Sarah
I spend an hour submerged in the bathtub up to my chin. Sydney isn’t in the bedroom when I finally emerge, wrapped in nothing but a robe. I curl up in bed on top of the duvet and stare at the sunlight raining down through the glistening windows, my mind in shambles.
I have to knit myself back together somehow. I was taken from this place as a child, given a new home, a new shot at life. I have that now. I have a son, a mate, and a family that loves me and wants to see me whole.
I can’t go back to Crescent Falls carrying any burdens.
I hear the door open and close softly. Sydney’s familiar footsteps brush across the carpet. He touches my hip, likely just to see if I’m asleep, but I turn to him.
He looks exhausted. Broken and worn thin.
I open my arms to him, and he falls onto the bed on top of me.
“I think we’re going to be okay,” I whisper after a few moments of heavy silence.
He lifts his head, managing a smile. “I think we will be.”
“Is it over now? All of it?”
He nods. “It’s over.”
“Now what?”
It’s a heavy question. He crawls over me, propping himself up on his elbows to look down at my face. “When I woke up in that orrery and couldn’t find you, I thought–I thought I’d lost you. I realized then, maybe for the first time, how little I cared if the world was burning down, if I couldn’t keep you safe, if every evil known to our kind was coming for us… I realized none of it fucking mattered if you weren’t here anymore, Sarah. Safe, happy, and normal wouldn’t matter. I love you. I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you, and I’d walk through a thousand fucked up lifetimes just to be by your side again.”
I cup his face and draw him down to me, kissing him deeply. He melts into the kiss, covering me with his body, his knee drawing up between my thighs.
Maybe it’s just the need to feel each other, to feel alive and whole. I don’t understand it, and I don’t care to, I just know that nothing has ever felt as right as being in his arms.
He slides his hand beneath the robe and clutches my breasts, kneading and plucking at my nipples until they rise and harden. I arch my hips against his as I moan against his lips, desperate to have him inside of me.
I just need to know he’s here. That we have that golden future I saw.
Sydney rips my robe off and throws it away from the bed. His mouth leaves a trail of heat over my neck and collarbone as I reach between us and pull his belt free in haste. My fingers slip over his zipper. I’m panting, struggling to catch my breath. I feel like time is ticking by too fast as he shoves his pants down and thrusts his cock deep inside of me without preamble.
“Sydney!” I moan, rocking my hips against his, trying to adjust to his side. He steals the moan with another rough kiss, crushing my mouth, his tongue sweeping over mine in a desperate dance.
I place my hands on his chest, finally meeting his eyes. “Slow,” I beg, a single tear falling across my cheek. “Slower.”
He slows down, locking his gaze with mine. Every thrust is honed exactly where I need it the most. He lowers his head, brushing his nose over mine before burying his face in the crook of my neck, buried in my hair.
The eruption of hot need gives way to pleasure that floods my body, blurring every sense. His mark on my back ignites, the threads binding us together tugging tight.
“I love you,” he groans, over and over. The words make those threads sing, creating a beautiful song just for us.
An earth shattering orgasm tightens through my thighs and lower belly. Stars fill my vision as I pant his name, gritting my teeth as my pussy clamps down and spasms around his cock. He pumps into me again, hard, and spills himself inside of me with my name on his lips.
Then his eyes are on mine. The bluest of blue. The most beautiful color I’ve ever seen.
So much for pink.
“Let’s go home,” he says, and his smile is my undoing.
Two hours later, after a light dinner in Kenna’s bedroom with her, Evander, and their precious new baby, Sydney and I walk hand in hand to a wide, sweeping terrace overlooking the glorious, ancient city of Moonrise. I’m wearing the sweater and jeans I came here in, everything freshly washed, free of the blood of the rogues and the stain from Gabriel’s death.
I turn to look at Kenna and Evander, who stand side by side. She’s holding their son, and Brie is asleep on Evander’s shoulder.
Safe. We’re all finally safe.
“I’ll see you soon,” Kenna says, smiling like she smiled that morning I ran into her at Ryan’s house, when I snuck out on the verge of falling to pieces.
“Soon,” I tell her and reluctantly turn back to where Ryatt is waiting for us, his sword already unsheathed.
There’s so much up in the air right now. I haven’t given myself a single moment to properly grieve Hadley or to understand why she did what she did. I haven’t been able to wrap my head around Ryan and his loss and what he sacrificed so that I could be standing here beside his brother preparing to go home to our child.
My heart is heavy as Sydney walks us toward Ryatt. I don’t know what to expect when our feet touch the ground in Crescent Falls, but I know one thing for certain.
I’m not doing this alone anymore.
