Blood Oath (Ruby Rose/Ares fan fic)

Thirty-six

Bonus Chapter: Ares P.O.V

It's pretty obvious that she's in shock... She hasn't said a word since I helped her to sit down on the passenger seat but she's started shaking. I turn up the heat while driving as fast as I can but being careful about the speed limit... I don't need a police officer to stop us now and realize that she's covered in blood, we should give him too many explanations and ask Winston and The Company for help to get out of the police station. The moment we arrive to the loft and she recognizes her surroundings as a safe place, she'll react... probably crying her eyes out for a while. I look at her out of the corner of my eye so I can check how she's doing... actually, I need to see her in order to calm down my own brain knowing that she's here, sitting by my side, and no asshole has snatched her from my arms like they did with my sister Nika.

I finally know how it feels to be in love: you feel panic, true terror because you can lose that woman on which all your happiness depends. It's a good thing that the rest of the time that fear is compensated by laughs, touches, fabulous sex, kisses, hugs, her breath fanning my skin when she sleeps with her head on my shoulder... I love Nira. Actually, I realized in Rome when that bullet hit her rib: the idea of that bullet smashed into her skull and me losing her forever kept me awake for two days while I was holding her tight so she didn't hurt herself turning in bed. When she hugged me in front of my sister's grave, when she comforted me and took care of me during those hard days I realized that I wasn't feeling just love... it was even more than that. Nira owns my life and my soul, my heart beats outside my body next to hers now and if she suddenly disappears from my side... it'd all be over for me. Suddenly, my feelings for her were so intense that I needed some days to adjust to them, I tried to take a cold look at the situation in order to understand how everything fitted together: Nira, her cats, my future plans... This morning I realized that everything was fine, my life made sense and I had a new purpose: take care of her and love her... the way she surrendered to me in the shower, her trust in me, confirmed me that she's perfect for me.

I've lived the second worst moments of my life today. The most horrible experience of my life was seeing my sister being raped and killed, of course, but the time I spent pacing up and down Winston's office anxiously between the moment I found my girl's shoes on the floor in front of the elevator till I heard her message... that was almost as bad as seeing my sister dying. I've never felt so helpless in my entire adult life, all the training with Stefano, all those past years spent on the shooting range and practicing martial arts were useless all of a sudden. So were Winston's contacts and his yells through the phone talking to Aidan's dad because he had disowned his own son and didn't know where he was hidden. My girl was somewhere in this big city alone with an armed asshole and I couldn't do anything: I almost lost my mind. Her voice on my phone sent a shiver down my spine, we found the warehouse immediately following her instructions, assessed the situation and drew up a plan. Of course, I got the best task: blowing up the head of the idiot who dared to threaten Nira's life. The truth is that I don't feel real pleasure when I kill someone, it's just business for me, but this time it felt so good.

We finally reach the old factory but my girl is still lost in her thought while keeping my jacket closed over her chest, like she's cold despite this car feels like an oven right now. Her adrenaline level is dropping and she's feeling the effects, I need to keep her warm. We get into the service elevator and I leave the car quickly, opening the loft door and turning on the lights before coming back for her, taking her in my arms. That brings her back to reality again and looks around surprised while I walk into our home, her cats come to greet her and their meowing is the cause for her first tear to run down her cheek. She probably thought she wouldn't see them again. I walk through the hardwood floor till I reach the bathroom and I let her feet touch the ground finally. Nira jumps a little and hisses in pain... what the...? Her bare feet... they must be hurt. Fuck, I need to hurry before they get infected.