Brie
“There’s four main ports on the continent,” Logan says, bending over the crude, illustrated map of Crescent Falls and Eastonia for Alex. “Here, in Maatua. Just south of that is Avalone, in Veiled Valley. I believe that’s where we’ll be closest. However, if we come out of the veil far south, there’s a port here, in Tarsian, which is part of Eastonia. And if we’re somehow north.” He breaths, tapping the map with his knuckles. “We’ll be here, in Crescent Falls.”
“And Emberfyll is… where?” Alex asks.
“Somewhere… over here, I believe.” He drags a finger south from Tarsian and sharply east. I follow it, my chest tightening as I look up at him.
We’re on the Artemis right now, tucked away in Alex and Monica’s private quarters. Behind us, the Asteria, the Atropos, and two other grand ships bob in the water. Beyond them, an entire fleet of ships of varying sizes follows our progress away from Tempest Valley and into the open, toward the veil.
We’ve been on the water for two weeks. Before that, we spent an entire week in Tempest Valley preparing for the journey. It's been a whirlwind of activity. I helped where I could. I went into homes to help families pack their things, determining what was important to take with them to a new life, what was irreplaceable. I followed Monica around while taking stock of supplies. We’d sit together, trying to comfort nervous mothers with infants and young children, all of them weary about the journey.
Logan and I wouldn’t see each other from dawn to dusk. He was out with the men–fixing the ships. Loading supplies. Alex didn’t bat an eyelash when Logan told him they were going to Eastonia instead. I think it was easy enough to convince the Alpha of the change after witnessing several tense pack meetings where his people were nearing a split, some wanting to stay and fight, other’s desperate to go–to go anywhere to escape the royal guard.
Now nearly five hundred people have boarded these ships, following Logan’s lead. He’s nervous about crossing the veil. I can tell. We’d lay in bed together at night talking about anything but that.
I walk around him slowly, resting my hand on his lower back. He relaxes a touch, but not much, as he says to Alex, “Once we reach any of these ports, we’re going to be met by warriors. You need to let me lead and explain the situation.”
“Will my people be detained?”
“No, but it’s likely that you, Sawyer, Monica, and the Alphas of the other two packs will be. I’m hoping we’re closer to Avalone because Veiled Valley is Brie’s territory. She’ll be able to see everyone to safety without much… fanfare.”
“Logan, it’s going to be chaos,” I tell him. “We’ve been missing for… a month, at this point.”
“That’s actually on our side,” he replies, meeting my eyes. “You’re right.” He turns to Alex. “It’ll be chaotic, but once Brie and I explain everything, you’ll be safe.”
“And then what?” Alex rounds the armchair Monica’s sitting in, resting his hand on her shoulder. She looks at us expectantly, but she’s a lot calmer than Alex is right now.
“My plan is for you and your allies to settle in the Deadlands. It’s summer. There’s still time to build villages, even if the buildings aren’t permanent, but there’s space and my–my Alpha King is kind to those wanting to settle in his lands.”
I think of Ryan with a smile.
“But,” Logan says with caution, “the reality is… these boats will likely act as pack houses until we’re cleared to travel the river out of Veiled Valley and into Eastonia freely.”
“They’re stocked for it,” Alex grumbles, running a hand over his face. “We’ve never moved this slowly before. We’re all weighed down with supplies.”
Logan straightens his back, eyeing the couple. “And you're positive the Alexandrite will see every single ship in this fleet through the veil? You have no doubts?”
“Yes,” Monica says simply, nodding her head. “It will work.”
Rain patters against the windows. Thunder booms nearby. We all turn to look, to try to glimpse a peak of the veil through the rain, but that’s its little trick, isn’t it?
The boat groans all around us as it’s sucked into the storm.
“We’re fine,” Alex says as if to calm the tension starting to soar toward the ceiling. “I’ve sailed along the edge of the veil before.”
“But you’ve never sailed through it,” Logan says under his breath. His eyes shine, turning a dark, deep green against his white shirt and bronzed skin. He’s no longer the clean-cut captain of my father’s army. He’s suntanned and war-torn, roughened from weeks spent in physical, and honestly, emotional turmoil. I know he hasn’t slept much. Even when he’s had the chance… we’ve been doing other things in bed that have little to do with getting any rest.
I feel my cheeks burning at the fresh memories of being with my mate. My mate. Our bond, reignited, burns through me. Logan glances at me, his pupils expanding like he can see right through me, see into my mind and the images flashing there like I’m turning pages in a book.
He clears his throat. “Wake me up if anything happens.”
Alex nods, running a hand over his face. “We have a few hours before we pass through the veil. You should be on the deck to witness it. I’ll have someone… wake you up?”
“Fine,” Logan replies shortly, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the room, into the maze of narrow hallways.
He wasn’t given the Asteria again. It wasn’t any fault of his own, but Alex wants us close, on the same ship as him, when we leave KiloKilo and come into waters protected by our people, our kingdom, so we can do the talking when the time comes. It’s cramped in the ship now, however. Every stateroom is taken, down the smallest box with only a cot to sleep on. A lower deck has hammocks, but thankfully we still have a room of our own.
It’s the second room we were given when we first stayed on the Artemis. It’s spacious and comfortable, and the bed is… going to do what it needs tonight because the second Logan shuts us into the room, he turns to me, pinning me to the wall.
