Alaric's POV
The door trembled once more with the thud of a hunter's body thrown against it, but the moment passed quickly, silence bleeding into the room as the last echoes of battle began to fade. My chest pressed against Enzo's, blood soaking into his clothes, my weight holding him down, pinning him as though I could stop him from slipping away if I just stayed there long enough.
But the truth was written in his trembling hands, in the way his eyes searched anywhere but me. Not hate, no something worse. Hurt. A fracture I had caused the moment I ripped Ashton's heart from his chest in front of him.
"Alaric…" Enzo's voice cracked under the weight of tears. "Please. Let me breathe."
