The wicked blade now inched closer to Tival's neck and if it hit him…
If that blade bit into the neck of the man he just got down on one knee for… if he fell here....
Heldon's mind and heart wrenched and shredded themselves into tatters.
He tried to see a future where he stopped the vampires on his own, where he went back to Waltham with a riderless Blaze in tow. His mind defaulted to static imagining himself putting lilies on an elegant headstone while standing alone facing the sunset. He'd be wearing an opal ring while holding an emerald one that would be worn again.
The warm, amber feeling of safety would vanish, never to be enjoyed again. He'd never find anyone else who he trusted with taking care of him but not control him. Tival protected him without trying to possess him like a