“Did you think I wouldn’t notice what you were just thinking about in there?” he whispers, smiling wryly as he brushes my hair out of my face and plants a kiss on my kiss. “It was very… graphic of you, Brie.”
“You’re enjoying the perks of having a mate I see,” I giggle, smiling then gasping as his hand travels up my belly to cup my breast, his thumb flicking over my nipples.
“We were in the company of others,” he growls against my neck, nibbling gently.
“I couldn’t help it.”
He smiles wickedly against my skin. “You’re in heat.”
I pull away, pressing my hands to his chest. “Heat? You can’t possibly–how do you know?”
“Another perk of being your mate.” He presses his lips to mine, but I lean out of his way.
“Logan, we haven’t been using any type of protection and… oh, Goddess. What if? What if I’m–”
His hand lowers to my stomach again. “The thought of you pregnant with my child–”
“We’re getting ahead of ourselves.” I chuckle nervously, but to be honest, my life isn’t necessarily flashing before my eyes at the thought. The past week with him has been… amazing. A dream. It’s just been us. No distractions. Nothing burdening us except for helping Alex’s pack prepare for their journey. It was easy to forget about everything else and just be in the moment with him.
I rise on my toes and kiss him, my lips brushing his in a featherlight touch, but I feel the shift between us at the same moment the thought of my family–the family we inadvertently share in a weird, removed, adopted way pops the bubble of delusion for good.
“What are we going to tell them?” I ask, my hands brushing down his sides.
He leans his forehead against mine, his eyes closing as he sighs. “I’ve been thinking about it, trying to decide the best course of action.”
“I’ll do the talking.”
He opens one eye, his brows raised. “Absolutely not.”
“Why not?” I slide free of his hold, walking across the room while picking the laces securing my dress in place loose.
“Because you’ll make this far more complicated than it needs to be.”
“But it is complicated.” I sit on the edge of the bed to remove my boots and socks while he moves toward me. “We’re mates, Logan. We accepted that, acted on it, and now have to–have to tell our family the news after being missing for a month!”
“They’re going to know the moment they see us.”
“You don’t know that.” I laugh, shaking my head as I rise and pad across the floor, trying to pass him to get to the bathroom.
He turns to follow, chuckling under his breath while I continue to fumble with the laces of my dress.
“I do know it.” He catches me around the middle as I breach the bathroom. His fingers deftly untie the laces, and the dress slides free from my shoulders. “And it won’t matter to them, not then, at that moment. We’ve been gone for a while. They’ll just be happy you’re home.” He presses a kiss to my shoulder. I close my eyes as tingles of warmth flood my body. His hand rests against my stomach, pressing me to him. It’s almost enough to make me forget what we were talking about, especially when he kisses the crook of my neck, then upward, before turning me to face him.
He gently pulls the dress down to rest around my waist, his hands cool against my heated skin. He exhales deeply as his hands move up my body, his lips brushing over mine. “Whatever happens,” he whispers against my skin, “It won’t be worse than what we’ve already been through. We’re going home, together, and that’s all that matters.”
I close my eyes when his mouth meets mine in a hungry kiss. He backs me into the bathroom until my hips hit the counter, slowly sliding the dress down over my hips until it pools in a heap of fabric at my feet.
I unbutton his shirt, my fingertips brushing over his skin. There’s nothing hurried about this, not like the times before, when we were just desperate to be together and exhausted from days spent preparing Alex’s pack to leave their islands. Now, it’s the calm before the storm, literally. Thunder cracks through Logan’s soft groan as he lifts me on top of the counter and spreads my legs. Rain pelts the windows, pinging off the glass, while his hands travel to my breasts. He knows where and how to touch me to set me on fire. Every stroke of his fingers has tension curling through my body, my skin tingling and electric, like the lightning casting the sky beyond the ship in ribbons of blue.
“I was going to take a shower, you know.” I breathe, fanning his neck, closing my eyes against the sensation of his cock slipping effortlessly through my folds. My toes curl, and I inhale sharply when he buries himself deep, his body trembling in satisfaction.
“Later,” he says breathlessly, his hands steadying my hips as he rocks into me in deep, but slow, thrusts.
It goes on like this for some time, and when I’m tucked in bed an hour later, my hair damp from the shower I ended up sharing with Logan, I reach over to smooth my hand over his chest while we watch the storm.
“I never found them calming until you mentioned it,” he admits, his voice barely above a whisper. He exhales, toying with my fingers while his gazes hones in on the distant glare of lightning. “On the yacht, during the storm. You just… watched it. It was the first time I ever saw you relaxed.”
“There’s just… nothing anyone can do to change it,” I whisper, pressing my lips to his chest before nuzzling closer. “Not us. Not my all powerful family. Not me.”
He gathers me in. “Everything’s going to be all right. When we return, I mean. I’ll handle it.”
“I know,” I whisper, trying not to close my eyes and inadvertently fall asleep, but he’s so warm and I’m so tired…
And moments later, a knock sounds on the door to our room. Logan leaves the bed, pulling on a pair of pants as he walks to the door, giving me a bit of a show as the stormy darkness casts shadows over his toned back and legs. Sawyer’s voice is soft but serious, muffled by distance, but there’s only one reason he’d be here.
We’re about to go through the veil.