by Maia Dylan
Fiona nodded, and with tears falling, she started to pull her powers back, letting the rift close.
“Wait! Your sisters!” Fiona heard Olwen shout just moments before the rift closed completely. Fearing that she wouldn’t have the strength to help Casey and Ariana, Fiona reached out for her mates’ strength, which they gave to her immediately without hesitation. Warmth and strength flooded into her from their bond.
Releasing them, she spun quickly and pushed the last of her power out to wash over the people behind her, somehow knowing that she wouldn’t hurt any of them, that her Element had the power to hurt but also to heal. When she could go no further and she had exhausted everything within her, she felt the darkness close in again, and this time she fell blissfully into it.
* * * *
“So, everyone’s okay?” Fiona asked as she gripped the mug of sweet tea Cole handed her with both hands. She was so weak she trembled.
“Yeah, baby,” Cole murmured as he sat down beside her on the couch where she snuggled into Travis, and pulled her legs up onto his lap. “You managed to touch every one of us with that crazy white flame of yours and we healed instantly. Ariana and Casey both sat up with what-the-fuck-just-happened looks and the rest of them started shouting with joy.”
Fiona sipped her tea and tried to process what she had been told had happened back at the Pagan Stone. She had healed everyone with her power, which she still found hard to believe. Casey and Ariana had no recollection of being injured. For them, it was simply a case of one minute they had been laying the smack-down on Aeron’s demons and the next they were looking up at Micah and Ryan from where they lay on the ground.
There had been a moment of panic when they all realized that Fiona was out for the count, but Cole and Travis assured everyone that she had flamed out, and it was nothing permanent. Since they had merged so completely during her battle with Aeron, they were even more attuned to her.
Cole and Travis took turns carrying her out of the forest, both of them needing to have her in their arms to know that she was safe. She could understand that, she was feeling a little needy herself.
“Here we go, my lovelies,” Maggie said as she placed two large platters heaving with sandwiches and cakes. As soon as they had walked into the house, Maggie had headed straight for the kitchen. “You all eat up. Kingi has dinner on as we speak. I want all of you to do nothing more today than just rest.”
“You heard my sage and wise mother-in-law.” Micah grinned as he reached for a sandwich, not releasing Casey, who was curled up on his lap. “Best advice I’ve ever heard.”
“Was I delirious, or did a giant-ass black bear jump into the fight to help, Ryan? And did I kill him when I turned?” Fiona asked as she reached for a sandwich. The bear had been there when she turned to aim her flame at her friends, but she didn’t know if it had ambled off or been hurt by her.
“Yeah, there was most definitely a bear,” Ryan said with a frown. “He saved my ass when he showed up, but he didn’t smell wild to me. I am almost certain that it was a bear shifter.”
“If you’re right and they are a shifter, and he or she stepped through that rift, then they are a part of this prophecy as much as we are,” Ariana chipped in from the armchair she was seated in. Ryan was sitting on the floor at her feet, as close as he could get without actually squeezing onto the chair with her. Fiona had the feeling that he would be more than happy to do just that.
“From his scent, I can definitely tell you he was a male.” Ryan looked up at Ariana. “Are all Elementals female?”
“As far as our teachings tell us, fire, water, earth and air are all female elements and would be carried by a chosen daughter of Olwen.” Ariana shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you, but that can’t have been the water elemental.”
“Well, whoever he is, and whatever his role is within this whole story”—Kingi spoke from where he leaned against the doorjamb, Maggie now firmly tucked beneath his arm—“he fought strategically. He has been trained to fight in his shifted form. From one trained fighter to another, that bear had some mad skills.”
Everyone chuckled at Kingi’s words and started to talk about tomorrow, something Fiona realized that they hadn’t done for a while. There was hope for now. They were halfway through the prophecy and had held Aeron back for a second time. Ariana was here and, from what Fiona could tell, was more equipped to understand what she needed to do to solve her portion than Fiona had been. That surely had to work in their favor.
