Page 44

Nika

T he first thing I registered when I roused was the strong body I knew better than my own. Then his rich scent came next. I’d come out of everything alive, and so had Silas.

I didn’t have time to grieve Salvator with the mercenary kissing away all thoughts in my head. I wanted to crawl inside the little world he created with his touch and live there forever. I couldn’t get enough of his taste as I tugged him closer and swiveled my hips in invitation.

It might be my attempt at a much-needed distraction from the reality of what I’d done, but I’d been so scared to lose him. That I’d lose it all. And I’d been hellbent to bury myself in his all-consuming touches before the voice carrying down the hall stopped me.

My head twisted and found Ryker, no longer transparent or phantom-like.

My brows pinched together when I glanced at Silas and noticed he could hear and see him as well.

Then came the other two. Lev and Tometi were separated by what seemed like several feet.

The giant had to bend his head just to come into the room behind the dancing blonde.

“For fuck’s sake,” Silas grumbled. “She’s awake. You’ve seen. Now get the bloody hell out of here before I find boxes for all three of you and bury you at least six feet under.”

I opened my mouth, but Lev was already next to me, ignoring the entire awkward straddling Silas situation. He checked me over with a little item in his hand. My eyes narrowed on it.

When he noticed, he winked and showed it off like a prized possession. “One of many spoils I scored off Min.”

“Min from the Dark Fae Society?” I asked, surprised to hear the name.

“She’s got a soft spot for me,” he admitted with a little blush in his cheeks.

I snickered, thinking back on the cute Dark Fae who followed Lev around for nearly three years in a lovesick haze. “That’s putting it lightly. But her brother—”

“Was an asshole, and she’s happy he’s gone,” Lev finished.

Min was the younger sister of Zephyr. I hadn’t been aware she didn’t like him, but I wasn’t really close with the pink-haired beauty. It was a relief to hear that not everyone was a raging asshole. Maybe there was hope for them yet.

“How do you feel, Niks?” Lev asked, waving the stone around me and mumbling something under his breath.

“Confused,” I murmured. “Why can you all see and talk to Tometi and Ryker? How long have I been asleep? Most importantly…did it stick? You know, the banishing that asshole demon to the After thing?”

Silas groaned and fell back against the pillows, in full big baby pout mode.

I patted his chest in apology and grinned down at him.

I did feel a bit bad that I’d gotten him all revved up.

All I could do now was hide his massive erection between my legs and act like sitting on top of him was completely normal.

It didn’t appear anyone else cared. I sensed their relief. I’d probably been out a while if they were acting like this. At first I’d thought a few days, but by their expressions, I got the distinct impression it was longer.

Ignoring the growling mercenary under me, Ryker bent over and kissed my forehead like it was a completely natural exchange between us.

My confusion only grew. Thankfully, it was followed by a brutal strike from Tometi.

The giant wasn’t cutting Ryker any breaks.

He glared at the ground-bound blonde and then folded his arms across his chest, a hint of a smile lifting his mouth.

“It was rather strange. After…” Tometi trailed off, and I realized why.

He meant after what I did to Salvator. I nodded for him to continue, a lump in my throat.

“It was as though we’d been given the final piece of ourselves.

We can now shift into our respective animals, and yet, we are still… like this.”

“Alive? Human…well, human-ish?”

Ryker was on his feet. “Exactly, sweet girl! Not sure how it happened, only happy that it did.” I couldn’t help but smile when he bounced around, expressing his overwhelming happiness to have his first real chance at life.

“So, you’re shapeshifters?”

Silas sighed and crossed his arms, refusing to move from underneath me. “I liked them better when I couldn’t see or hear them.”

His jealousy was beyond adorable, if I were honest. The big man pouting like a kid always got to me in the weirdest ways. It made me want to tease him. But more than that, it made me want to kiss him and give him the affection he was so desperate to get, enough to forget his pride and pout.

Ryker scoffed unattractively, brushing back his shiny hair. “Be honest, you big brute. You never liked us at all.”

“Not true, mutt,” Silas argued, earning him an eyebrow from Ryker. “I like that massive wanker well enough. I’ve never liked you .”

Talking behind his hand, Ryker winked at me. “I think he thinks I’m too pretty, and he’s probably still salty about the kiss.”

“Sorry?” Silas was upright and glaring. “What’s this about a kiss?”

“Anyway,” I cut in, hoping to end the fight before it’d begun. “How long have I been asleep?”

Lev sighed as if he’d carried a heavy burden while I was unconscious. Based on the first few minutes around the group, I could only assume it was brutal without me to mediate. “Two weeks.”

