Terra's Victory (Destiny's Trinities Book 7) Read Free Page A

flatly.
    “But—”
    “No.” He shook his head. “Seaveth keeps speaking of the long range thinking the…whatever she called it, Gaia—”
    “Terra,” Sera added.
    “Whatever it is, it’s benign, almost kindly in the way it has been shoving us around,” Blake said. “Of course it won’t dissolve the bond!”
    Diego gripped their hands, feeling the good heat from both of them. “It doesn’t matter anyway,” he said, as firmly as he could. “I love you. That isn’t going to change.”
    Blake drew in a breath that shuddered and let it out. “Do you know how many homicides are committed by the spouse?”
    Sera’s eyes widened.
    “I don’t care,” Diego said shortly. “That has nothing to do with us. We’re hunters , not humans with small lives to obsess about.”
    Blake nodded. “Except all that ends when the Grimoré do. I go back to being just a cop.”
    Diego smiled. “Blake, I love you, but you’re being an idiot if you think you will ever go back to being just a cop. You’ve stepped into the supernatural world. You don’t get to leave it once you do.”
    Blake crossed his arms. “And I love you. Both of you. So much, it scares the crap out of me sometimes, when I let myself think about it too long. The bonding is powerful. We know that. The three of us, working together, can hold back hundreds of vampeen and that’s purely the bonding at work. Without it, a dozen vampeen would be a challenge—”
    “Not much of one,” Diego interjected grumpily.
    Sera rolled her eyes.
    Blake shook his head. “What happens when the Grimoré have gone? What happens if the bonding goes, too? Am I suddenly going to wake up one morning, look at the two of you and wonder what the fuck I’m doing here?”
    Silence.
    Diego could hear his own heart, echoing in his head.
    “It couldn’t…it wouldn’t just…abandon us. Would it?” Sera said, her voice very soft.
    Diego lifted her and put her on Blake’s knees. “It still doesn’t matter,” he told them. “I don’t love you because some stupid mystical bullshit says I have to.”
    “It’s the only reason you stopped being angry long enough to fall in love at all,” Blake pointed out.
    “Yes, maybe, at first. It’s different now.”
    “Is it?” Blake asked, ever the cool, calculating detective. “Then why are you back to pacing like a caged animal?”
    Diego halted. He was pacing, the tight little circuit around the rug-sized area between the sofa and the windows Sera had just come through.
    “Fuck,” he said, dismayed.

Chapter Three
    Zack tried to tell himself that the reason for his melancholy mood was because it was Christmas Eve. The time of year would always be associated in his mind with the smell of freshly stripped fir tree fronds strung around a simple room, along the mantel shelf and over door lintels. The fronds would be warmed by hundreds of candles and sending out their piney scent, mixed with the aroma of apples and oranges, the ultimate Christmastime treat.
    Every time he remembered that humble scene, he could hear the sweet piping of the voices of children long since dead and his gut and heart would tighten.
    As he walked along the path toward the gentle span of the Gapstow bridge, he passed dozens of families strolling the paths, their breaths frosting the clear, fresh air. Because of the time of year, there were far more parents with kids than the usual solo business people walking the trails.
    The sight of all the happy families didn’t help his frame of mind.
    He pushed his hands deeper into the heavy coat and hunched his shoulders, as if he was cold. It hid his face and his sour mood. He didn’t mind the rest of the world thinking it was the absence of those he’d once loved that made him look this way. Only, if Beth were here, she wouldn’t let him get away with it. She wasn’t here, though, and she didn’t need to be. After four years of watching her look at the world with a direct and uncompromising gaze, he found