Page 92

MARA

I t was all over after that. The airstrike never came.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the morning sun—the beginning of a new day—and then I saw Wes.

My heart fractured at the sight of his frightened, wild eyes.

He kissed me over and over again, muttering nonstop about how much he loved me and how beautiful I was and how he was so scared he had lost me.

He held me tight and rocked me back and forth.

Stroked my hair, smiled, laughed, and cried.

Yes…Wes Calvernon cried .

Planes flew above, not to destroy Telvia, but to support it.

Transports, cargo planes, helicopters—dozens upon dozens of them arrived, touching down.

Military personnel—Northern troops, Dissenters, and Libertarians—all showed up.

I swore I even saw military uniforms belonging to the East. Soldiers swarmed the streets, accepting surrender from Telvian Enforcement officers and REG soldiers alike, while medics began treating the wounded.

It was surreal, really. Something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime.

Something I honestly thought I never would have been a part of, and yet, here I was.

Telvia had been freed of a dictatorship that had enslaved it for nearly two decades.

The people finally had a chance to choose for themselves, to live freely, and to rediscover a world that had been lost to them for too long.

As I sat on the ground with Wes refusing to leave my side, medics treated my wounds. IVs were already nestled into the crook of my arm, and I reflected on the journey I had taken. I had lost so much to bring this day to the Telvian people. So much had been sacrificed.

Chase Calvernon.

Jacob de la Puente.

Matias Alvarez.

Javier de la Puente.

Liddy Le.

And, in the end, my dad—Raúl de la Puente.

All of their lives had been lost. Sacrifices made to give the people of Telvia a chance to taste freedom.

To cherish the power of choice. But I suppose that’s what being a soldier is all about—sacrificing yourself to protect the freedoms of others.

And in this case, to liberate an entire populous of individuals who didn’t know they were trapped to begin with.

Yes, they were hard sacrifices. Sacrifices I knew I would mourn for years to come. But at that moment, I chose to relish the fact that a new dawn had come to us all, a new era. And I planned to spend every moment of it loving Wes.

***

“Lay back,” he said.

The ripe smell of chlorine was oddly soothing, though his insistence of me laying back in the water and spreading my arms and legs out like a star was not . That part was nerve-wracking. I shook my head.

Wes chuckled—a beautiful sound. He laughed so much more now. His expression wasn’t stuck in Scowl Mode anymore, and he seemed to find delight in some of the simplest things…like torturing me.

“I’m right here,” he said. “What do you think is going to happen?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. I was already up to my waist in the pool water, and the thought of taking my feet off the bottom floor sounded like lunacy to me.

I couldn’t swim, and he knew that very well.

I was still— technically —recovering. Although Wes was still the leader of the North, he was taking a mini vacation, allowing his mother to run the faction while he just lived his life for a moment, right at my side.

Hands took my hips, pulling me deeper, but I resisted. “Come on…I promise nothing will happen to you.”

I eyed him suspiciously. It had been three weeks since Telvia’s liberation.

The arrival of medics, along with Wes’s first aid and CPR, had saved my life.

I had wondered why the airstrike never came, but as it turned out, Ben made it through the tunnel and to our plane in time.

When Sergeant Major Giza heard that the citizens had finally revolted against their government, he took immediate action.

Without Sasha’s permission, he ordered Dissenter military and the Libertarians to prepare for an all-out assault on Telvia—not to destroy the region, but to help the Telvian citizens finally oust their tyrannical government.

When Sasha discovered what was happening, she called off the airstrike, falling in sync with Giza and the Libertarians to assist the Telvian revolution.

Marissa, on the other hand, had geared up Northern military.

When Wes left her to go into Telvia, she had reached out to President Laurence for aid.

She was prepared to take down the Dissenters, if needed, in order to defend her son.

But it wasn’t necessary. In the end, all four groups united, and their intervention finally liberated Telvia.

An even better discovery was that Javier and Liddy had survived.

How? I had no clue, but the two managed to escape and take shelter until our allies arrived.

Medical intervention saved them both. They, too, were still recovering, but I suspected “recovering” to them looked a lot more like what “recovering” was for me and Wes—time endlessly spent wrapped in each other’s arms in private spaces.

Needless to say, I was immensely grateful that they both had lived.

The new world just wouldn’t have been the same without them.

Wes took a step toward me, folding an arm around my waist, drawing me into his bare chest. I didn’t resist him this time.

The feel of his skin against mine caused little pricks of gooseflesh to go down my legs.

Because I loved the sensation of his bare body against mine.

I loved anything that involved him touching me—especially my back. Because he did…and he did it often now.

Fingertips and lips and tongue and hands and everything in any way he could, Wes would touch the shimmering scars of my past. He caressed and kissed and grazed and loved each one, tasting my inked flesh and enjoying what had become my wings.

Because I was no longer ashamed of who I was.

I was no longer desperate to hide it, to keep it secret.

Because my past no longer brought me pain… it brought me love.

His nose grazed the space just below my ear as his breath whispered across my skin. Little kisses made me smile. Little nips made me shiver against him. And I sighed, melting into his strength.

“Trust me, love,” he whispered, and then nibbled my lobe. “I’ll never let you go…trust me.”

My palms pressed against the smooth, taut skin of his pecs as I pulled back just enough to look into his golden eyes.

I hardly saw green anymore. It happened from time to time, but it was like the greens had changed color like the leaves of autumn, being replaced more and more with those golden browns and yellowed ambers.

I didn’t know what caused it or even how it was possible or why, but I had a theory.

I theorized that Wes, like me, was no longer chained down and ashamed of his past. That he had finally come to accept who he was and forgiven himself for the role he played in Chase’s death.

Wes had finally healed from his old emotional wounds and had fully stepped into the person that he was.

Because he wasn’t Chase. He never was. He was Wes.

“All right,” I muttered, already fearing I was going to regret this. But his smile—so full and genuine—it eased my fear.

“Lay back,” he said again—gently, softly—and I did.

I leaned backwards, spreading out my limbs like a star, but closing my eyes in anticipation that I would sink straight to the bottom.

My body was only suspended for a second before I started to submerge, chlorinated water swallowing me whole.

My heart started thumping wildly as memories of drowning in the ocean fluttered through my mind.

“Fill your lungs with air. Breathe in full and deep… That’s right. Just like that.”

Oxygen felt good, but I kept my eyes closed, terrified of what would happen but trusting that Wes wouldn’t let me drown in his freaking pool. The water kept creeping up over me, beginning to pull me under, and then…

It stopped.

I didn’t sink.

Slowly, my body rose, beginning to float.

“That’s it,” he said beside me. “Now breathe slowly, always keeping air in your lungs.”

I did as I was told, and I remained suspended. I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling, delighted surprise filling my being. “I’m floating,” I whispered. “I’m not drowning…I’m…I’m flying. It’s like I’m flying!”

Wes smiled, one that brightened his entire being as he gazed upon me like I was the most important thing in the world. “I always knew you could,” he said. “And I always knew you would.”