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"I will never let the with eently and then even softer he whispered inStella… seriously incredible"

I lifted my head to tell him thank you, but our eyes locked and I couldn’t re at me with the kind of devotion I only saeen people likeI should be afraid of Instead I founddeeper… so still nameless… and I knew that ere more than friends Tristan Shields was notso much more

"Stella, I need to take Tristan hoh our bubble and ree, blood and bodies scattered all over our football field

I reluctantly let Tristan go, although only because I was planning on following ed me and we told each other how much we loved one another over and over before they took Tristan away to the parking lot He held oodbyes and e finally parted I felt empty without him… painfully alone

Now that the battle had stopped, the rest of us were left in eerie silence, even with the blizzard waging its oar against the Earth around us Nate and Jupiter hadto her wound and trying to remove the sword from her belly before her skin tried to heal around it

I watched silently for a moment until I was positive she would recover and then I had to turn my eyes away There was definitely a liore for the day and I had more than reached my quota

And then Seth was next to ht into his ar next toarainstcircles

"Thank you for savingmy face in his neck

"That’s what I’hter against him at the same time "I can’t lose you Stella I won’t lose you You’rearound me as the reality of his words sunk in I wouldn’t lose hi towhen I realized that I didn’t just think of hih all of this, he had beco, and brave and valiant yet fragile and vulnerable too

It didn’t s I had for Tristan I could never be with him Seth was my future And I was mostly Ok with that

Except at the same ti and breathed Seth in All of that stuff didn’t ht now because both of them were safe And that’s all I could think about

For now, that’s all I wanted to think about

"All I want to do is go horoaned Every one ofto actually re Serena get to the parking lot and Seth and I had turned to follow the heavily on each other

"I’o to sleep for the next ten days," Seth adht and I have a super hot date for it," he pulledfirmly around my waist and I could hear the sroan which only oo and blood splatter, but I cuddled closer to hiht and just hihts drifting back to the battle

"We will," Seth promised "And her"

I breathed in deeply and let the frozen night air cleanse ed tactics right along with us and we fought a different kind of battle that would take just as much sacrifice and skill as the endless years before us The only difference this ti the battle

If we didn’t go after Aliah, he would be back for us, although since we killed seven of his entourage I was hoping he would reconsider his effort at least outside ofI had learned through all of this it was how rew up in I was definitely not ready to give up high school, orto stop reatest Protector in the history of the Universe Because this was a planet worth saving, huive it up to a certain degree I would have to walk away partially in order to save it I couldn’t have people I loved showing up at every battle because I knehat it would ladly let the to die for hu to walk away

I was called to serve the Earth with Seth He was ether ould protect the last planet I needed to walk away from my life and into my fate with Seth in order to save the Earth

Too bad it was hu that

Even with this loo, ominous destiny ahead of me, I kneould never leave Tristan He hat in with and he would be what kept me tied to it for the rest of my life