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envelope and drew a breath.
     
    Mason,
     
    My love, please understand what I’m about to do. I
need you to be strong for me.
    I need you to let me do this.
     
    You are my world, my soul, my heart and you have to
believe that this is hurting me more than is bearable. But, more than that, I
don’t want you to witness this pain, nor do I want you to experience it.
     I would never forgive myself for taking your
beautiful smile away, or for tearing your soul apart when you witness this evil
eating away at me.
    I always want to be your little warrior, yet now, I
can no longer be that and I never want you to see my weakness and fear. I will
never allow that.
     
    Although we are apart, I know you will be with me,
always. Entirely and wholly, as you always promised, as I will be with you.
    I need you to let me go. I need you to free that part
of me that is inside you, liberate the part of my soul that you have kept for
safe keeping. It’s time now, baby.
    It’s time to remember what we had before this illness
ruins our memories, and turns them septic. Because they will. My death will
forever be with you and I couldn’t bear for those memories to take away the
happy ones.
     
    You kept me alive when the darkness threatened, Mason.
You held me up when hell wanted to swallow me whole. You took on my past and
you freed me from it, and now it is my turn to return your freedom so you can
live for the future.
    You will never leave me, ever. I will always be yours.
My heart will always belong to you, all of it.
     
    I’m going away now. Please, please, if you can’t ever
promise me anything else, promise me that you will let me go. Give me the peace
I need to say goodbye.
    Take care of our babies, raise them as we have
together and nurture them, Mason. But above all, love them, fucking love them
and never let them forget.
     
    Goodbye, my darling. You will forever feel me with
you, because you own me, all of me forever.
     
    I love you, wholly and entirely, always and forever.
    Your little warrior.
    Your heart.
     
    Kade found me twenty minutes later, my hands bleeding, high
as fuck, sat rocking in the corner of the trashed bedroom.
     

Chapter Eight
Rebellion
Ava
Six weeks later
     
    The stool moved under me, rocking from side to side and I
grabbed hold of the edge of the bar to steady myself. Glen, the bartender,
smirked at me, “Steady on, love.”
    I shrugged. Fuck him. I’d found the small bar at the edge
of the city and deemed it a safe zone, far away from where Mason and my friends
frequented. It was the first time I’d ventured out since leaving. My supply of
cash had withered away, and I’d had to find a cash point but had then spotted
the pub and decided to waste away in there instead of in front of the TV.
    It was a lively place, with karaoke and a small dance
floor to one side, and a quieter section where I was, on the other side.
    “I’m still too steady,” I informed him as I pushed my
glass towards him.
    He shook his head but shrugged as he took it from me,
“Same again?”
    I nodded firmly, “Same again.”
    I slid the money to him, giving him a humungous tip when
I refused the change and downed the vodka and cranberry, once again sliding the
empty glass in his direction. “Do you have a death wish?” he asked when he
sighed and refilled my glass again.
    I laughed at him, “Yep, might as well get it over with.”
    He frowned at me but then shifted his eyes to the person
who slid onto the stool beside me. I watched him narrow his eyes on my neighbour
before I turned to study who had got his back up.
    The black haired guy seemed familiar and I pursed my lips
as I studied him intensely. “Do you always have to look at me like you wanna
devour me, Ms Fox?”
    I stared at him in confusion before it clicked. “Mr
Steed.”
    He grinned at me as he gestured for Glen to refill my
glass, “And a Jack, no ice for me, Glen.”
    “Steed,” Glen warned. “We both know who she is. She has a
death wish, don’t