I blinked. “Two weeks?”

“Yes, but unlike some of us, I wasn’t worried you wouldn’t wake up,” Lev said with a smirk Silas’s direction.

“Oi, you cheeky wanker,” the mercenary growled. “It’s weirder you weren’t worried. What kind of bastard are you not to worry over your very unconscious friend?”

Rolling my eyes, I directed my next question to Lev as well, “What about Rilas?”

Silas interjected before Lev could, “He’s gone, love. You did exactly what you were meant to. That bastard was swallowed up by the After portal you summoned, and the world didn’t end.”

My throat burned when I thought about what I had to do to make it all happen.

Salvator.

As if he’d heard my thoughts, Silas rubbed my arm and touched my cheek. “I’m sure that wolf bastard will be living large in his next life thanks to you,” he grumbled.

Ryker danced into view, dropping to a crouch next to the bed and ignoring Silas when he glared at him.

“You, pretty girl, are the reason he got his redemption arc. He went from villain to hero. So hot. Honestly, only you could get Sally to find his inner good guy. You should be proud of what you did for that ungrateful asshole.”

I smiled through the pain in my chest. “I guess so.”

“I know so, pretty girl. It was the power of love!” Ryker tried to take my hand, but Silas smacked it away.

“Bad dog,” he growled, pulling me away from the blonde and back to my big pouty baby.

Lev folded his arms over his chest and sighed. “Great. This overprotective asshole has gotten worse, and I didn’t even think that was possible. He’ll be intolerable if you let him have his way every time, Niks.”

He wasn’t wrong, but I’d be lying if I said this big brute desperate for my attention wasn’t the most adorable thing ever. Maybe I was the problem, not him.

“Oi, you cute bugger. Say that with your chest, not to my bird like a bleeding lily-livered coward.”

The two traded insults while I sunk into my head, thinking back on the events of that day.

Apparently, a day that was two weeks in the past now.

The subtle tug inside my head had me scrambling off the bed, silencing the antics in the room.

Silas was too frazzled to chase after me as I searched for the feeling again.

“Love?”

“Shh,” I hissed at him, closing my eyes. Then I felt her. I let loose a sigh, and it was as if her arms were wrapped around me, holding me close. “I was worried you were sucked into the After with him and the others,” I said to the woman inside my head.

The men around me all opened their mouths, but I put up a finger to silence them.

“You were so brave, darling. I was never worried about what might happen to me. I only worried for you,” Grandmother’s voice echoed back.

With a smile, I reached for her again. That soothingly warm sensation grew, then fled my chest. My grandmother materialized as solid fog inside the room. Her tender eyes were on me, her hands outstretched, so I went to her.

It was an odd sensation to hug someone without a physical body. I sensed her arms wrap around me but didn’t necessarily feel the embrace. Still, it was something I didn’t know I needed until now.

“Holy shit, her grandmother is super hot. Cougar alert,” Ryker whispered to Tometi.

“Aren’t you meant to be around the same age as her?” Silas grumbled out of the side of his mouth, and Ryker only shrugged in reply.

Lev shot a glance at the two idiots, mouth twisted in disgust. I laughed and shook my head as my grandmother’s sparkling presence wavered in and out of view.

The dark-haired giant crossed his arms and canted his head. “She doesn’t seem to be any temperature at all, and I don’t understand what cougars have to do with it, wolf.”

“I have so much to teach you, big guy.”

“If you’re not ready…” she said, her painfully kind gaze staying with mine.

I shook my head. My eyes grew misty, and the feeling in my gut intensified.

“No. I’m as ready as I can be, and you’ve waited long enough.

” I inhaled and breathed out, resolved to send her off with a smile.

“Thank you for all you’ve done for me. I’m so glad I got a chance to know you.

You deserve every happiness in your next life. ”

“I love you, darling. I’m happy to have known you.”

She reached for my face before the light around her body grew until it enveloped the room in white.

Then she was gone. The bittersweet feeling of our goodbye echoed inside my chest. The grief of all the people I’d lost in the last year was in every swallow as I stared at the empty space she’d once occupied.

Silas wrapped his arms around me, his front pressing against my back. “I know you’re sad, love. I won’t ask you to bury your pain, but today is the first day of the rest of our lives, yeah? I’ll always be here by your side.”

“And me,” Lev added with a wink.

“Shit, they got all the good lines. Well, us, too,” Ryker said, and Tometi nodded his agreement.

Tears tracked down my cheeks, but I laughed a half-second later when Silas groaned in petulant dismay, not at all happy with everyone’s piggyback statements.

So I turned around and gave the pouty assassin a kiss.