Page 48

FORTY-EIGHT

Fiona

S ix days later

Rut was not for the faint of heart. Every part of my body ached, but somehow, despite the lingering soreness and faint bruises from the many, many hickeys Reed had given me in his attempts not to bite me and poison himself with vampire venom, I felt like I was glowing from the inside out.

I’d never felt so loved, or so free.

I’d finally connected with my powers. That first realization that they just wanted to be free had been the tipping point.

They’d settled, whether from the mate bond Reed and I now shared or the fact that giving them a name had helped me come to terms, I didn’t know. And I didn’t really care, to be honest. I still had a lot to learn, but I felt centered with it all. In a strange way, him giving up control had helped me find mine.

I flexed my fingertips into a cup shape, pulling moisture from the air and letting it gather in my palm. It was soothing, a calming feeling to play with water now that I wasn’t constantly fighting it. It was fun and playful, not angry and destructive.

Though it could still rage if the need arose.

“Showing off now, are we?” Reed startled me, and the water droplets went flying, splattering the front of his shirt and the back of the jet seats opposite us. He chuckled, then kissed me on the temple as he settled into his now-damp seat beside me. He traced a fingertip over the ring of bruises around my neck, and from the hum of happiness in my chest, I knew my hot alpha was far too pleased with himself and how he’d marked me up.

“Not showing off, just practicing. The more I access the power, the quieter it is. It seemed like a good idea to stay in touch with it since we’ve been on the plane so long.”

“Probably wise,” he murmured, stroking the base of my throat where his bite rested, which he knew sent a thrum of desire humming through me.

Tease .

“We’ll be landing any minute, so it’s time to buckle in.” He abandoned my mark to reach across me and buckle my seat belt.

“Aren’t you tired of taking care of me? You’ve been waiting on me hand and foot for days.”

“Never. That I can promise you.”

We were making out in our seats like teenagers when the wheels touched down.

Luckily, his staff was discreet.

It didn’t take us too long to get to the Maiden’s Enclave, since we’d flown into a teeny-tiny regional airport instead of the big one in Bucharest. But still, pulling up to those familiar front gates sent a frisson of unease through me.

We’d done our part. We’d completed the mission—Gael was on his way with the omega stone from King Cysernaphus as we sat idling in the driveway—but still, how would the pack feel about the fact we’d bonded without them? Let alone the fact that I’d let a vampire bite me after bonding with Reed?

No ceremony, no tradition, nothing for them to be a part of, and Reed was one of their best friends. It was my only regret, that his pack couldn’t be there to support him on our bonding day, even though I’d kept that tidbit to myself. We were happy, and I didn’t feel the need to borrow trouble, as my mom would say.

She wasn’t expecting to see me until summer, when I made my annual pilgrimage home for a week. So, for now, I’d kept all the changes to myself. Reed had volunteered to go home with me to meet my parents, but we’d both agreed it was for the best if they didn’t know what we were.

I’d had enough childhood trauma; I didn’t need to dredge it all back up by telling my mother her worst nightmares were true .

“Are you ready? Everyone’s excited to see you. The women especially. They want to see the ring.”

I’d forgotten about the ring. Which was an absurd thing to forget, because it was absolutely massive and beautiful. An original piece from the thirties, it was made up of smaller teardrop-shaped diamonds set in a twined gold band.

Apparently, my mate was a closet romantic, because he’d bought the ring in New York City after opening his first restaurant there. He’d held it all that time, believing one day we’d find each other.

I cleared my throat, trying to get myself together, despite the butterflies about facing the pack again. “I’m ready.”

He kissed my knuckles, right next to the ring, and then climbed out of the car to come around and hold my door. We had no driver, not to the enclave, not for pack business.

We’d barely made it to the gate when a young, blonde maiden addressed us. “Welcome back! Hold on, I’ll get the gate!”

“Thank you, Dakota,” Reed said, clearly remembering her even though I didn’t. I must have looked confused because he leaned down and whispered, “She’s the one who let me in the night I drove up with you passed out in my arms.”

Well, that explained why I hadn’t remembered her.

The gate swung open, and we stepped through to the courtyard. Where all our closest pack mates were waiting, as well as most of the maidens we knew—Priestesses Marciana and Lisanne, as well as Galyna, who was trying to keep Elodie from falling off her crutches with excitement.

“Congratulations!” Olivia shouted, racing across the space to wrap me up in a hug. Within moments, we were surrounded by well-wishers, everyone trying to hug us and congratulate us at once.

They were so enthusiastic, Gael’s wry voice behind us was nearly lost.

“What’s a guy gotta do to get a welcome like that?” Leigh flew from the crowd, throwing herself into his arms and planting a kiss on his lips.

Priestess Lisanne surprised me by stepping forward, holding two swatches of fabric to my arm and squinting at them. “We’re throwing you two a bonding party tomorrow night, while the moon is full.”

I stared at her, slack-jawed.

