“I was preparing to leave my apartment at twelve to meet you that day,” Maggie said as she gazed at the woods fifty feet away from the back patio. The leaf buds on the trees were no bigger than a dot but clearly visible to her. However, she never would have seen them yesterday. She inhaled the warm air redolent with the ripe smell of the frost melting from the dirt. It was the first day that felt like spring as the sun warmed the earth and her.

They’d decided they would have to get dressed and out of bed if they were going to get any talking done today. It had taken almost a day for them to reluctantly separate and dig some clothes out of the closet. Thankfully, though she knew some of the others were still around—she could hear and smell them—they had left the two of them alone.

“Amazing,” she murmured as a breeze stirred the branches. “I can see and hear so much now. There are scents I can’t describe.”

“It will take some getting used to,” Aiden said and placed his hand over hers. “But you’ll get there.”

She smiled as she turned her hand over to squeeze his. The wicker chair she sat in faced his. “I have no doubt.”

“So you were preparing to leave at twelve,” he prompted.

“Oh, yes,” she said as she recalled what they’d been talking about. “Anyway, I was leaving at twelve. I knew I’d be early, but I couldn’t wait anymore.”

“I was already there.”

That didn’t surprise her. “This bond, I feel it now, and it is so strong; how did you ever let me go?”

“Because I love you too much to cage you if you preferred to be free of me. You had to make your own choices and be happy, even if what made you happy wasn’t me.”

“But it is you, it always has been! You knew, when you let me go, there was a possibility you might lose control if I didn’t come back?”

“Yes.”

Maggie believed she’d loved him before, but now her love for him grew stronger. He’d sacrificed himself for her, and she had no doubt he would do it again.

“Ethan told me a mate cannot live without the other.”

“True,” he said. “Which is another reason I let you go. If I wasn’t what you wanted, I wasn’t going to force you to tie your existence to me.”

“You are what I want, you always have been. I needed time to figure that out because I was afraid of losing everything I’ve worked for. I grew up with nothing, Aiden, to risk it all terrified me.”

“I know, but I promise you, Maggie, I will give you a future filled with love and security.”

“I believe you,” she said. “That’s why I was planning to go to the hotel. I was about to walk out the door when my boss, Pablo, called me.”

Maggie turned her head away from him, and he felt her sorrow through their bond.

“Did Pablo make you go to work that day?” he asked.

“No.” She took a deep breath and turned to face him. “Roger had a stroke. He was in the hospital. I tried to call you as I was running down the stairs to the T, but someone bumped me and I dropped my phone. It broke.”

Aiden went completely still as tears shimmered in her eyes. A sick feeling formed in the pit of his stomach while he watched her.

“I meant to call you a couple of times from the hospital, but I kept getting distracted. Then, the doctor came out to tell us that Roger didn’t survive.”

He knew how much Roger had meant to her, how much she cared for the man, and Roger for her. She’d had so few people she loved in her life and who loved her. She’d lost another, and he hadn’t been there for her when he should have been. “Maggie, I’m so sorry.”

She pulled her hand away from his to wipe the tears from her face. “I called you from outside the hospital and left a voice mail, but you never picked up, and you never called back.”

Aiden closed his eyes as the sick feeling grew to become a tsunami of self-loathing. “I broke my phone,” he admitted.

“Ethan told me. He also told me you saw me hug someone, that was Pablo. He gave me a ride home from the hospital. He hugged me because he’s my friend, he was Roger’s friend, and—”

“Don’t,” Aiden said and reclaimed her hand. “Pablo is your friend. I understand. I couldn’t understand it that day because I’d already slipped too far away to think about anything reasonably.”

“You should have told me what became of a mated vampire without their mate.”

“No, I shouldn’t have. You had to return to me because it was what you wanted and not because you felt guilted into it.”

Maggie sighed, she wanted to argue with him further about it, but he was right. She’d needed the time to work through her life and how she felt for him. If he’d told her, she would have resented feeling pressured.

“Thank you for that,” she murmured and kissed him briefly. If she kissed him for any longer than a second or two, they would end up back in bed. No matter how tempting that was, they had to sort all this out.

“Once I felt emotionally stable enough to leave my place, I went to the hotel,” she said. “The bartender told me you’d left, but I sat and waited, hoping you’d come back. When you didn’t, I went home and waited for you to come, but you never did.”

“They knocked me out and brought me here that night,” Aiden said. “I probably would have killed someone if they hadn’t. I was an idiot and lost control; it shouldn’t have happened.”

“You never hid from me that you were walking a tightrope. That one misstep could push you over the edge.”

“It still never should have happened. I hurt you when I didn’t come for you.”

