Page 24 of Shattered Galaxies (Tears of the Siren #6)

Lorcan

The drive back to the pride compound was becoming a familiar one, but the sensation—the emotions welling up inside of me—were different.

For once, I felt at peace. Settled. Excited.

Relieved. Even hopeful. Despite not knowing where we would go next, waiting on word from Nova, I felt as though I had a direction.

I had the singular tool that would allow us to face the void of destruction and survive.

However, it was becoming clear that not all my men felt as at peace with the decision as I did, concerned about its long-term effect on me. Throughout the flight back home, many of them had expressed their worries.

Namely, Desmond.

Cuddling further into the man, he let out a deep rumble and looked down at me, his vibrant eyes filled with a possessive wave of heat.

His mark on me was as bold as ever, and our connection—all of my connections—hummed with life, but that didn’t make the concept of half my soul being surrendered for use as a weapon any easier on them.

Although, knowing and seeing that I was still myself—still Lorcan—no doubt helped.

I just had to hope that my overprotective and more than a bit possessive bonded would trust me that this was necessary.

Great power is never given without sacrifice.

I should have… we should have realized that before now.

“How long until we reach the compound?” Zander asked from next to me. His hand was wrapped around my thigh, and despite his calm, clinical tone, I knew the man was anything but. In fact, since last night, he’d been much more possessive and clingy than before. I absolutely was not complaining.

“Five at most,” Rhett said from behind us, tugging on my hair playfully. “It’ll be nice to be back home, even for a little bit.”

“And Maggie is already there, along with Cormac and his bonded,” Cash agreed.

“I can’t wait to see them,” I said with an authentic smile. But that reminded me… I turned and looked at Adriel in the back row. “Did we contact Nova yet to let her know where we are?”

Despite not having a path forward, I felt a sense of urgency in the moment.

I was worried we were running out of time, but I also trusted my friend—my equal in this—to handle the logistics.

I knew she had some really big connections within the God realm, and I also knew that she would do whatever it took to pull this off, much like myself.

Despite my sense of impatience, I would wait on her direction for now.

“Yeah. I wanted to make sure that they could find us as soon as they’re—” His words were cut off with a grunt as Woody jumped on top of him, and I let out a small laugh at the way he licked Adriel’s face.

The man was a bit broody today because of Zander and I marking each other up in the stars.

Adriel and I had created a star baby, so I think he considered the entire cosmos his.

That wasn’t a completely fair statement, though.

Over breakfast in the early light of the flight, he’d expressed his concern about never being able to star walk together again.

I didn’t think it would be a problem, but since he viewed it as something special between us I would do my best to reassure him.

“Maggie’s going to be excited to meet Woody,” Dean said. “She’s always wanted a dog.”

I felt my eyes widen as I looked at the man driving and leaned forward between both Draven and him with interest.

“Why didn’t you ever get her one?” As if I didn’t already know.

“I don’t like dogs,” Dean rumbled. I gasped, looking back. “Cover his ears.”

I was taking my new role as a dog mom very seriously.

Draven chuckled. “Can’t say that about our own dog. Even I know that.”

Dean shook his head. “Woody’s different. He’s a guard dog.”

The little pup offered a bark of agreement that made Dean chuckle.

I knew that it was a feline versus canine thing, but I’d wager that Dean wouldn’t have loved a cat either, I think his dominance would have made having any pet difficult for the man.

So I was honestly impressed at this turn of events.

It told me everything I needed to know—he totally considered himself a dog dad.

“Hey! Welcome back, Dean.” My thoughts were interrupted as we pulled up to the entrance of the compound. The security guard looked thrilled to see him as he let us through, his eyes trailing over the SUV with interest.

“I suppose we have been away for a bit,” I murmured, feeling bad. “Sorry, Dean. I hope the pride was okay with you guys being gone.” There was nothing we could do about it now, but it still didn’t feel right.

“They were fine. We have temporary leadership in place that we trust,” Dean assured me, driving down the familiar streets to our estate, a Mediterranean-style piece of art that they’d built…

literally, built, for me. Even when I’d been violently ripped from their lives in self-exiled punishment, they’d never given up on us. Even when I’d given up on everything.

