Ella
It’s odd seeing Ryatt in plain clothes. He doesn’t fit here, I realize, as I watch him turn his gaze from the strangers seated nearby back to the water all around us. He’s been silent since we walked onto the ferry that runs between the isles and Maatua.
I wish I could take a peek into his mind, just for a moment, just long enough to know what he’s thinking.
He’s dressed in navy blue athletic shorts that are a smidge too short for him, resting midthigh and showing off his insanely built muscular legs. His tan skin gleams in the sunlight poking through the somewhat shredded canopy above us, which is supposed to block out not only the sun, but the rain.
He’s wearing a plain gray shirt–again, a little too tight–that shows off every muscle. He looks… hot. Hot as hell, honestly. But also so unfamiliar without his black leathers and belt loaded with daggers. His night-black hair curls around his ears as he slowly turns to me, expressionless, looking past me at the massive island now coming into view.
To the other passengers on the ferry, we’re nobody. We’re just another couple on vacation or running errands in Maatua’s capitol.
But looking at Ryatt, I can sense the darkness around him. His powers are returning, whispering over his skin like shadows cutting through the sun. But there’s an emptiness around him as well, like he’s a walking, talking shell of the man I loved–and nearly lost.
Now that the sedatives from his surgery have worn off completely, there’s little light in his eyes. His mouth is straight and hard, no hint of that cocky, boyish smile. Even his tone remains steady and uninterested whenever he speaks.
Guilt and grief are eating him alive.
I swallow hard and look him over one more time as the ferry pulls into the port of Maatua. I’d found the clothes he’s wearing in the main house before we left. They probably belong to a warrior, hopefully one who won’t be too upset that their shorts and shirt are missing, as well as the sandals I found for him to wear.
When I’d decided we would go to Maatua today, I’d simply left the room, found the clothing he’d need, and walked to his room. I left a note for my parents, of course. Would they come after us?
The lump in my throat aches as I rise, smoothing the wrinkles in the pale cream colored sundress I’m wearing, my hair tied back in a bun at the nap of my neck. Ryatt follows me as we walk across the ferry, guided to the exit by the crowd. Some people, obviously tourists, stop to take pictures of the impressive port and private docks full of sailboats and yachts.
While I blend in with the crowd, people give Ryatt a wide berth. Tall, fit, and covered in scars and tattoos, he’s a sight to behold. I don’t blame them. His normally silver eyes are now a dark, stormy gray as he scans the dock.
“Come on,” I urge, taking his hand. “We’re safe, I promise.”
He looks down at me and gives me a short, silent nod.
I grit my teeth, looking away from him as I struggle to hide the disappointment roiling through my veins. Why am I disappointed? It’s not like I’ve brought him to meet my family and see my old home. We’re here because we’re stuck, too injured and powerless to return to Eastonia.
But that could change after today, if my suspicions are correct.
“Ella!” comes a bright, feminine voice full of sunlight and stardust.
“Poppy!” I beam and drag Ryatt down the dock toward Poppy, the Luna of Maatua.
***
Ryatt
“Goddess above,” Poppy, a short, beautiful woman in her late forties, says as she clasps my hands and grins up at me. “You are the most handsome man I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“Poppy,” Ella grinds out, her brows raised.
“What?” Poppy laughs, letting go of my hands to throw her long brown hair over her shoulders. “Have you never noticed how handsome your mate is, Ella? I will say, you look a lot better now than when I saw you last, Your… Highness?”
“Ryatt is fine,” I tell her, forcing a gracious smile. I can feel Ella watching me like a hawk.
“Is Antony home?” Ella tilts her head toward the castle that overlooks the city and the sweeping beaches surrounding us as we start walking deeper into the crowded streets.
“Not yet. He’s still on KiloKilo. He’s so upset that he’s missing out on the action, Ella. Poor thing.”
Antony is the Alpha of Maatua. Ella explained her connection to this family during our trip across the strait that connects the Isles with Maatua.
“Did you not bring any luggage?” Poppy says, stopping to turn to us.
“What luggage?” Ella asks, giving Poppy a look. “We fell from the sky, remember?”
“Oh, that.” Poppy smiles at both of us, waving a hand in dismissal. “Well, no bother. I called a car to take us back to the castle just in case, but it’s a beautiful day for a walk, if that’s all right.”
“A walk is fine, but we’re not going to the castle, Poppy. We’re going to the falls.”
“But you’re coming to the castle afterward,” she says. “For dinner, right?”
“We can’t–”
“I already called your mom and explained everything, my dear. The two of you are spending the night, I insist!”
Ella looks uncomfortable. She glances up at me, her sea-green eyes shining with apprehension.
“Ella’s parents and the Alpha King won’t take kindly to me being out of my prison cell for very long,” I say, trying to keep the bite from my voice.
