Do you know the saying “time passes when you’re having fun”? I firmly believe in its truth. Micah and I talked the entire night until the sun came up. I don’t know how the hours slipped by without me knowing. A part of me was afraid to go to sleep for fear that I’d wake up and realize all of this was just a dream.
I pinch my arm, and the zing shoots through my skin. I’m awake.
I can see Micah staring curiously at me out of the corner of my eye. “Did you just pinch yourself?”
I intentionally blocked him out of my thoughts so he couldn’t hear my crazy inner monologue. “Yes,” I admit sheepishly. “I wanted to make sure I’m not in a dream.”
Micah reaches over and takes my hand. “No dream. You’re stuck with me.”
My smile doubles. “That’s a good problem to have.”
The plane ride to California was only a couple of hours, and it was the first time I’d ever sat in first class. A little boy was sitting with his mother in the row beside us, and Micah ended up playing tic tac toe with him for half the trip. It was sweet, and it made me fall for Micah even more. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank the Great Luna for giving me such an amazing mate.
We bypass a sign that reads Klamath National Forest. Everywhere I look, there are snow-capped mountains and coniferous trees blanketing the mountainsides. “So, where exactly are we going? You obviously have a plan,” I say, tearing my gaze away from the beautiful scenery to look at him.
Micah smiles but keeps his eyes on the road. “You’ll see. The place we’re going to is special to me.”
I peek into his mind, but he blocks me.
“Sorry, love. No cheating. You’ll just have to wait it out.”
I may not have seen what was in his head, but I have an idea of where we’re going. He and Faith lived in this area for all those years before they joined the Royal pack in Wyoming.
“How much farther do we have left?” I ask.
Micah purses his lips. “Not long. Maybe about twenty minutes.”
I nod and turn back to the window.
“So, tell me about Stark and what kind of training you guys did,” he questions.
A loud ripple of laughter erupts from my throat. This was a topic of discussion at the party the other night. Micah trained Faith, Amelie, and Laila. He’s expertly skilled in all kinds of maneuvers; it’s how he was brought up to fight—like a warrior. Stark, on the other hand …
“I wouldn’t necessarily call what Stark did training. Do I know how to fight? Yes, but it’s more like the kind of fighting you’d see at a bar.”
Micah shakes his head. “Okay, so basically, you don’t have proper training. I saw how Stark was as a teenager. I can only imagine how you fight.”
Letting his hand go, I smack his arm. “Hey, I’m not that bad. I think I can handle my own.” Micah cuts me a side glance, and I roll my eyes playfully. “Fine. You can train me if you want. It might be kind of fun. Besides, it was hilarious when Laila told me about one of the times you two trained together.” A snicker escapes my lips. “I think there was something about a hole?”
Micah groans. “Yeah, Laila got me good on that one.” He opens his mind so I can see and replays what happened. He had gotten the upper hand on Laila and was about to take her down. Instead, she used her fae magic by opening a hole in the ground and making him fall into it.
Slapping my hands on my knees, I laugh until a tear slides down my cheek. “I wish I was there.”
“Ha-ha,” Micah jokes. “Laugh it up.”
I lean over and kiss his cheek. “It was fun hearing stories about you. I’m sure Stark will tell you ones about me.”
Micah chuckles. “Oh yeah? Like what?”
“Well,” I begin, looking off in concentration. I’ve embarrassed myself on numerous occasions, but there’s one incident that sticks out above the rest. Granted, it wasn’t all my fault, but I got blamed for it. “Okay, so Dany, Stark, and I were in downtown Pittsburgh, searching for someone in the park. It was the husband of one of our clients. He’d go to the park to meet the woman he was cheating on his wife with.” I wave a hand in the air. “Anyway, I ended up finding him, but in the process, I wasn’t watching where I was going. There was a bridal party getting their pictures taken, and I backed into the bride, stepping all over her dress.” I can see it all in my mind. Her dress rips apart, and she falls to the ground, exposing her bare ass to the world. Everyone in the park pulled out their phones and snapped pictures. I had never been so mortified in my life, and it wasn’t even my backside on display.
Micah’s mouth drops. “What the hell, Rae? What did the bride do?”
I shrug. “Well, she cussed at me and said I ruined her wedding day. I ended up throwing her all the money I had in my pocket and raced out of there. I felt so bad.”
“That’s brutal, love.”
“Needless to say, I let Dany and Stark finish scouting for the cheating scumbag while I hid out in the truck. After that, I never got near another woman in a wedding dress ever again. Dany and Stark still laugh about it to this day. They call me the Wedding Wrecker.”
Micah cackles. “I love it.”
Groaning, I cover my face with my hands. “Ugh, it’s a good thing we don’t have weddings. Ours would be doomed.”
“No, it wouldn’t. Shit happens.”
I slide my hands off my face. “That happened years ago, so hopefully, the bride can laugh about it now.”
Micah’s shoulders shake with silent laughter, and I can’t help but do the same. I will never step foot in Pittsburgh again.
