Ari’s hands were around the barrel that was my torso and she was using what puny strength she had for holding me back. I let her only because her ego was so fragile and she kind of scared me when it was compromised.

She strained to talk while stopping me. “You won’t stop him. Whatever he’s made up his mind to do—you can’t stop him. He will just flash away and do it without us. We have a big enough war without creating new ones within ourselves.”

I frowned down at her for acting silly. Saying big words while her tiny form was trying to hold me back was funny. The only reason I was letting her was because I would hurt her if I ran her over.

Except she wasn’t being silly at all. She was dead on, and I knew it.

“He’s being too generic. He’s not saying what he means. I need to at least know what he means.”

“Why?”

“So I can know how to stop him.” I rolled my eyes at her. I didn’t think I had ever done that before.

She pushed against my chest a little harder, surprising me. “And you think he will because you barge in there demanding that he say it? And even if he does, can we really stop him? I know he doesn’t know what he’s doing as the Eidolon. He seems to put out fires instead of having a solid plan of attack.

“But as Theo, Colby’s mate, there was no guessing. He knew what she wanted and needed and he would stop at nothing to get the task completed for her. He once had me flash to Hawaii to get some Hibiscus flowers because she had a project but couldn’t find one to show. He cashed in all of his savings bonds before her birthday to buy her a ring that she threw back at him, telling him that it was over. There was no length he wouldn’t go to in order to do what she needs—nothing—including…”

“No. Don’t say it. Damn it all. Don’t say it.”

I thrust my fingers into my hair, pulling it by the roots, hoping it would help me with the buried aggravation that I wouldn’t be able to let out in front of Theo. “I know. Haven’t you seen him since he came back this time? It was different. He didn’t talk about the people in the Fray. There was no muscle soreness or disorientation like before. He’s pensive and always looking to the sky in silence. And it’s not because of Colby. I know him. Grinding his jaw or pumping his fists open and closed—that’s for his hurting mate. The staring into space—the longing looks to the wide open—something else happened there that he’s not telling us. I don’t have powers like you all, but I know what I’m seeing.”

“He will tell us. He’s our friend.”

She thumped her head against my chest in aggravation—or in giving up on me. “There are some things that are too painful even for friends. There are some burdens we have to carry alone. I think this is one of them for Theo. And as his friends, we have to respect that.”

I turned my head to rest a cheek on the top of her head. I didn’t like this part of it. I didn’t like that he had to do anything alone.

That was what killed the last Eidolon—going at it alone—hiding himself and his family away from everyone instead of facing what was in front of him.

He even hid from his mate—staying longer and longer in the Fray to escape what his life had become—a shadow of what the Almighty meant for it to be.

“Come on. Let’s check in with the teams. They have to have seen something by now.”

“Ari…” I stopped her with my hand on her waist. She stopped and looked at me in question. We had been a little distant in the past days, handling everything and mostly just surviving. But seeing Theo long to say things to Colby that he might never get a chance to say made me more aware of the same thing happening to me. We didn’t know what was going to happen when and if we ever found Pema.

And we probably wouldn’t until it was too late.

So, I had to use up every second we got.

“I love you, Ari. I didn’t think I’d ever find you—I didn’t think I’d ever find a mate.”

She rolled her eyes dramatically and lifted up on her tiptoes to kiss me quick and hard. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Viking. I found you. And I love you back infinity squared.”