against my hold but I don’t let go until the bubbles stop.
And not even then.
My chest heaves and my nostrils flare. Agony at stealing yet another life would normally come flooding in right about now, but I can’t seem to feel anything but relief that the threat to my family is gone.
“Brother?”
Ares speaks calmly and that one word breaks through the shroud of darkness pulling me deeper into its cold clutches.
“Brother, it’s done.”
I release the man and let his body float away from me as I walk from the water. I don’t stop until I am outside the bathhouse and on my knees in the tall grass. Overhead the clouds have parted and I want to take it as a sign that God isn’t ready to take my soul just yet for the crimes I’ve committed, but I can hope.
“Hark? Dragon.” My eyes drift closed as I kneel here, my arms limp at my sides.
“It’s over, my love. It’s over.” I say and there it is. The feeling of unworthiness in the presence of such sweetness as she comes to stand in front of me. Wild hair, wide eyes, and a tremor on her lips.
“Asena.” I start and I’m not sure where I’m going with this. Suddenly I don’t have the strength I need to beg for her to find it in her to love a man like me. Someone who kills so easily.
“You don’t have to say anything.” She kneels in the grass with me and the tears in her eyes kill me. Circling us are my brothers, our family.
“Doc, he betrayed us,” she starts.
“Shh, baby. It’s over and we don’t have to talk about it right now. Or ever, if you don’t want to.”
“Good, let’s go get our baby. I want to officially introduce her to her daddy.”
She throws her arms around me and for a second, I don’t know what to do. Can I be a father? Can I walk the same path as angels?
“I can hear your thoughts.” Asena pulls back from me and cups my face in her hands. In the light of the moon, this beautiful woman has a love for me and it shines so brightly I can feel the warmth of it on my face.
“You’re my monster. Our monster. And exactly who we need at our sides. I love you. From the beginning, Theon DiLuca. Since the beginning, do you hear me?”
I take her against me, uncaring of the water soaking her through. “I haven’t heard my true name in so long I’ve almost forgotten it.”
“I haven’t and I never will. With me, you can be your true self.”
I smile, genuine relief washing away the unease of unworthiness for the first time since I met her. “I thought my darkness would ruin you. But your light has saved me instead. You’ve given me a reason to live, Asena Titan. My enemy, my lover. My everything.
“Good thing enemies can be lovers, huh?” Kind eyes hold me and there’s not an ounce of judgment to be found staring back at me.
I stand and pull her into my arms and together, my brothers and I walk toward a new future. A future where I am a father.
Using the glue of her love and massive amounts of trust I start to glue my fractured soul together. I might be the savage in this story but she’s the thief who stole my heart.
Epilogue
Asena, three months later
We rewrote the ending of our story. And I have to say, I like this one much better than what my father had planned for us.
I wake to the feeling of bliss. Dragon and I have spent the last three days traveling from New York City to Chicago on his bike. The feel of the road, the rumble of his bike under my ass, and the wide-open air.
