{"id":2916,"date":"2016-07-11T00:00:14","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T04:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2916"},"modified":"2016-07-10T20:35:53","modified_gmt":"2016-07-11T00:35:53","slug":"thirty-five-07-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2916","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-five – 07"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

She closed the door behind him and collapsed against it, her expression blank and her eyes starting to fill with nothing short of absolute soul-wrenching terror. Matt sat frozen for a few long moments, trying to process what had just happened to them.<\/p>\n

Then he pushed himself to his feet and crossed the kitchen floor in a few quick strides. He wrapped his arms around Hecate and pulled her against his chest, resting his chin against the top of her head.<\/p>\n

She was shaking. One of her hands fumbled behind her to twist the lock on the door, setting the deadbolt.<\/p>\n

\u201cMatt,\u201d she rasped, burying her face against his neck. \u201cMatt, I can\u2019t\u2014I won\u2019t\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShh,\u201d he murmured, his arms tightening. \u201cI\u2019m here. I\u2019m right here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut tomorrow you won\u2019t be,\u201d she whispered. \u201cTomorrow I face this alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

He drew back slightly, looking down at her. \u201cWhat do you mean? I\u2019m not going anywhere and there\u2019s no way I\u2019m going to let you go toe-to-toe with him by yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hecate\u2019s gaze flicked up to meet his, the fear still there, huge and very, very real. \u201cHe wants both of us,\u201d she said. \u201cI won\u2019t let him have you. I won\u2019t let him hurt<\/em> you. I won\u2019t do it again. I won\u2019t be that again. I promised myself\u2014I promised\u2014I promised you<\/em>\u2014him…\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt exhaled, drawing her against his chest again and holding her tightly. \u201cNothing\u2019s going to hurt me as long as we\u2019re together and I won\u2019t let a damn thing happen to you if I can help it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way I can protect you is to send you away.\u201d<\/p>\n

His heart started to pound a little faster, but not in anticipation of escape\u2014he was scared. He was afraid to leave her. I can\u2019t do it. I can\u2019t leave her here alone, especially not to face that bastard.<\/em> \u201cI\u2019m not going anywhere.\u201d He swallowed past the tightness in his throat. \u201cI love you, Hecate. C\u00edar loved you then and I love you now\u2014and I\u2019m not going to leave you this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t have a choice,\u201d Hecate whispered even as her arms slid around his waist. \u201cYou might not, either.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday I do,\u201d Matt said, pressing a kiss against her temple. \u201cAnd today I say I\u2019m not going anywhere\u2014I\u2019m not leaving you to face this alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you,\u201d she breathed, then closed her eyes. \u201cI love you so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m staying with you,\u201d he murmured into her hair. \u201cHe\u2019s not going to scare me away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hecate just hung on tighter. Matt rubbed her back and held her.<\/p>\n

For the moment, there was nothing else he could do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] She closed the door behind him and collapsed against it, her expression blank and her eyes starting to fill with nothing short of absolute soul-wrenching terror. Matt sat frozen for a few … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,210,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,181,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-2916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-35-book-5","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-L2","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2917,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2916\/revisions\/2917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}