“You did, and I hurt you too, but neither of us meant to do it. Things went so wrong that day.”

“They did,” he agreed. He grasped her wrists and pulled her arms toward him. His blood and her transition had healed her scratches, but he still recalled the ugly red gouges on her skin. “I let you down. It won’t happen again.”

“It’s not like I don’t know you can be a bit of an ass, Nosferatu,” she teased as she took her wrists from him and rested her hand on his freshly shaven cheek. She’d missed seeing his face. “Do you think you could still lose control? Do you still crave blood, death, sex, and pain as badly as you did?”

She held her breath, petrified of his answer. She could feel the intensity of the bond between them, but what if she wasn’t enough for him? What if what she’d seen from him yesterday was only the beginning and it was only a matter of time before she lost him?

“No,” he said and reached across to pull her into his lap. “Like the scars on my back, our bond has healed me. It’s curbed my more malevolent nature and tamed the demon part of me. However, I will destroy anything threatening you or those I love, but I won’t slip into that madness again, and I no longer worry about losing control and becoming a Savage, not with you in my life.”

Maggie curled up in his arms and rested her head on his chest. “Good.”

“I’m going to quit working with Ronan and the others.”

She lifted her head to gawk at him. “That’s what you’ve been training for, why would you give it up?”

“I did it to keep myself in control. I needed the blood, death, and violence to remain stable; I don’t anymore.”

“Aiden—”

“I’ll still help them whenever it’s necessary. There is a big battle looming on the horizon between Savages and vampires. I won’t turn my back on it, but I don’t want you to be a part of this life.”

“I can handle it.”

“I know you can, but for now, I want to be with my family and you. Those things are my focus. I want time to enjoy our relationship. I’ve also shut my family out a lot recently. It’s time I go home.”

“And afterward?”

“We’ll decide our future together. If we decide I should return to working with Ronan and the others, so be it. If not, then we’ll figure out our next step.”

“Okay, but I don’t want you thinking you have to give it up for me.”

“I don’t,” he said, and she felt the truth of that through their bond. “I don’t think we should be gone for long though; I’m concerned about Vicky.”

“Why?”

“She pretends everything is okay, but it’s not.”

“We’ll be here for her,” Maggie said decisively. “I’d still like to run the marathon.”

“You’re going to cheat the humans?” he teased, and she laughed.

“I’ll hold myself back, but I can’t let my coworkers down. The race is next week. Will I be able to be around people by then?”

“You should be fine, and if you run into any trouble, I’ll be there to get you through it.”

He recalled the baseball tickets he’d bought for her, but he didn’t bring them up. If the date hadn’t passed already—he wasn’t sure what day it was now—the game would be soon, and he didn’t think she would be up for that. There was no reason to disappoint her over something he couldn’t change. He would take her to lots of other games this year.

“So, are you going to tell me about Grandma?” he asked.

The smile that lit her face warmed his heart.

“She’s wonderful,” Maggie breathed and explained to him how she’d discovered Marsha, their meeting, and everything else that occurred since they’d last seen each other.

They talked for over an hour before footsteps drew Aiden’s attention away from her. He looked over his shoulder to find the others standing in the doorway leading to the kitchen of the cottage.

“We heard you talking and hoped you were up for some company,” Abby said.

He was enjoying this time alone with Maggie, but the hope in Abby’s eyes kept him from turning her away.

“Of course,” Maggie said as she sat up in his arms.

They filtered onto the patio, spreading out around it.

“Watch out for the stake,” Vicky said to Maggie and winked as she handed her coat back to her.

Maggie laughed and settled the coat on her lap. “Thank you.”

Vicky and Abby settled onto the other two chairs. Brian rested his hands on the back of Abby’s chair while Stefan leaned against the corner of the house. Saxon walked to the edge of the patio to survey the woods before turning to Aiden. Ethan remained in the doorway.

“I assume you told Ronan those cells and chains won't hold a purebred,” Aiden said to him.

“I did,” Saxon replied. “He’s going to work on modifying them, but it’s difficult to judge how strong a purebred can get, especially if someone threatens their mate.”

“I wasn’t threatened,” Maggie protested.

“At that moment, in Aiden’s mind, you were,” Saxon replied.

“Yes,” Aiden agreed as he recalled the strength of his fury and the colossal power thrumming through his body when he’d given himself over to the demon seeking to rule him. He’d never experienced anything like that before, and he hoped never to feel it again. If he did, it meant there might be a genuine threat to Maggie’s life.

Aiden met Ethan’s eyes over Maggie’s head. “I have to speak with my brother,” he said as he kissed Maggie’s temple.

“Aiden—”

“It will be okay,” he murmured.

“Just remember, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him,” she whispered in his ear before rising from his arms.

