Cole
Misty falls into a dead sleep in my arms on Georgia’s old bed. I can’t sleep. I try, but it’s useless tonight. I’m not sure about leaving her here alone, so I bide my time, sliding out of bed and tucking her in tight before standing by the window and watching the square below as the fires turn to embers and warriors go back to wherever their comrades are bunking down for the night.
Maybe it was selfish of me to take Misty here, to sleep in an actual bed, while warriors are literally sleeping outside in the square.
The room starts to close in on me, and I make the snap decision to leave. The dorm is mostly empty. A few students mill about, their faces marred with confusion. Students who survived the attack but didn’t get away from Richard and his magic. Students who were turned into voiceless, mindless warriors and remember nothing of the weeks they spent in Richard’s clutches.
With our bond back in place, I can sense that she’s still asleep, still safe, as I cross the square. I walk a path I carved several years ago when I was a student here. I take my usual route like it’s just another sleepless night when I couldn’t find the focus I needed to slouch over a book in the library.
The student commons and the new cafeteria are in pieces–a tangle of ancient rubble and the new, sleek, shattered glass that used to be a botanical garden for student use. The glass crunches under my feet as I pick my way toward the railing of the sweeping deck that overlooks the shore and the beach below.
It’s high tide. Waves beat against the beach, dragging sand into its raging current. The sound is calming to my entire body, even to my wolf, which has been at full strength and dying to be unleashed since I marked Misty.
We haven’t talked about that. I want to bring it up, but the only words I can say to her are that I’m sorry.
The honest truth is that I’m not. Not now that we survived, and I have some sort of a future with her. She’s mine.
But I wanted that moment to be different. I wanted it to mean something other than saving her life. I have a lifetime to make that up to her, but it doesn’t feel long enough.
I run my fingers through my hair and pace the beach, trying to untangle my thoughts.
Eventually, I sink onto the sand, resting my elbows on my knees.
Voices drift along the beach. Male voices–familiar. I turn my head as two men come into view, veiled in darkness, but Ryan’s profile is clear as moonlight reflects off the surf.
My night couldn’t get any worse.
He spots me and frowns, but his companion, Evander, the head commander of the elusive Ghost army, gives me an expressionless nod of his head. I expect them to pass behind me and carry on with their midnight stroll, but Evander sits on my left side… and Ryan on my right.
None of us speak for what feels like an eternity. Ryan picks at the sand between his legs, tossing shells back into the water as the tide slowly recedes.
Evander crosses his arms over his knees and rolls his neck, groaning under his breath like he’s sore.
I suppose if they’re going to kill me, this would be a graceful death. I’m not sure I have it in me to fight back. Misty would rage if anything happened to me–again–however, and I think they know that.
“I thought this war would be longer,” Ryan says over the sound of the waves, rolling a shell in his hand.
Evander makes a noise in his throat in agreement, stretching out his legs. “We’ll all be home by Solstice.”
Ryan chuckles, rolling his eyes to the moon.
I shift my weight between them, uncomfortable with their proximity and the way they boxed me in.
Evander says, “Syd left already, right?”
“Yeah, a few hours ago. The boys have been giving my mom a hard time, I guess. Cosette’s in Moonrise helping out, but they’re at their wits end. Sydney’s going to lay down the law, or so he says.”
“Those boys have Sydney wrapped around their pinky fingers,” Evander chuckles, which betrays his normally dry, emotionless voice. “He’s gone soft.”
“Yeah, well, so have you.”
“Three kids will do that to you.”
Silence falls again.
I debate standing up and walking away, but Ryan asks, “Is Misty giving you hell for trying to reject her yet?”
“We, uhm, haven’t had a chance to talk about it.”
Evander’s mouth ticks into a faint smile. “The balls on this guy, thinking he can reject a woman from this family.”
Ryan barks a laugh. “That’s the first thing I thought. I know you tried and failed with Kenna.”
“I didn’t even try,” Evander replies, smirking. “She would have killed me flat out, I’m sure.”
I glance back and forth at the men, but they’re still laughing. “You wanted to reject Princess Kenna?”
“Just Kenna, at least to you,” Ryan says, tossing the shell into the waves. “Since you’re family now. And yeah, Evander here got a little nervous when he realized Kenna was his mate, but instead of rejecting her, he pulled a disappearing act for, what, five years?”
“Something like that,” Evander murmurs, his eyes on the ocean.
“Why?” I ask, genuinely curious.
“The same reason you rejected Misty. To protect her. To keep my mind clear so I could continueto protect her.”
I glance at Ryan, noticing the faraway look in his eyes.
“Is it too soon to bring up… your first mate? Since you’re throwing me under the bus?” Evander’s eyes light with mischief.
Ryan scowls. “Totally different circumstances, Ev. Goddess above–”
Evander chuckles, shaking his head. “Well, I think Cole is the first guy to actually reject a mate in this family.”
“It–it didn’t work,” I grind out, feeling utterly exposed. They’re teasing each other, and me, but I barely know these guys, and up until a few days ago, I was the enemy.
Now, I have no idea where I stand.
“Yeah, because you’re mated to the most stubborn person in the entire family,” Ryan snorts, nudging my arm. “Congratulations are in order, honestly, but for our parents. Dad’s been dying for Misty to find her mate and settle down.”
I watch the waves, unsure what to say. What do I possibly say to her brother? I already told him I wasn’t sorry for how things happened. I got her out. That was my only goal when I realized not only who she was but that she was my mate. I got her home.
