Page 20

twenty

MOLLY

We spent a few lazy days watching movies and napping while Cam recovered from shifting. He didn’t bug me about flying, and I didn’t bring it up either.

The morning of the last day of our private island honeymoon, I poured two glasses of orange juice. Then, I sat out on the balcony of our room and watched the sunrise. My feet were propped up on the fancy metal railing, and the sun’s rays felt amazing on my skin.

Cameron was in the shower, and I was completely and utterly relaxed despite the uncomfortable chair I occupied.

A light breeze blew past, ruffling my hair and the feathers on my wings. I closed my eyes, relishing the feel of it.

Some part of me had been itching to fly again ever since I rode on Cam’s back. Something about having the wind against my skin sounded amazing.

But flying would mean accepting that I’d changed. A lot.

And I wasn’t sure I was ready for that.

So I sipped my juice and enjoyed the feel of the wind.

I heard the shower turn off and opened my eyes so I could watch the waves crash lightly on our private beach again. Despite my hatred of sand, spending a month and a half living on an island had made the beach feel like home.

“We’ll have to take trips to the ocean sometimes,” I told Cam, as he sat down in the chair beside mine and grabbed the glass of juice I’d poured for him. We were just about out of food, but there was still juice.

“Think you’ll miss it?” There was amusement in his voice.

“I wish I could say no, but I think I will,” I admitted. “Or I’ll miss the sound of the ocean, at least. I love that.”

He nodded. “It’s calming.”

“It is.”

“Which is why my main home is on the beach. Remember the pictures I showed you? Maybe I should go looking for that asset folder again.” The tease in his voice was soft.

“Oh, right.” I bit my lip. “I haven’t pictured what our life will be like. Didn’t think about the beach house.”

“There have been a lot of changes in a short period of time. Adjusting won’t happen overnight.”

Another breeze blew past, and my wings lifted slightly of their own volition.

“You want to fly, don’t you?” His voice was soft, but playful.

“Maybe.” I freed my lip from between my teeth. “I don’t know if I’m ready to leave and accept all of this, though. This is… a lot.” My gaze went to the glittering ring on my finger, and lingered there. “We’re mated, permanently. I still haven’t wrapped my mind around that. Add in the wings and the magic, and I feel like I’m in over my head.”

His hand landed on my thigh. “Change is always difficult.”

“Even for a gorgeous, ancient fae?”

He feigned offense. “I’m hardly ancient.”

I snorted.

He chuckled, squeezing my thigh. “No one ever gets used to change. We just learn to accept it as inevitable.”

Nodding my head, I watched a few more waves crash. “Part of me is afraid.”

“Afraid of what?” His thumb started lightly tracing shapes on my leg.

Some of the guys I’d been on the island with would’ve taken my fear as a personal attack, so I appreciated tremendously that Cam didn’t.

“I’m not really sure. The other humans, maybe. I know I’m not getting a job again, since we’ll be working with your parents, but I worry about interacting with them. They treated me differently even before I had wings.”

“That’s their fault, Lolli. Not yours. Insecure people will find reasons to hate you no matter what you do or don’t do.”

I nodded again. “Yeah. I just don’t want to deal with it, I guess. I kind of miss being human, before I was a compatible mate. I was normal, back then. I didn’t think to appreciate it.”

“Luckily for you, you are now an extremely normal fae woman.”

I flashed him an amused look, slightly surprised.

“Less than ten percent of female fae were born that way. That makes you part of the majority. No one you meet in our world who has magic will find you anything but entirely average.”

A laugh escaped me.

Warmth flooded my chest. “You know, that actually does make me feel a little better.”

“Good.” He leaned over and grabbed my waist, lifting me off my chair and setting me on his lap. Part of my wings pressed lightly to his chest, but the contact felt nice. “The only thing that would make you abnormal is refusing to fly.”

I snorted. “Of course it comes back to that.”

“Just doing my job.” He pressed a kiss to the arch of my wing, and I shivered.

It was a good shiver, that time.

Maybe the uncomfortable sensitivity was finally in my past.

“Let me teach you how to fly, Loll. You’ll love it,” he murmured, kissing the shell of my ear next.

I let out a long breath. “Alright, fine.”

He kissed my cheek, then stood up and set me on my feet. “It’s easy. You’ll love it.”

He towed me out to the beach, and we spent the next few hours in the sky.

Cam was right.

It was easy.

And I did love it… almost as much as I loved him.