Aiden stood and started toward the doorway. Ethan strode ahead of him through the rooms and out the front door of the small cottage. Stepping outside, Aiden’s jaw clenched when he spotted the single story, concrete building where he’d been imprisoned. He’d been in there once before his confinement, when he’d helped to interrogate the Savage who told them about Carha. He hoped to never see the place again.

He couldn’t fault the others for what they’d done, he would have done the same, or he would have destroyed the vampire, but he loathed seeing the reminder of what he’d become. He clearly recalled the madness whispering incessantly through his mind.

He’d let everyone down, especially Maggie, and he would do everything he could to make it up to her. Every day for the rest of their lives together, she would know only security and love.

“You shouldn’t have gone to her,” Aiden said. “I don’t remember a lot of what happened, but I know I made it clear to the others she was to be left alone.”

“They told me you wanted her left alone, and I didn’t go to her until it became clear she might be the only one who could save you. I was right.”

Aiden gritted his teeth when he recognized the older, wiser brother tone that sometimes crept into Ethan’s voice. It didn’t happen often, but it was there now. Ethan was older, possibly wiser, but he had to know he wouldn’t win a fight between the two of them, not anymore. Ethan had the advantage of age on him, but Aiden had spent countless hours training to kill with some of the most lethal vampires on the planet. He’d also been killing and occasionally feeding on Savages. He’d honed himself into a killing machine; Ethan had become a dad.

“If I hadn’t gone to her, you would have died. We would have had to kill you or make the decision to have someone else do it,” Ethan said.

“I know, but—”

“She was in pain too. I saw the bandages and her blood. I know what her heritage is, and though she didn’t know why she couldn’t stop hurting herself, the vampire part of her was suffering without you.”

Aiden couldn’t stop himself from wincing at the reminder of Maggie’s physical and emotional pain. “You still shouldn’t have gone to her. What happened that day was a big misunderstanding, but what if she really had chosen someone else over me?”

“Then I would have left her alone, but she needed to know.”

Aiden rounded on him. “You still went against what I instructed with my mate.”

“Yes, but what would you have done if I was the one rotting in a cage with only death as my ultimate end? Would you have stood by and watched me spiral further into madness if there was a chance you could prevent it?”

Aiden studied his older brother as he pondered this, but he knew the answer. He wanted to choke Ethan, to brawl with him as they’d done when they were younger, but he would only be fighting a choice he would have made himself.

“No,” he admitted. “I would have gone to Emma too.”

“I didn’t do it because I thought you were wrong and I knew best.” Ethan smiled when Aiden glanced sharply at him. “I know that’s what you’re thinking. I did it because I love you and I couldn’t stand by and watch you die without a fight. I would have left Maggie alone if she’d told me to get out of her place, that she was with another and wanted nothing to do with you. I swear I would have. She didn’t say that though, and listening to her, I knew she loved you too.”

“What if I’d killed her or forced the change on her when you brought her here?”

“If you do recall, I was trying to get her out of there to prevent that from happening when you tore your cell apart. I’ve felt the rage that takes over when someone threatens a mate; I know we can push the boundaries of the rules placed on us, but I never saw that coming. I also didn’t realize how fast she was and that she would be able to dodge me to get at you.”

“She’s been training for the Boston Marathon, and her father was a vampire.”

“I know, but I still underestimated her; it won’t happen again. She wanted you almost as badly as you wanted her. She saw what you did to that cell and still trusted you not to hurt her. Even with you as out of control as you were, I also believed you wouldn’t hurt her.”

“I’m glad one of us did,” Aiden muttered as he gazed at the back wall of the prison.

“It was bad for you after you reached maturity, far worse than you let on, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“What did you crave the most?”

Aiden released a snort of humorless laughter. “What didn’t I crave? I wanted blood, pain, death, and sex all the same.” Aiden’s jaw clenched as he recalled the compulsions that had ruled him every day for years. When he felt his temper rising, he searched out Maggie’s mind with his. The brief touch with her calmed him again.

“Apparently, according to Declan, it happens to some,” he murmured and then realized Declan wasn’t with them. “Where is Declan? He was in the car with us.”

“Saxon said he couldn’t be here. I don’t know why.”

“He couldn’t handle being so close to a vampire without their mate.”

“If you say so,” Ethan replied.

“I should punch you.”

“You should, but you won’t. You owe me one.”

“Hmm,” Aiden grunted.

“Your mate is a feisty one. She didn’t care I was a purebred vampire standing in her apartment.”

“She invited you in?”

“She did.”

“She shut the door in my face.”

Ethan laughed and grasped his shoulder. “I like her.”

“Good, because she’s family now.”

“She is,” Ethan agreed.