Recover: Book 2 of the Magic Mutations Series | ✓

23: Course of Action

The moment I walked through the door, my eyes frantically searched the apartment for her. Head popping out from the hallway after she had evidently heard the door close, she spotted me. At once, she was running across the room, throwing herself at me. I immediately enveloped her, spinning her around.

"Did you miss me?" I whispered.

"So much," she breathed.

But as much as I wanted to love this moment, the fact that we were going to miss each other so much more when...

"What happened?" she asked, feeling my hesitancy.

"Let me have a shower then... we can talk."

"I don't like the sound of that."

· · ───── ∘☽༓☾∘ ───── · ·

When I entered the bedroom, she had her knees pulled to her chest, blanket over herself, and was hugging her legs. Then her sad eyes met mine, already welling with tears.

"What's wrong?" I said softly, quickly coming over to the bed as I wrapped my arms around her.

"Are you leaving me?" she croaked.

"As in... breaking up with you?"

She nodded.

"Definitely not. I promised forever and I meant it, Ollie."

She heaved a sigh of relief, but sobbed nonetheless into my shoulder. "You felt off when you got home. Your touch was distant. It was like you were saying goodbye to me. I thought maybe because you went back to your friends and that you saw your ex again... that maybe you realised you wanted that life more than me."

I patted her hair for a while as she wept her worries, before asking, "How long tonight did you spend convincing yourself of this?"

"Too long," she mumbled.

"Oh, Olivia," I sighed. "What are we going to do with you?"

She shrugged in my hold. "So what did they want?"

Pressing my lips together, I took a deep breath and told her everything.

· · ───── ∘☽༓☾∘ ───── · ·

"You have to get rid of him," she said. "If you can stomach taking him out... it's for the greater good."

I looked at my lap, a part of me not entirely convinced of the idea. I didn't want to kill someone...

"Do it for the good of humankind. Do it for Anja. And do it for us," she whispered, grabbing my face in her hands. "He's done way worse than what you'd have to do."

"I... I'll try to find another solution first," I whispered. "Something maybe that can severely hurt him or take his vampirism..."

"Is that possible?"

"Not that I know of. But if it exists... I will try to find it."

She nodded, giving my hands a reassuring squeeze.

"But Ollie," I breathed.

"Mmm?"

"If I'm getting involved in that world again... you know what this means, right?"

Pressing her lips together, she looked down to the bed. "How can I survive there without you when I could barely last a night?" she whispered.

"It's your home. Surely you know you're safe there. And you'll be with your mum—"