“You know, we survived a pretty crazy situation this morning. If you’d told me a year ago that we would be battling mutant rats with dripping fangs and bloody Lycan-looking werewolf things, I would have told you to stop smoking crack. Yet here we sit, having battled not only those ugly bastards but also left Aeron hurting thanks to a fiery smack-down from Fiona and a little Goddess help from Olwen.” Casey sighed and snuggled further into Micah’s chest. “I don’t know about you all, but I am feeling pretty damn smug! We should be celebrating! And although there ain’t nothing wrong with sweet tea, I think we should break out the bubbles!”
They all cheered in agreement and Maggie rushed into the kitchen, shouting over her shoulder, “After last time, I brought some so that we had it here to celebrate when we won! Come on!” Fiona laughed and figured there weren’t many traditions better than having a celebration with champagne after winning a battle in the war to save the world from chaos and carnage.
When she went to stand up to follow the others, Cole held a hand on her arm. “Wait for a minute, baby. Travis and I want to talk to you for a moment.” Fiona sat back and looked between her mates, thinking not for the first time how damn lucky she was. She reached out for them along their mating bond, loving that she was immediately flooded with the warmth of the love they both had for her.
“Fi, watching you today took my breath away.” Travis grimaced a little. “It also took about twenty fucking years off my life, but that’s a given any damn time you put yourself in harm’s way and face down a goddamn psychotic demon with a God complex!”
Fiona grinned, thinking that was a pretty apt description of the Aeron.
“But you were so damn breathtaking when you did it.” Travis reached for her hand and brought it to his lips, pressing kiss to her palm. “You have an inner strength that I can only hope our children inherit.” Fiona’s heart stumbled at the talk of children. She had never thought about having children, but the thought of having babies with her mates made her yearn for them.
“When the three of us connected, we got to see how much you love us,” Cole said softly as he mirrored his brother and picked up her other hand. “I have never been so humbled and floored as I was in that moment.”
“I don’t know why,” Fiona said softly with a shy smile. “I have told you verbally that I love you both on more than one occasion. Hell, I tell you physically every time I touch you or you touch me and we simply go up in flames—no pun intended.” Damn, she loved hearing them laugh.
“That’s very true, baby.” Cole laughed, then sobered, staring so intently at her that Fiona felt her heart stutter. When she glanced at Travis, she saw him staring at her just as intently, and her heart sped up to beat rapidly. “But what we didn’t know is that you love us almost as much as we love you, and that just slays us.”
Fiona smiled as her heart melted at his words. “Oh, my loves, that—wait. What?” Her smile turned upside down and now she pulled her hands from her mates and glared at them. “What the hell do you mean that I love you almost as much as you love me? What absolute bullshit! I love you two waaay more than you love me.”
“How do you figure that?” Travis asked with a grin and a glint in his eye.
“Well, it’s simply a matter of basic math.” Fiona lifted her head and looked down her nose a little at them as she crossed her arms. “There are two of you and only one of me, which means I love you twice as much as you could possibly love me.”
“But we have only one person with w
hich to give our love to, baby, and that happens to be you, so it’s obvious that if you love us both equally, then it is actually half as much as we love you.” Cole mirrored her pose, sitting back and crossing his arms, but he didn’t lose the grin.
“Although your math is sound”—Fiona could feel the grin forming against her will. Damn it!—“you forgot one tiny little part of your equation.”
“What might that be, lovely?” Travis assumed the same pose and Fiona had to cut off the giggle that formed thinking they must look like kids sitting on the mat in a first grade class right about now.
“There isn’t anyone on the face of this earth that could love you more than I do.” Fiona’s grin fell away as she took a deep breath, unfolded her arms and moved off the couch, then turned to kneel on the floor so she could see them both at the same time.