I’d do it again–the same way.
Ryan stands, dusting sand off his pants, and says, “Aviva and I are leaving in the morning. My guys are already moving back to the border, taking their sweet time and enjoying the heat, I’m sure. I’m going to try to get some sleep.”
Evander nods his goodbye, but Ryan claps me on the shoulder again. It takes all of my strength not to flinch away.
I watch him fade in the distance until he’s no longer in sight.
Evander stretches out his legs beside me and says, “You get used to it.”
“To what?”
“The family. The powers. The dynamics.”
I shake my head. “I don’t understand the–the kindness, especially from Ryan.”
“Well, Sydney’s the one to worry about. He chewed me out a time or two about Kenna, before we got married, at least. He’s not as scary as he wants to be, though. And Ryan just… he went through it a few years ago. I’m not sure if you know or heard the rumors.”
I sigh, turning back to the waves. “About the young woman from Silverhide?”
“Yeah, her name was Hadley. She was working with the Draven coven. Ryan… killed her. They were mates.”
“I’d heard,” I murmur. I remember the rumors swirling through Crescent Falls, especially when the news broke that the Silverhide pack was relocating to Eastonia. I’d just been starting my residency at the time. “How did Aviva react to that?”
Evander gives me a sideways smile. “She broke Ryan out of whatever haze he had been in for over two years. Ripped it right out of him. Ryan and Aviva didn’t even know they were mates at first. He was so torn up about what he’d done to his first mate that he couldn’t see what the Goddess put in front of him until Aviva forced him back from the brink of death. That was only a few months ago, actually. This past summer. She forgave him for trying to die on her and now has him by the balls. It’s nice, actually. In a way, it was like another brother-in-law joined the family.”
Now I’m laughing. It’s a sound I haven’t heard in a long, long time. But the laughs taper off, leaving that same sucking, all-consuming silence broken only by the waves ripping across the shore.
Evander continues, “Once we knew that Misty was with you… Ryatt and Ella fought hard to convince all of us that she was okay and safe. Even after the letter you sent saying you were going to use her as a breeder and that you’d kill her if they crossed into Tarsian. Isaac… he obviously didn’t agree and fought hard to start the war days after she’d been taken, but when he saw what you’d done–how you managed to get her out–”
“I rejected his daughter in front of him.”
“You got her out unscathed, in one piece. I have it on good authority that he railed on Ryatt for not taking you with them. He thought Ryatt might have known in advance she was your mate. Is that true?”
“No,” I whisper, more to myself than to Evander. “It wouldn’t have mattered. I wouldn’t have left.”
“What you did here… was incredible. The work you had to put in behind the scenes to stage a coup against Richard….” Evander tilts his head, considering. “Well, seeing as you just gave up your title, if you need a new job, let me know.”
I chuckle, “I’m not cut out to be a Ghost, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“Maybe a contractor? Someone I call in to help design missions, then.”
I hold his gaze. “I’m going back to my residency in Crescent Falls, if they’ll have me. If that fails, I’ll call you.”
He nods, clapping me on the knee, then rises to his feet. “Kenna’s probably wondering where I am. If I don’t see you tomorrow, I’m sure Maddy will make us gather for Solstice, regardless of the circumstances.”
I haven’t even thought about Solstice. The memory of my mom and sister sprint through my head, cracking my heart into pieces. I watch Evander disappear into the shadows but take my time rising and walking back to the dorm. When I arrive, Misty’s awake, sitting up in bed and picking her nails.
“Hey,” I whisper, closing the door behind me.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
I shake my head, sinking onto the edge of the bed. I reach for her, taking her fingers, smoothing my thumb over her skin. “I think we should talk.”
Misty smiles sadly and shakes her head. “About what? There’s about a hundred things I’m sure we need to discuss.”
“I marked you without your consent,” I say before I lose the nerve. “I had to, but I wish that hadn’t been the case.”
Her soft, sleepy expression splinters. “Do you… do you not want to do this? With me?”
“Misty, no. No, of course I do, I just… I wish a lot of things had been different for us, marking you included. We’re mates again, but we don’t have to be if this isn’t what you want anymore.” I can’t walk away. I wouldn’t be able to give her up a second time. I don’t say that, but I watch her face as she drops into thought, toying with my fingers.
“So, we’re going to be living in Tarsian for a while?”
“You’re deflecting–”
Her eyes meet mine and hold–stern and unyielding. “I never accepted your rejection in the first place, Cole. You’re stuck with me, and that’s final.”
I arch my brows. She throws me a cat-like glare.
“Mark me, then.” I lean in, caging her in against the bed. “You spoiled, ornery little princess.”
She scoffs, but the sound turns to a soft moan when my hands start their heated exploration of her curves, her breasts, especially.
It doesn’t take long for our clothes to fall in a pile on the floor beside the bed. I nudge her legs apart and enter her swiftly, both of us groaning and savoring the feeling of just being together again.
But this time, it’s different. It’s not desperate and heartbreaking thinking we’re on borrowed time because we’re not. This is… forever. For a lifetime, to start.
We have the future I didn’t think was possible, and I’ll spend the rest of my life making that up to her.
Her moans turn to whimpers as her body gives in to mine, her pleasure roaring through our bond, falling in rhythm with my thrusts as I start coming undone at the seams.
Misty presses a kiss to my shoulder, her teeth raking over my skin in a way that has tingles of anticipation fluttering over my spine.
She bites down, hard, leaving her mark. Claiming me as her mate.