Page 13 of Finding Embers and Stars (Twin Flames Duet #1)
Chapter thirteen
Seven Years Later- Present Day
I 'm standing in Sage’s closet watching her throw bathing suits and cover-ups into her trunk. “Are you packing any actual clothes or is this a bathing suit only kind of trip?”
She snarls at my attempt at humor. No matter how many times we’ve made this trip over the years, she always drags her feet and waits until the last minute to pack.
We’re set to leave early tomorrow morning for our beach house in Florida. My phone rings while I’m watching her run around her closet like a headless chicken.
I smile when I see who’s calling and put the call on speaker. “Hey Maggie! I’ve got you on speaker. I'm with Sage. How are you and the guys doing?”
“Hey girl! We’re all doing great! I just wanted to call and say congratulations on your twentieth best seller!! We’re all so proud of you! If you’re free, we were hoping to have a celebration and birthday dinner for you two.”
I smile at how sweet they all are. Over the last seven years, they’ve become our family. “Shit Maggie, you know we would love to, but we’re leaving in the morning for Florida. We figured the best way to celebrate turning twenty-five was with sun and sand. I’m so sorry. I meant to text the group to let everyone know, but I’ve been in the writing cave trying to finish up the next book.”
“That's okay. We can celebrate when you get back. What I really want to know is why you didn’t call for our jet? You guys know you’re always welcome to use it when you go to Florida! In fact, I insist. There have been a lot of wolf shifters in town lately.” Maggie breaks off for a moment, concern for our wellbeing coloring her next words. “I think your dad might be ramping up his search for you.”
“That doesn’t really make sense. Why now, after all this time?” Meeting Sage’s eyes, I see a fear that matches my own. Fear that will never go away. Not while my father lives.
“I’m not sure Piper, but we aren’t taking a chance with your safety. I just texted the pilot to have the plane ready at ten in the morning for you. That's not too early, is it? Rhoda already took Olive down to the house to strengthen the wards. Olive needed the practice, and we are always going to look out for our family girls, so don’t even argue.”
I let out a halfhearted sigh. “You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?”
I can hear Shad laughing in the background. “Of course not. You’re family and we take care of our own. It’s your call though, take the family jet or take a family teleport. You know any one of our feathered taxies would happily take you guys to Florida.”
“Fine, we will take the jet.” Sage and I try not to take advantage of our supernatural family's abilities, no matter how often they offer.
Shad’s voice becomes muffled as Maggie takes the phone back. “The guys just got home from the shelter, gotta go! Have fun, be safe. Love you! Bye!!”
I shake my head. I still can’t believe our luck and how we were adopted into such an amazing family. “Okay, it’s late and I’m going to head to bed. Do you need help to finish this before I do?”
Sage comes over and gives me a hug. “No, I’m done. I’ll cancel our tickets and let the driver know to pick us up from the private airport before I go to bed.”
I head back to my room and curl into my pillow eager to dream about the sunsets that await us.
When I wake up, I’m slightly unsettled. I’ve never had such vivid dreams, but I’m baffled as to what they could mean. Sage and I were watching the sunset but off in the distance five silhouettes were just visible. I could feel their eyes on me.
I get downstairs with my carry on and find Sage waiting at the door with our travel mugs. I let Sage drive since I’m still trying to shake off my strange dream. Flying privately has its advantages. It takes no time at all to get through the airport and strapped in for our roughly five-hour flight. Tilting my seat back, I stretch out my legs and doze off. The quiet of a private jet allows me to sleep the entire flight.
Venice, Florida is a charming beach town full of little shops and fantastic restaurants. It’s coined the Shark-Tooth Capital of the World. We meet the driver and make the twenty-minute drive towards Englewood Beach.
Ivar acquired this piece of land a hundred years ago before the town was built. It gives us complete access to both the bay and the private beach. Something that is extremely hard to come by now. I watch the town fly past my window and can’t wait to see our beach house.
The first thing I notice when we pull up is the circular widow's walk that Sage made for our writing cave. Sitting up there and writing while watching the water is one of my favorite pastimes.
This house is just as large as our home in Wyoming. Even though we’ve never met our mates, we didn’t see any reason not to prepare for them.
Sometimes I wonder if Rhoda was wrong about her vision, but then I remind myself that she has a perfect score. I would never bet against her, that’s for sure.
All the rooms have balconies but mine and Sage’s are the biggest. We spend many nights sitting outside listening to the waves crash on the beach.
Since Florida is too wet for basements, Sage got creative with her design. The house could be considered four stories. The bottom floor is the garage and gym. The first floor has the main living space, two offices and the theater room. The second floor filled with bedrooms, and the very top is our writing cave. I’m roused out of my thoughts when Sage taps my shoulder.
“Pip, where were you just now? I’ve been trying to get your attention. I wonder if that house next to ours has sold or if it’s still empty. It might be a good idea to ask Sam. Maybe we can buy it, so we don’t have any neighbors?”
“Sorry, I was just lost in thought, thinking about the first time we came here. How impressed I was with how you designed our home.” It takes a moment to get back to her other question. “That house has been vacant for the last four months. It’s not like it’s right on top of us. Though it won’t hurt anything to shoot him a text and ask him to look if you’re worried about it.”
I watch as she fires off a text to Sam, who responds right away. “He said he looked about a month ago and it's sold. He had the same thought.” She sighs in disappointment.
“It’s not the end of the world, Sage. We may have to share a small part of our very large private beach. Gasp.” She giggles, slapping my shoulder for picking on her.
The driver gets out to open our doors. “Thank you, John. I hope you have a fantastic Easter with your family.” He waves as he pulls out and we head upstairs.
“I placed a grocery order when we left the airport. It should be here soon.” Sage tells me as we walk in the front door. I love that she is always thinking and planning ahead. I’m more of a spur of the moment kind of girl.
We go through the house, opening it up and getting it ready. Our cleaning service came in the other day and refreshed everything and plugged in all the appliances for us in preparation.
We both change into comfy beach clothes, happy to put our much heavier Wyoming spring clothes away for now. Our magic trunks make it easy to take things back and forth but unpacking them is a chore I’m going to leave until tomorrow.
Sage is the last to pack and I’m always the last to unpack. Even though it’s only two-thirty in the afternoon, neither of us wants to go anywhere. Our first day back after our house shift is always a veg out on the couch and eat Pub Subs kind of day. It’s become a tradition to be lazy until evening when we move outside to watch the sun set.
I’ve just made it downstairs when the doorbell rings. I open it and stop short at the five insanely attractive men standing there. I’m tall, at six feet, and these men seem to tower over me. Given what Maggie just told us about an influx of shifters looking for us, a pack of strangers at my door sets off all my spidey senses.
“Umm, hello. Can I help you?”
One of them steps forward with a grin and holds his hand out. “Hey there, we're your neighbors. We just bought the house right down the road and wanted to introduce ourselves. My name’s Liam.”
He turns to introduce the others when three of the guys pull him back and in unison growl. “Mate.”
I stand there, shocked for all of two seconds, before slamming the door in their faces.
“SAGE!”