Page 104 of Sidhe (The Incubus Saga #3)

Laughter spilled from Sasha’s lips, his face bright, happy, totally uncaring of this hiccup when the sentiment was the same. Nathan could feel the sappy moment coming—the rest of it coming—and just wanted it over so they could get back to the easier, fun part of celebrating.

Sasha understood though, he got it, got Nathan , and although the incubus took the time to transform human fully to help slide the ring the rest of the way on, he didn’t say any of the sappy things waiting on his tongue.

Instead he smirked. “For the record? I totally proposed first.”

“ What ? Now hang on a minute. Claiming me as your mate so doesn’t count. And this isn’t a…a proposal ,” Nathan fumbled. “It’s just, ya know…a promise. So other dudes and chicks don’t hit on you when we’re in bars or whatever.”

“Nathan,” Sasha rolled his eyes, “a proposal is a promise. What’s it matter what we call it? The day I do initiate you, my side is going to demand a ceremony.”

“You mean like a wedding?” Nathan sputtered. “Can’t we just skip all that? We know what we want, what we have. I just wanted to give you the ring so…so you’d know I’m not going anywhere.”

Another laugh escaped Sasha’s lips as he reached up with the hand now sporting a ring of white gold and brushed the slightly longer strands of hair from Nathan’s forehead.

“I know you’re not going anywhere. I love this ring.

Always have. And I know you love it too.

I can barely believe you’d actually part with it to give it to me.

But you’re going to have to deal with some sap occasionally.

Shi, at the very least, won’t let you get away with otherwise, trust me. ”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Nathan finally gave in. “Will you just let me get back to doing naughty things to you already?”

The incubus shook his head in amusement.

He rolled onto his back again, tugging at Nathan’s neck to get the message across that he was definitely on board with a return to the naughty.

It was more than enough to assure Nathan that yes, this was the person he wanted to spend every day of his life with.

“Wade made me realize something, you know,” Nathan said. “She read that you would save me. And sure, making that deal with Malak got me out of the Veil, but I don’t think that’s what she meant. How you really saved me…was from something else entirely. And I love you so much for that, baby.”

Sasha’s eyes glittered at him. “I love you too.”

They kissed briefly, but Nathan still had to pee. “One sec,” he said, getting to his knees, only to lean down and kiss Sasha once more. “But don’t even think of going anywhere, coz I am coming right back .”

The Gatehouse was buzzing the next day, mostly because a lot of food was needed, a lot of wounds needed cleaning and attending to still, and the whole place was at more than capacity. Nathan could tell Alex loved it.

They had already discussed that the Gatehouse would be home base for a while, while those who had chosen to stay healed, rested, and relaxed. Nathan liked the idea of the Gatehouse as a place kind of like home, something that carried a warm feeling to it that he didn’t mind getting used to.

They’d even discussed finally cleaning out Jim’s Veil Slip of their stored belongings. They’d taken most of the weapons some time ago, but the other things, the things that felt and smelled like home, belonged with them now that they no longer had to run.

Lindsey, Charis, Cam, the twins, and Aloysha planned to return to their own lives as soon as everyone was healthy, back into the Veil with the rest of their kind, and occasionally out in the world.

Cam was already doing loads better, and Charis’ wing would heal fine.

They promised to visit often, though Cam was more likely to stick around a bit longer once Nathan mentioned Wade and Leven would be joining them.

Nathan had tucked the goggles away for eventual delivery to Schuester. He would have mailed them back, but he knew the collector and his daughter would never forgive him if he didn’t bring the whole crew along for a visit soon instead.

Oberon was still around even though Gwen had long since returned with the rest of the light fae to bring about some order to their people in the aftermath.

Nathan suspected the king’s lingering had mostly to do with Ula, who had taken over feeding everyone alongside Alex.

Ula was handling having lost her other friends well, and seemed ready to set up shop at the Gatehouse indefinitely.

From a spot behind the bar, Nathan watched as Ula explained to Oberon that magically cleaning rooms and manifesting food did not make up for years of lies; he had a long way to go before she would forgive him. But seeing the king of light fae wrapped around her finger was a remarkable sight.

