Page 145 of Destined Dawn

“I know,” she says.

“How? I never told you before.”

“Actions speak louder than words.”

“Yeah, they do,” I say. “It’s why I’m going to show you every damn day how much I love you. Gonna start every day by burying my mouth between your legs, licking out your pussy and making you come all over my face.”

“Oh, jeez,” she says, and I think about dropping down to my knees and doing that right now. Sure there are people about, but I reckon I could hide under the skirt of her dress.

I don’t get the chance to enact that idea though. We’reinterrupted by the others – her other fated mates, the smart girl with the braids and the enforcer’s sister.

“Everyone’s going down to the meadow to watch the sunrise,” the smart girl says. “Wanna come?”

“No,” I say, clinging on to the idea of the pussy eating. “I’m about to make her come.”

“Yes!” little rabbit says, giving me one of those looks she does when she wants me to be nice, and jumping down from the wall.

She hooks one arm through the smart girl’s and one through the sister’s and they walk, heads bent together as they talk so quickly it makes my head spin.

“Nice try, Barone,” the were says, slapping me on the back. “But don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of time for that.”

I walk with the others, slam bang in the middle of them, right behind little rabbit. I guess he’s right. I belong here now. She says she loves me. She says she wants to keep me. For the first time in my life, I’m part of a family. Which means I’ve got the rest of my life to be eating her pussy. Heck, I wonder if I’ll make it to 50.

There’s a crowd already gathered in the meadow, people exploding their magic over their heads creating colors of all sorts in the dark sky. In the distance, I can make out the glow that must be Los Magicos and behind the tall trees are the sleeping forms of dragons.

“Wanna show them how it’s done?” Tristan says.

“Yeah, let’s show them,” Rhi answers.

She holds out her hands. Azlan takes one. Tristan the other. Spencer takes Tristan’s hand and Phoenix Azlan’s. The circle needs closing. I step forward and take their free hands. There’s no flinching, no mumbles of annoyance from Phoenix. We link hands and let our magic flow freely between us, round and round the circle.

“You know your magic would be stronger if you formed a star and not a circle,” Winnie calls out.

But we’re all too engrossed in this moment, in this feeling of connection. It’s the fucking bomb.

I laugh, my cheeks tugging my mouth upwards and then together we shoot our magic upwards, letting it cartwheel and dance high up into the stars, exploding into a million colors.

Everyone around us stops to watch, and the meadow falls quiet as we paint the sky with magic. All of us bringing a piece of ourselves to the picture, knowing it wouldn’t be complete without us all.

“The sun,” someone calls out.

And we let our magic fall away and watch the sun as it rushes over the horizon, rays of light darting across the sky, the dark melting into light.

“Dawn,” I say quietly.

“A new day,” Phoenix says, laying his hand on my shoulder. “A new beginning, my friend.”

EPILOGUE ONE

Stone

Six monthslater

We openthe door and are greeted by a billow of smoke and the stench of burning.

“Shit!” Azlan says, waving his hand in front of his face. “Is someone trying to burn down my house?”

Behind us Rhi coughs, then whips the smoke away with a twist of her fingers, and wiggles past us all.