“All my life I have struggled to find where I belong.” Fiona could hear the sadness in her own voice and cursed it. Travis and Cole frowned, uncrossed their arms and reached for her, but she shook her head and reached out to lay a hand on their knees. “No, let me finish. I didn’t know where I belonged, and I felt like I was disposable, or replaceable, I guess.” Fiona smiled when both her mates placed their own hands over hers on their knees, giving her hand a squeeze.
“Coming here to Freedom Springs was the best damn thing that has ever happened to me. I found you two, my mates. You both complete me in a way that I never knew was possible, and the reason I know that I love you more is that I simply cannot fathom that someone could love me as much as I do you. I even found a family that loves me for my faults, and as we all know, I only really have the one fault.”
“Ha!” Casey’s voice came from the kitchen followed by a chorus of shhh’s and hush’s. “What? We all know she has more than one fault, for Christ’s sake.” Fiona rolled her eyes, but felt a warmth at the fact that, just like a real family, hers couldn’t help but eavesdrop and butt in whenever they could.
“Anyway!” She spoke louder and the voices in the kitchen stopped, and it appeared she had center stage again. “I wanted to tell you that I’m going to stay here in Freedom Springs. You two are the loves of my life and I want to wake up every morning arguing with you both over who loves who the most. And so I wondered if you would both do me the honor of—”
“Wait!” Travis and Cole shouted at the same time and sat forward and Fiona rocked back to sit on her heels. What the hell? She had finally worked up the courage to ask and they wanted her to stop!
“Baby, you know we love you and we sure as hell will be marrying you, as soon as damn possible, as far as Travis and I are concerned.” Cole leaned down and lifted her from the ground and placed her on his lap, and Travis moved closer.
“Lovely, that fact that you were just about to do…that, and ask us…that, makes me so damn happy, you have no idea. But you deserve to be romanced. You deserve everything good in this life that we can give you, and we will spend the rest of our lives spoiling you until you realize that for yourself.” Travis leaned in and placed a hand on her cheek and Fiona’s breath caught at the look in his eye.
“We will marry you, but it will be us on our knees doing the asking. It will be after we have romanced the hell out of you and you realize that we love you exactly the same amount as you love us.” He winked and Fiona laugh-sobbed, which was uncomfortable but had her heart singing just the same. “Do you agree?”
Fiona couldn’t help herself, so, face solemn and her eyes wide with innocence, she said, “I do.” That had them both laughing, and Travis and then Cole leaned in to kiss her swift and hard.
“Ha! I can’t believe you gave me shit about going from the telling to the asking, Cole, you hypocrite! Ow! Damn it, Maggie!” Micah’s yelp of pain was followed by all of them piling back into the lounge, Maggie gripping Micah’s ear in a cruel twist.
“Don’t you damn-it-Maggie me, Micah Winters. You interrupted one of the most romantic moments we have ever witnessed and you should be ashamed of yourself.” She dropped his ear with a glare, then moved to the couch to pull Fiona up into her arms. “Oh, another daughter is getting married!”
Fiona hugged her back, but her feelings of euphoria faded when she saw the pained look on Ariana’s face and the longing on Ryan’s.
“Ariana? Are you okay?” Fiona asked down the link even as she was hugged by Kingi.
“Ari? Honey, you have got to tell us what is going on here,” Casey said, but never let on that she was anything but involved in the impromptu hugging and congratulating taking place in the center of the room.
“Not now, Casey. Soon, but not now. This is a celebration!” Fiona watched as Ariana pasted on a smile and walked up to hug Cole and Travis. For the next hour, they drank champagne and celebrated their victory that day and the promise of a celebration to end all celebrations when everything was settled, but even in the chaos of the celebration, Fiona saw the moment when Ariana silently stepped out the front door and onto the porch.
Having never taken his eyes off her, Ryan followed less than a minute later. Fiona glanced at her mates and the swell of love she felt within her left her breathless. She looked back at the door and sent out a prayer to the Goddess Olwen to guide them safely through this next phase of the prophecy, and that whatever the plan was, Ariana and Ryan would make it through the autumn months and step into winter together. Fiona shivered as a sudden cold chill swept through her, and she hoped like hell that it wasn’t an omen of what this next phase had in store for them.
