MATED TO SERIES COLLECTION

63. LARA: FURY AND PAIN

How easy would it be to take a step forward and allow gravity to take hold of me? Would I fight to survive? Would my instincts kick in when I hit the water? I was no longer human, but would it still work the same? Was I still the same person I was a year ago? No, I wasn't the same. Nothing about me would ever be the same.

I had nearly lost Silas. Then I had nearly lost Ethan. I had started to hope. All those times we spend together. When we made love and the way he had looked at me. I thought that things between him and Avery were over and done with. I thought she was his past and I was going to be his future.

"Lara, step away from the cliff."

His voice made pain shoot through my chest. He was here, only a few feet away from me, but he wasn't here at the same time. Ethan had ripped my heart out and stepped on it before he tore it into a thousand pieces.

"Come on, sweetness. Please move away from there."

"The ground isn't very stable." It was a different voice, but I remembered him. "The grounds at the cliff get very unstable after so much rain. Step away from the edge, Lara."

I swallowed and took a step closer. My eyes darted down and my stomach turned when I realized how high up I was. Beneath me stormy waters hit big jagged rocks. One fall and I would die instantly.

"I'm sorry Lara!" Ethan yelled. "I made sure to take precautions. I made sure that something like this couldn't happen. I don't know how it happened. Please, Lara." His voice cracked. "Please come here. Let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain," I croaked. "You can't take it back. She's going to have your baby."

"W-what?" Silas muttered. "What's she talking about? Ethan?"

"Avery's pregnant, Silas." I called out.

I spread my arms out and tilted my head back. The wind blew my hair away from my face. If I died, would I feel like this? Would I be send to hell or heaven? Would I be able to look down at Silas? Would I be able to make sure that he got his happy ending? I was clearly doomed to have no happy ending.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

My body jerked when he suddenly spoke from behind me. A second later he stopped next to me and leaned forward slightly to look down. It took me a moment to recognize him. The man turned and gave me a crooked smile that never reached his eyes. I had spent days, maybe weeks locked in a cage next to his.

"My name's Obsidian," he said in his raspy voice. "It wouldn't be fair, you know."

He turned to glance back down at the water. My eyes lingered on his scared face for a few more seconds before I glanced back out at the water. I had no idea what he was talking about. Just as my mind started to wonder, he spoke again.

"What about your mates? What about your friends and family? How would they feel if you take a step?"

"I don't have family."

"You do. You have Silas and his parents. You have us."

My eyes snapped over to his but he wasn't paying any attention to me.

"You don't have to be blood related to be family."

The sudden longing to talk to Andrea filled me. How long had it been since we last talked? A year ago? The last time we saw each other was at her wedding. She never tried to contact me again after I left with Silas.

"You're hurting," he said softly. "I understand."

"Do you have a mate?"

"No." His lips tilted up slightly. "I don't have a mate."