“What? You’re not the first couple to ever lose their heads and bite each other early. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of everything. I need you this afternoon and then about an hour before sunset tomorrow, to fit the dress. Gold is definitely your color. It’s going to look great with those cobalt-blue marks.” She patted me on the cheek and walked away, leaving me staring after her like a gaping fish.

Shay just laughed at my shocked expression, while Brielle took the opportunity to swoop back in. “It’s so good to all be together again.” She smiled as she hugged me for the second time and rubbed her cheek with mine affectionately. “I’ve been going stir-crazy stuck in here with nothing to do but try not to cause trouble. But there’s something else I need to say to you.”

She held me back at arm’s length, her expression going serious. Those nerves I’d thought I’d left behind at the warm welcome were a sudden swarm of caterpillars trying to climb up my throat. Was she angry after all?

“I wanted to thank you. Kane told me about what happened with the vampire—what you did, for me, for all of us. And I know that I can never repay you for something so personal, but I wanted you to know that it means so much that you would be willing to do that for our pack. I won’t ever forget it. I owe you my life and my mate’s life.”

She crushed me to her chest again, and the last of the worry finally, truly slipped away. This was a family. A real, honest-to-Goddess family.

And they were mine.

* * *

Our pack—and our two assigned maidens, who I’d already decided belonged with our pack too—gathered in Kane and Brielle’s bedroom to see the omega stone. Gael had brought the package untouched from King Cysernaphus in its specially warded box.

It looked old, the carvings in the wood that protected it against detection burnished dark by time, their meanings lost.

We all stared at it as it sat on Kane’s desk, the culmination of so many weeks of struggle.

“Should I open it, or…?” Brielle trailed off, smoothing back a wayward curl with no little trepidation.

“I’ll do it. If it’s warded against omegas, it won’t harm me.”

She nodded, and he reached for the box.

Nothing crazy happened when he opened it. A folded piece of parchment fell out, a second, smaller box inside still closed.

“I’m going to guess we’re not lucky enough for that to be instructions?” Shay asked.

“Looks like a run-of-the-mill note from King Cysernaphus. Probably insulting me on not coming to see him personally.” Kane snorted, setting the unopened letter aside. He reached for the smaller box and opened it with an ominous creak of the ancient hinges.

Light burst forth, filling the room with the gem’s brilliance.

There, nestled in velvet, was a shard of shimmering celestine, smoky blue with lighter and darker veins shot through it. The lights seemed to pulse inside, or flicker, as if it were sentient, and I held my breath as Brielle reached across Kane to delicately lift it from its velvet cushion.

She stroked it with her thumb, excitement warring with reverence on her features as she looked down at it.

“Well, don’t keep us in the dark. Do you feel anything? More control? Power boost?” Leigh asked, rubbing her belly as she watched her friend.

“No? Not really. Maybe there really are instructions in the letter.”

Kane picked it up and slid his thumb under the flap, opening it carefully.

He skimmed it quickly, his scowl growing deeper by the second. But before anyone could ask, he started to read the note aloud.

Kane,

Enclosed is the dwarven shard of the omega stone. Alone, it holds no power. If you need it for the reason I think you do—because in your youthful stupidity, you mated an omega female and now need to protect her—then you’re going to need the other four pieces held by the centaurs, greater fae, phoenix, and goblins. Only when all five are combined will the stone hold any power.

Consider my boon paid in full with the delivery of this information and our shard of the stone.

King Cysernaphus

We all stared in stunned silence, trying to process what we’d just learned.

Galyna swore first from her position in the corner, and I could practically see that her fingers were twitching toward her sword when she stalked over and snatched the note from Kane’s fingertips to scan it herself.

“So what do we do now?” I asked, trying to ignore the despair threatening to choke me. If the stone we had was useless… what the fuck were we supposed to do? Eventually, the people hunting the pack would find us, and there weren’t enough maidens to take a stand against the combined might of the supernatural world.

Brielle was the one who answered me. She had her shoulders back and her chin high, the little fragment of stone still sparkling in her palm. “Tomorrow night, we celebrate your bonding. After that, we make a plan.” From the look she leveled on Kane, I knew he was going to have his work cut out for him keeping her in the enclave while the rest of the stone was found.

“It doesn’t feel right to have a celebration while we’re still under the gun. We can postpone it. I really don’t mind.” I looked up at Reed sadly, but I felt like it needed to be said. No one was going to be in the mood to celebrate after this news.

“Goddess’s tits, that’s exactly why we’re going to celebrate tonight. We have no idea what tomorrow holds or who we might lose trying to get the rest of this stone. So, no. No postponing. Today and tomorrow, we celebrate. I agree with Brielle.” Elodie’s voice shook as she balanced on her crutches, pinning me in place with her fiery defiance.

“She’s right. We could be trying to hunt these down for a long time. Tomorrow night might be our last night together as a pack until this is over,” Olivia said a little more mildly. “You should always grab on to happiness while you’ve got it.”

There were tears sparkling in her eyes, and my heart ached for all the pain this pack had been through. Maybe a celebration was what we all needed after all.

“Okay then, who wants to take me to get a dress fitted?”