Micah reaches over and squeezes my hand. “We’re almost there.”
We wind around a few curvy roads, and soon the valley opens to rolling hills with lush, green grass. I love the snow in Wyoming, but this is a welcome change. Finally, Micah turns onto a small, paved road that leads up a hill to a yellow cottage with vines wrapped around the porch railings. It’s something you’d see in a fairytale. When Micah asked if I wanted to go to California, I had a feeling he was going to bring me here. This is his other home.
Micah drives up and parks in front of the house. “Do you know where we are?”
Butterflies flutter through my stomach as I get out of the car. “I believe I do.”
Stopping at the bottom of the front porch stairs, I soak it all in. It’s not the kind of place Micah would buy for himself, but I know he wanted it to be perfect for Faith. She was only six when he took on the role as her sole protector.
Micah puts his arm around my waist. “This is all mine. Well, ours now. I promised Faith I’d never sell it.” He slides his hand into mine. “Come on. I want you to see the backyard.”
He takes me to the back, and it’s even more gorgeous than the front. In the distance is the Klamath National Forest, but surrounding us is a pasture of open land with the sound of a river not too far off.
“Wyoming is a beautiful state, but I don’t see how you left this place,” I breathe, gazing all around. The weather is perfect and slightly cool but about thirty degrees warmer than it’d be in Wyoming. All I want to do is take off my clothes and soak in the sun.
Micah chuckles. “You are more than welcome to do that.”
I wink at him. “I just might.”
Squeezing my hand, he pulls me over to the garden. It’s inside of a white picket fence with a white arch leading into it. And in the middle of it all is a courtyard with a white marble statue of Selene: the Goddess of the Moon. I’ve often wondered what the Great Luna looks like in human form, and I imagine it’s something like Selene, very beautiful and ethereal.
We stroll through the arch, and Micah points out all the different flower bushes. “In the spring, there’ll be flowers all over the place. Faith and I would spend hours out here.”
We stay on the stone path that weaves its way through the garden. “I can see why.” I point over to a corner where there’s a space between two rose bushes. “If there were a swing over there, I’d be out here twenty-four-seven.”
Micah glances over at the vacant spot. “Not a bad idea. We should do that.” He gazes off into the distance, where I hear the roaring river, and he smiles. “I want to show you something.”
Taking my hand, he leads me down the hill and over another one before the river comes into view down below. It’s very rocky and shallow, but the current is swift, and I can see tons of rainbow trout and striped bass flying through the water.
Micah waves a hand toward the river. “Every day, I’d come down here and watch the wild horses. They usually come early in the mornings, so I’m sure we missed them for today.”
We go down to the water’s edge, and I rest on my knees, slipping a hand into the frigid water. Micah sits next to me, his eyes focused on the forest in the distance.
“I used to love hearing you tell stories about when you were younger,” I say, enjoying the water gliding over my fingers. I look over at Micah grinning, still focusing on the tree line. “Ice fishing was your favorite pastime with your grandfather. You promised to take me one day.”
Beaming, Micah meets my gaze. “I remember. Faith wanted to come, too.”
Amusement ripples through my abdomen. “Yeah, a little six-year-old determined to out fish us both. I hate I missed Faith growing up. She’s not a little girl anymore.”
He focuses on the grass and slides a hand through it. “I’m just happy I didn’t fail her parents.”
“You could never fail, Micah. It’s not in your blood.” Tilting my head to the sky, I breathe in the cool, crisp air. “I can’t imagine what it was like to be alive over a century ago. The world had to have been so different.”
Micah chortles. “It was. It was simpler times even though we had to work harder.”
After sliding my hand out of the water, I dry it off on my pants and turn to him. “What is our life going to look like?” I know it’ll be amazing whatever happens. In my mind, I can envision a thousand different paths.
A quirk lifts Micah’s lips. “Our lives can look however you want it to. As long as we’re together, I don’t care where we go or what we do. The possibilities are endless.”
Closing my eyes, I conjure up a vision of us in a field of flowers, being chased by three children with bright blond hair and blue eyes. The two girls look like a mixture of us both, but the boy is the exact image of him.
Micah pulls me onto his lap, and my eyes open. “Is that what you want?” he murmurs, his voice a brush of the wind.
I want that and so much more. Lifting my hands to his face, I caress his cheeks. “I want roots, Micah. I love to travel, but I’ve been doing it most of my life. I want to settle down and just live. Being in Wyoming with everyone was like a dream come true. I’ve always wanted a big family.”
His eyes twinkle. “I’ll be happy to help with that.”
Biting my lip, I look down at his, feeling a rush of desire with thoughts of our future. “We can start right after the full moon.”
A blast of need bursts from Micah’s body. “Does that mean you’re ready?” he asks, his grip on my waist tightening.
I slide my hands off his face and wrap my arms around his neck. “On the next full moon, I want you to take me as your mate.”
Micah crushes his lips to mine. When we part, he looks right into my eyes. “I’m sure we can make that happen.”