Torrent of Tears (Scourge Survivor Series Book 3)(82)
“Hey, don’t cry, baby,” he said, sliding in behind me so he could watch my reaction in the mirror. “You’re stunning. Breathtaking.”
I swallowed, but my mouth remained dry. “I feel like I Sigourney Weaver’d, but my alien came out the back.” Shifting first one way and then the other I checked out the black velvety wings that hung sleek and tight against my back and rear. Black was cool. And as I studied them, they unfolded behind me. “Hey, did I do that?”
Rowan nodded. “You’ll feel odd at first and your balance might be off. But whatever happens, we’ll deal with it.
His gaze met mine and his expression tightened. “That is, if you still want this—me, I mean. Your family wants to take you home. You have choices. So, if you want to rethink. . .”
“You’re talking out of your ass, Doc.”
“Yeah, well, I’m losing my mind.”
Staring at the panicked reflection of my husband my vision grew blurry again. “Do you ever worry when things work out a little too well?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, like, I walked through hell and managed to get to the other side, but a funny thing happened on the journey, I sprouted wings.” I stretched my wings out and they fanned and flapped creating a little breeze. “You, Coal, Elani, and I are alive, my family is here and we are in love and married. It’s all kind of miraculous, don’t you think?”
Rowan broke into a brilliant smile and pulled me tight against his chest. “Yes I do. I was just afraid you might not. Lexi, you don’t have to—”
My fingers on his lips stopped his ramble. “I’m right where I was meant to be, Doc. You should have clued in by now, it’s not easy to get rid of me.”
He dipped his head and kissed his way down the column of my neck. I moaned. He smelled perfect, the warmth of his lips on my skin was divine, and he held me like we were the only two people alive. “Come with me, Trouble, I’ve got a surprise I want to show you.”
“Spoiler alert.” Bruin yawned, producing clothes to cover his naked self as he rolled off the bed in his human form. “When a man says he has a surprise for you . . . that would be his penis.”
Normally I would have laughed, but I couldn’t. So much had gone wrong between Bruin and me. I waited, watching as he sauntered around the mammoth of a bed in ripped jeans and a slogan T-shirt that had a double-pointed arrow across his chest and read, ‘Don’t need a permit for these guns!’
As my heart pounded faster, Bruin opened his arms and I ran. He caught me low on my hips and hugged me tight, one of his spine-cracking, bone-crushing hugs where you wonder if your lungs would ever re-inflate. In a flood of apology and genuine regret for my actions, the two of us made our peace.
If Bruin loved Mika half as much as I loved Rowan—and I knew he did—I didn’t blame him for his anger.
“Fuck, Princess,” Bruin growled, “don’t ever disappear on us again.”
“I promise,” I said, swiping away my tears.
Movement on the bed had me turning just in time to catch Coal flying into my arms. His little body slammed into mine and it was only Rowan’s hand on my back that kept us on our feet. I didn’t care. I squeezed him tight and gave him a million kisses. “Oh, buddy, I’m so glad you’re here. Are you all right? Estes didn’t hurt you, did he? Nobody hurt you?”
The frantic head shaking was the best thing I’d ‘heard’ all day? Night? Coal pulled back and I set him back on the floor so I could see his hands. The more he rambled in his patchy, disjointed signing the more air I drew into my lungs.
“Okay, buddy,” Rowan said. “How about we give your mom a minute to freshen up and we’ll take her downstairs? I bet she’s hungry.”
I nodded. Coal took my hand and escorted me to the bathroom. When I opened the door, he assumed his stance against the bedroom wall and raised his dirk. He looked so serious and grown up. Before I started blubbering again and embarrassed the kid, I kissed the top of his head and stepped in the bathroom.
The kitchen buzzed with chatter and the clink of cutlery to plates. Leda refilled platters of food for Ydorus, and Eury. The rich aroma of her cooking made my stomach rumble. Both of my Strati men had seen better days, but considering the forces we’d come up against, the good guys had definitely come out on top.
It hurt that Terran wasn’t sitting at the table, laughing with the others. I would miss him forever.
Coal ran to the table and knuckle-bumped the two warriors like he was one of the guys.
I would have marveled about that longer had an icy blast not hit me from behind me. I knew before turning who was there. Reign. People often remarked about his cold, dark eyes, but as his gaze met mine, I read all the hurt and anger and worry the others didn’t see.
My first memory for my whole life had been me as an eight-year-old little girl afraid of the monolithic warrior glaring down on me when he found me that day in the forest. Little did we know Balor had chosen him as my mentor with the hopes that I could grow strong enough to defend Attalos. He’d been more than my mentor . . . he was my father.
“I always suspected you were a royal, Princess. I just thought it was just the pain in the ass variety.”
My tears fell as I slammed against his chest and laid my cheek against his leather vest. His long, brindle hair brushed my cheek as his huge frame enveloped mine. “You look like road kill, old man.”