Poppy hums with displeasure but shrugs. “I don’t care. You’re in my kingdom, darling. Isaac can take it up with me personally. Besides, it’s been so long since I’ve seen Ella. I want to know everything, every detail of that mysterious kingdom of yours. I have dinner planned and ordered already, so I won’t take no for an answer, and you can catch the ferry back to the isles tomorrow morning.”
By now, we’ve reached a quiet residential area. Large houses made of pale stone rise above palm trees as I follow the two women, who are now bickering back and forth. I look over my shoulder and see three men following us but keeping a respectful distance. Royal guards, I assume.
We reach the castle in a matter of minutes, entering through a lower level surrounded by tropical gardens. While one side of the castle overlooks the sprawling city, the other has a view of a beach that shines like gold in the late afternoon sun.
“We’ll stay the night,” Ella says, “but only if we get a ride to the falls.”
“You know where the cars are,” Poppy says with a little wave of her hand. “I’ll see you at… seven, then?”
“We’ll be back by seven.”
Poppy disappears into the castle, followed by her guards, and within a matter of minutes we’re standing in a large building full of…
“Do you know how to operate one of these things?” I ask with a tinge of worry.
“A car? Please, Ryatt. I’ve been driving since I turned sixteen.” She chooses a strange looking vehicle that’s missing its top and has massive tires. “This will do.”
“I don’t like this.”
“Maybe I can teach you how to drive,” she says with a suggestive smile. “Might as well make the most of our time here.”
Eastonia doesn’t have cars. Or planes. Or massiveb boats, for that matter. The men who’d fought beside me in Crescent Falls hadn’t been given the freedom to roam into the outlying territories when the war drew to a close, but we’d heard of the large cities and strange technology they possessed. We didn’t have the need for these things, not when we could shift for travel.
But to think of not having to use my powers to keep the lights on, and packs protected….
Ella laid on the horn, the sound sharp and demanding enough to break me out of my stupor. “Get in!”
“Where are we going, Ella?”
“The most magical place in this kingdom.”
***
“It’s private land now,” Ella says as she strips out of her dress and lays it over a bench near the water’s edge. It’s a small pond that glitters like gems against a length of blue velvet, the water stirred by a gentle, humming waterfall in the middle at the back. Ella turns to look at me over her shoulder. Her long, thick, dark hair touches her lower back, and her ass…
She’s naked save for white panties that leave little to the imagination.
Something stirs in my chest. It’s not lust or longing. No, it’s a sharp, brutal pain that brings forth the memory of seeing her lying on the filthy stone floor in front of King Kane’s throne, blood dripping from her mouth.
Every time I look at her, I see her glassy, near lifeless eyes staring up at me.
It shatters me.
“Come for a swim.”
“You haven’t explained why we’re here. You said you would.”
She purses her lips, dipping a toe into the water. It shimmers like diamonds.
“It heals wounds. It sometimes gives people special gifts… powers.”
“These are the falls that gave your mother her powers?”
She nods, turning to look at the waterfall. “The Mystic in Moonrise told me that the water between our realms is connected. It’s the only thing that can pierce the veil. I can reach Eastonia. I can at least send a message. I know I can.”
“You shouldn’t be using your powers right now, Ella, not after what we went through.”
“Our kingdom doesn’t know if we’re dead or alive, Ryatt,” she says firmly.
She walks into the water before I can stop her, her hair fanning out around her as she reaches the deepest point. She beckons with a hand. “It feels really good. You’re missing out!”
I growl as I strip off the shirt and step into the cool water. It rushes over my skin, causing it to tingle as I step deeper, and deeper, until I’m up to my neck.
The water swirls over the wounds on my chest, and I feel a sudden weightlessness as my body relaxes into the water’s touch. I inhale sharply as a dull ache spreads across my chest then dissipates into… nothing.
I run a hand over my chest. The stitches are gone, and the dull pain I’ve felt since I finally came back to my senses is totally gone as well. Shocked, I meet Ella’s gaze and find her smiling softly, her eyes shining with relief.
I want nothing more than to go to her, to wrap my arms around her and hold her against my skin. I want to kiss her and not feel like this is a dream, and she’s going to fade away, falling like sand through my fingers.
I want to touch my mate without being reminded of how I failed her.
Ella swims toward me and rests her hands on my shoulders. I can touch the bottom of the pond, but the water would be at least a foot above her head if her toes brushed the smooth stone scattered below us. She wraps her legs around my waist. “You need to go under the water completely.”
“Why?”
“Your face looks like it went through a meat grinder. No wonder people were staring.” She chuckles lightly as I smooth my hands over her hips, then cup her ass.
I stare into her eyes, and then, without warning, I pull us both under water.