“Your father will be waiting for you to debrief about the situation in Crescent Falls, Sydney. As far as I know, there’s no longer a threat.” Ryatt’s eyes slide to mine. “And you… if you ever decide to give up these powers, we can do it. You just have to say the word, and it will be done.”
“I understand,” I tell him, squeezing Sydney’s hand.
“Take us home,” Sydney says, and within seconds, my body is being pulled apart and knitted back together again. Light and sound blur into one before exploding with new color, then familiar sounds and scents wrap themselves around me in a warm embrace.
The castle in Crescent Falls is bathed in early morning sunlight when we arrive. Ryatt spirited us right into the center of the back garden before disappearing in a blur of dark magic. My legs feel like jelly but propel me forward at the speed of light, only one thing on my mind.
“Is he in the nursery?” I hear Sydney ask Maddy, but I’m already sprinting toward the foyer, toward the staircase.
The last time I stood on this landing I made a choice that eventually determined whether my mate lived or died. I turned left.
Today, I turn right.
It takes two seconds to reach the crib where Blake is clutching the railing, his eyes wide and teary. “Baby,” I gush, bursting into tears as I scoop him into my arms and sink to my knees. Sydney is close behind me, his arms wrapping around the two of us as he falls to the ground, too.
Home. I’m home.
* * *
Maddy
The castle is quiet, everyone who lives within the secure, sacred walls long asleep.
Isaac never came to bed, however. He returned a day ago when Ryatt came looking for Evander, who had been deep in the underground looking for the last of the rebels. I can’t say it’s been easy the past few days. We’ve had so many years of peace that I’ve forgotten what this feels like and what it does to my mate.
Isaac’s office is cozy and warm when I lightly knock on the door and slide inside. “It’s almost three, Isaac.”
He turns from the window overlooking the back garden. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” I close the door behind me and walk to him, taking his hands in mine. They’re cold to the touch, so I curl my fingers around them and squeeze. “Sydney and Sarah are back at the manor and settled in. They’re going to be all right.”
“I’m not worried about those two,” he laughs softly, sadly.
I nod, feeling another incredible weight settle on my already sore shoulders. “Have you spoken to Ryan today?”
“I went to Silverhide after Syd took his family home.” He looks down at our joined hands, shaking his head. “He wasn’t at his house. I found James in the pack house talking to their elder tribunal liaison about Hadley and his interview with my warriors. He told me Ryan shifted and left, so I came back here.”
What are we going to do about Ryan?
I let go of his hands and walk to the couch in front of his desk, sinking down. He follows, and we sit in silence for a moment, both of us lost in thought.
“Can he have another mate at this point?”
“We’ll need to talk to the High Priestess,” he replies.
“It’s a delicate situation. No one should know–”
“He did what he felt needed to be done. He’s a trained warrior, Maddy. He was protecting an innocent–”
“This woman was his mate, and he killed her.”
Another beat of silence settles heavily. I fight the tears welling to life in my eyes, wiping them away with the back of my hands.
Isaac reaches over and lays his hand on my thigh. “I’ll talk to the priestess tomorrow. We’ll figure out what needs to be done.”
“I look at Sydney and see him finally happy and now–Ryan was always our happy one, Isaac. The jokester. The one who made us smile and laugh. I worry this is going to change him.”
“It will.” Isaac shifts his weight, sighing. “I spoke to Ryatt. He’s finally opening up part of his territory, the Deadlands, to settlers. It’s mostly barren, but the few tribes who’ve lived there for the past several decades have luck farming and hunting, and their leaders have agreed to join their kingdom.”
“What does this have to do with our son?”
“I’m considering sending Ryan and his pack to Eastonia.”
I blink, unsure I’ve heard him correctly.
Isaac continues, “Ryan has been having issues with his neighbor, the Alpha of Raven Hall. Silverhide is a small pack. Ryan keeps his numbers low. Raven Hall sees that as a weakness, and I think Ryan would be better suited to more space.”
“You can’t send him away.”
“It would be his decision. Ryatt is considering it as well, whether this is an appropriate move, whether Ryan could handle the Deadlands.”
“It doesn’t change the fact he killed his mate, Isaac.”
He hangs his head, his hand finding mine.
“Ryan will find his way out of this, Maddy. But he has to want it. He has to overcome this grief. I don’t know how else to help him.”
“What should I do?” My voice is broken as I turn to my mate, my husband, the father of my children, and the love of my life.
For the first time in the two decades we’ve been together, Isaac looks at me, and I can tell he has no clue how to fix this.
Isaac can fix anything.
But he can’t fix the void in Ryan’s heart.