As we made a final turn, warm terracotta roof tiles and a pale cream stucco exterior greeted us.

The balconies with wrought-iron railings and the wide-arched windows and doorways elevated the estate in a luxurious way that still remained grounded, warm and familiar.

A stone walkway cut through a desert garden, leading to a courtyard-style entry.

Which was currently filled with familiar faces.

“Lorcan!” Maggie nearly exploded with excitement as she ran toward the car. I jumped out and pulled her into a massive hug, letting out a laugh at her enthusiasm. “I can’t believe you guys are finally back! I was so worried. Cormac said you’d be fine, but I still worried.”

“Of course we’re fine. I wouldn’t ever let anything happen to us,” I promised her, pulling back and looking into her dark, tear-filled eyes. We’d only been gone a few months in Earth time, but she looked older, more of a teenager than ever before.

“And we wouldn’t ever let anything happen to Lorcan,” Rhett promised, hopping out and messing up Maggie’s hair. “Missed you.”

“I missed you too!” She hugged him tightly.

“The guys wanted to be here when you got back, but they had something to do for their family.” The ‘guys’ she was talking about were the Nadar brothers—the djinn she was soul bonded to—but they must have grown closer than they’d been when we left.

Which made sense since she’d stayed with their family, as well as her nanny, in our absence.

Before Rhett or I could respond, a bark drew her attention as Cash carried Woody out of the car. Maggie let out a squeal of excitement and without saying a word to Cash, pulled Woody into her arms and buried her nose in his fur.

“Who is this perfect little angel?!”

I couldn’t help but smile at her excitement. I swear, this kid’s enthusiasm was never-ending, and I found myself feeling lucky to call her my sister. Well almost sister—I suppose I needed to marry the Reid brothers for it to become official.

“Woody, short for Woodford. He’s our new family member,” I told her happily. “He seems to love you.”

“I told you I would be good with dogs!” Maggie shouted to Dean, who rounded the car as the others unloaded.

I knew how much the Reid brothers cared for their little sister and were relieved to see her in such good spirits.

I knew the feeling—emotion caught in my throat as I turned my attention to my own sibling.

My twin was standing in the courtyard with his hands in his pockets, trying to appear casual. This was the longest we’d been apart—ever. We were two halves of a whole, brought into this life to survive all this shit together. Which is how I knew he was damn near about to cry.

I didn’t hesitate to cross the space and pull him into an immediate hug.

His arms wrapped around me as he let out a small wounded sound and squeezed me even tighter.

For just a moment, we were seven again, upset about something that had happened at school and knowing that Jeanie and Nelson wouldn’t comfort us.

Cormac cleared his throat. “You’re back. I thought you had died or some shit.”

Examining his familiar face, I was thrilled to see the life and energy running under his skin. He looked well-rested. Happy. Something that undoubtedly had to do with his bonded, who stood at a respectful distance.

“Nope, still here—but I did find the composition piece,” I said, trying to figure out how to tell him the consequences of that decision., But his expression told me he knew. Somehow, Cormac already knew.

“At what price?” he demanded.

“Walk with me,” I said, leading Cormac to a garden bench underneath a trellis on the side of the estate. Much like the day we’d sat poolside after exposing to the Reid brothers what we were, we sat in comfortable silence before I explained.

“Our souls exist in two parts, and our siren self is separate—an entity in its own right. When we find our bonded, they’re connected to our mortal souls that resemble elves.

Beryl Darklace appeared to me where we found the third composition piece, and she explained that to finish the composition, I needed to meld the siren part of my soul to the music… to use it as a weapon.”

“And you believed her?” Cormac sounded shocked. To be fair, Cormac probably didn’t have the same level of faith in the trustworthiness of our ancestors as I did—the Old Realm of the Eternal Sea had changed my perspective on a lot. And that wasn’t even including everything that followed after.

“My siren was— is thrilled.”

“It doesn’t matter; you should have never had to make that choice!”

I understood his frustration—I would’ve felt the same if the roles were reversed.

“I know, but…it feels right. It feels like the right decision, and if it means saving this world, it is. I’ll still be me, just not a siren. Just a water and star elf.”