Coming Home To You

Chapter 17

His POV

I ran my fingers over her face gently as I take in every small detail and categorize every tiny change. My brain starts to count each freckle covering her cute button nose.

"Phoenix," she says again as she lifts her hands off my chests and wraps them around my wrists.

I don't move. I can't take my eyes off her.

My soul.

"You're here," I whisper in awe.

"I'm here," she nods.

"I missed you," I say as I press my forehead to hers.

"I missed you too."

We both stand in silence as we drink the other in. My soul was in my arms again.

"Hello," Felix's voice breaks our moment, "One of you two want to fill the group in?"

"She's my soul," I smile. My eyes never leave hers, not bothering to even pretend to like I care about anyone else around me, "What are you doing here?" I ask her.

"What do you think?" she sasses, a tone I missed, "Someone had to rescue you."

I start to laugh. But the second her words sink in, anger starts to pull at me, "You risked your life? The hunters could have killed you."

"Don't you dare start that with me," her temper flares as she shifts back. I tighten my hold on her, not allowing for even an inch of separation again.

"You could have gotten hurt," I growl, "How could you think I would ever want you to put yourself in danger like this?"

"They took you!" she yells at me, tears filling her eyes, "You were gone, and I was willing to do anything to get you back."

"I wouldn't have wanted you to do this," I tell her.

"Well sorry, but you weren't there to argue with me about it."

"I'm not worth your life!"

"You are my life!" she cries.

"Excuse me," Felix interrupts again.

"What?" we both turn to shout at the same time.

"As enjoying as this is, could you maybe continue your lover's quarrel another time? I would like to leave."

Ash tugs my hands away from her face, breaking our contact. Lifting her arm, she looks at her wristwatch quickly before she grabs one of my hands in hers.

Pulling on my arm, she walks around the group and starts heading down the corridor.

"You're going the wrong way," Felix says as the rest of the group follows behind us. The two Ash had with her trail in front of the vampires as the one who attacked Ash stays far away from me.

Knowing now that she is my soul, attacking her allows me to take his life at any moment. Staying out of my direct sight is the only way he can guarantee I still won't kill him.

"If we were going to the main doors, yes," Ash tells him, "But we are heading to the service tunnels that lead out to the woods."

"Service tunnel? But shouldn't the main entrance be faster than any side tunnels?" he argues.

"It's also rigged to explode in seven minutes," Walking faster, we head towards one of the corner stairwells of the building. Pushing open the door, she starts leading us down, "The entrance to the tunnels is one floor under the sub-basement. We follow it for about half a mile before we exit into the woods. After the lobby explodes, we'll only have another five minutes to make it as far from this building as possible."

"What happens after those five minutes?" someone asks.

"The R&D lab will have a small explosion. Most of the chemicals in their can burn for days, leading to the entire building going up in flames."

When we make it to the sublevel door, I let everyone else pass us. Looking into her eyes, I raise my eyebrows.

"Bombs, Sunshine, really?" I ask her, shocked that she would go agree to that.

"Alpha Jacob's escape idea. It was the easiest way to get you out," she says. Her tone is cold, but I can feel her guilt and remorse through the bond.

Walking forward again, we start to make our way down the tunnel behind everyone else. I hear an explosion go off above us, causing our footsteps to speed up.

I want to put a million miles between here and my Sunshine. We walk in silence for a few more minutes before we make it to the access grate and walk out into the woods.

"Thank you for coming to get me," I tell her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders, "I'm still not happy about it though."

I can feel her roll her eyes at me, "You can be mad all you want. You're coming home. That's all that matters to me."

I hear alarms in the distance before lights flood the small clearing we are in. I can smell the wolves before they even exit their cars.

"Crescent Moon Pack," my words fall on deaf ears as the members start to create a perimeter and gather up those who left with us.

"I told you. Jacob planned the escape."

Turning her carefully in my arms, I smile down at my beautiful sunshine as a heartwrenching feeling fills me.

"Where's Ella?" I ask her for the first time. She was eight months pregnant with our daughter when I was captured.

I missed her birth. I missed her taking her first breath and opening her eyes for the first time. I missed it.

"She's safe," she tells me, her tears overcoming her and flowing down her cheeks, "She's home."

I pull her closer and place a gentle kiss against her lips.

"Let's go home to our daughter."