Chapter 11
Ariana stood on the porch looking out at the full moon, now high in the sky, hanging over the forest, completely oblivious to the role it had played in their prophecy drama today. Aeron had taken a few hits again, but he had also managed to unleash a few of his monsters on their realm, and that would have to be dealt with just as soon as they found the slippery little buggers.
Taking a deep breath, she leaned on the rail that ran around the porch. She waited for Ryan to say something. Even though he had moved with complete silence onto the porch, she was so attuned to him that she knew exactly when he had followed her outside.
“Been a hell of a day, huh, angel?” Ariana closed her eyes at his voice. Damn, his voice did something wicked to her equilibrium. He moved up to lean on the rail close to her side. She felt the heat of his body as he stood beside her, his right arm pressed into her left.
“Yep, hell of a day, and with some of Aeron’s lackeys now in our realm, these days are going to get harder, longer and a whole lot more dangerous for us all.” Ariana sighed and looked over at the man who had been a part of her dreams for as long as she could remember. Sadly, she would never know what it felt like to be truly claimed by Ryan, no matter how much she wanted to belong to him. “Well, I might head on up to bed. We’re all going to need our rest if we are going to get through the following days and weeks.”
Ryan placed a hand on her arm and Ariana looked down at it, feeling the heat of it radiate right through her entire body. Damn the Fates!
“Ariana,” Ryan whispered, his voice low and intense. “Talk to me, angel, please? Do you have any idea what I went through today? I thought I was going to lose you and it scared the hell out of me. Jesus, Ariana, don’t you know what you are to me? What we can be together?
“When you called that day about Casey being lost in the park, your voice turned me inside out. Then, when we finally got to actually meet face-to-face, the mating bond dropped me to my damn knees. I know you are my mate, I can fucking feel it in every cell of my body, and I know that you feel something just as strong for me.” Ariana closed her eyes against the sting of her tears and gently shook her head. “Goddamn it, Ariana!”
Ryan took his hand back, turned and began to pace, running his fingers through his hair. He was the picture of frustration. Ariana turned to watch him, leaning back on the rail and wrapping her arms around her waist. Of all the things that were coming for them, of all that she knew she would have to face in the coming weeks, thi
s was going to be the hardest. Having to tell the gorgeously strong, beautiful man before her that she would never be his mate was going to tear her heart out.
“Tell me what the hell is going on in that beautiful head of yours! I’m not a fucking psychic!” Ryan stopped to stand in front of her with his hands on his hips. His expression could have been mistaken for anger, but Ariana knew it was frustration. At her.
“Ryan, for as long as I can remember, you have come to me in my dreams.” Ryan’s face softened and when he went to say something, she held up her hand. “But you have to let go of this idea that you will claim me as yours. It can’t happen. I will not allow it to happen.”
Now Ryan’s face was angry. There was no mistaking that.
“Why the hell is that, Ariana? You don’t think I am worthy of you? You think that a fucking Elemental”—Ariana flinched at the venom he had injected into that one word, hurt radiating through her body—“can do better than a wolf shifter working as a Sheriff in a small-ass town? I would never have thought you’d be a fucking snob, Ariana.”
Ariana drew herself to her full height, not that intimidating considering Ryan was just shy of six foot four.
“How fucking dare you spew that shit at me.” Ariana’s voice was quiet, and Ryan must have finally gotten a clue that perhaps she was a little on the angry side herself, because his expression changed. “Do you honestly believe that of me? That I would be such a shallow bitch as to not want you because of what you do and who you are? Well, fuck you, Ryan! If I am someone like that, then what in the hell would you want with me?” Ariana felt the wind start to pick up and knew that her Element was reacting to her heightened emotional state.
“Then why, Ariana?” Ryan yelled throwing his hands in the air. “Why the fuck are you not even prepared to see what we could be together?”