Nathan chuckled to himself as he overheard Shiarra berating Aloysha about something or another. Aloysha, poor bastard, was having a hard time getting a word in edgewise.

Jim and Alex were scooted close together at one of the small bar tables with Sasha’s laptop in front of them, which was perhaps the most normal thing. There had been chaos, and casualties, but the human race was remarkably resilient, it turned out—and its close cousins.

Even inside the Gatehouse, Nathan often felt Walter and Iain around too.

Watching Sasha saunter across the bar with Wally perched on his shoulder, filled Nathan with further hope that they could meet any challenge they faced in the future, even a return of Malak. For now Nathan intended to enjoy every minute they had.

Everyone had already noticed Sasha’s added jewelry, which actually first came up when Jim noticed the ring missing from Nathan . Sasha, amazing guy that he was, had simply shrugged, grinning secretively when several sets of eyes turned to him.

“Take a break, Nate. You’ve been working all morning,” Sasha said as he slid onto a stool, Wally hopping off and going over to the little bowl of nuts Nathan had set out to snack on while he restocked behind the bar.

Nathan obligingly threw down his list of inventory and grabbed up a couple glasses. “S’ppose so. Guess I’ve been a little buzzed. All this energy to burn off, ya know? Well, maybe that’s more true for you. Soda?” he offered, lifting the glass he had grabbed for Sasha.

“Thanks, yeah. And extra energy, I…definitely get that.” Sasha licked his lips coyly. With how much the incubus had gotten to feed yesterday, he was practically glowing; it was a wonder Nathan wasn’t unconscious.

“Hey, two more, will ya, Nate?” Jim called as he approached the bar. “Alex and I are parched. Been checking the news. No horrible apocalypse aftermath that we can see, except all the cleanup from riots and panicked people during the blackout.”

Nathan nodded, handing Sasha his soda, taking a quick sip from his own, and then grabbing up two more glasses.

“Fine by me if we want to head out some time to lend a hand. Just so long as it’s at least a week from now.

I plan to be lazy for a few days before we get back into it.

We should watch a movie tonight, something classic like a Mel Brooks flick. ”

“I like that plan,” Ula chimed in as she passed by the bar with Oberon on her heels.

Jim nodded as well, glancing back for a moment at Alex still working at their table like he couldn’t help looking at her.

Nathan passed over the sodas for Jim to take back to his table. “Better get back over to your wife now. She looks all lonely over there without you.” He batted his eyelids dramatically.

Always quick with a comeback, Jim picked up the filled glasses and moved slowly away, backing up at first so he could face Nathan as he said, “Look who’s talking.”

Asshole. Nathan loved him with a vengeance.

“I was going to fix a window upstairs,” Sasha said after a while. “Figured I’d lose my shirt and get all sweaty and dirty up there if you want to drop by in a bit.”

“I’ll think about it,” Nathan said, grinning crookedly but with a glint in his eyes that spoke of how much he liked the sound of that.

He was considering offering a suggestion of other secluded places in the Gatehouse that might need ‘tending to’, but the eruption of Ula huffing out of the bar with Oberon trailing after her once more interrupted Nathan’s thought process.

The sight had Nathan and Sasha sharing a laugh, watching Ula, red-faced, storm away from the light fae king, grumbling about him not letting her do anything for herself, while Oberon tried to seem nonchalant about winning her over.

It was definitely a brave new world, one so different from the one Nathan had been living in a year ago.

He liked this life better, with all the crazy creatures in it, he thought, as he reached over and scratched Wally’s head.

Especially one in particular.

As Sasha headed off upstairs, the redhead gave Nathan a final heated look to remind him that he would be sweaty and dirty and waiting whenever Nathan managed to get away. It made Nathan pause to think as he watched Sasha, and then drifted his gaze around the bar.

Once, Nathan had hated fae so much that he never thought someone could change his mind.

Maybe a part of him still hated dark fae.

But then he thought of Ula, one simple part to the amazing puzzle that had become Nathan’s life.

Dark fae. A changeling. An incubus. Hell, Nathan had admitted that he didn’t even hate Malak.

He couldn’t help thinking right then that of all the things that had changed over the past year, he had changed the most—him, Nathan. And that was just fine.