“Momma.”
Tears pooled in her eyes as she scooped him into her arms. In the back of his mind, he wondered why his body still hurt so much, if he was dreaming.
“Are you okay?” he asked her. The idea of death and the afterlife still felt terrifying to him, even if he knew about angels and the Light.
He also knew about demons and the Darkness.
“I’m fine,” she whispered against his forehead. “How are you? Michael said you were out for a long time.”
“I’m fine too,” he said, mimicking her words. They both knew they were lying anyway. “Is Gray with you? I never got to thank him…for saving me.”
“He’s here. He’s talking to Sev and Chord.”
Soren blinked, awareness pouring over him like a bucket of warm water. “Wait… Are you really here?”
Aurora pulled back from him, laughing. “Yes, I’m really here.”
“You aren’t a dream?”
Her head shook, knocking loose a pair of tears. “I’m not a dream. I’m right here.”
“Are you staying?” He could hear the desperation in his own voice.
She didn’t have to answer. The way her eyebrows turned up in sorrow was answer enough. “Not right now. Gray and I still have some things we need to do. For the Light.”
“Haven’t you done enough for Him?” Soren spoke bitterly.
An affectionate smile mingled with the pain in her eyes as his mom brushed his dark hair off his forehead. “I’ll always be with you, you know.” She pressed a hand to his heart. “I’m part of you. Whether you want me to be or not. I’m right here.”
He wanted to cry and tell her it wasn’t the same. He wanted to tell her he needed her with him where he could feel her and see her. Not just as the blood that pumped through his lonely heart.
But he didn’t say any of this because he knew it was selfish. And Anchors—which apparently he was—weren’t allowed to be selfish. Not when their parents had died in the most selfless of ways.
So he sat up straighter, biting down on the lip threatening to tremble as he nodded. “Are you leaving soon?”
“Pretty soon.”
“Do we have to say goodbye now?”
Another wave of tears coursed from Aurora’s eyes. “Not goodbye. Let’s not say that.”
“What do we say then?”
“We can say ‘See ya later, alligator.’ That’s what my mom would always said to me when she knew I would be coming back home.”
“And what did you say back?”
“After while, crocodile.”
Soren chuckled, letting his mom hug him for the last time in what he knew would be a long time. Too long.
Then she stood, wiping the wetness from her face as she drifted slowly to the door.
“Hey, mom,” he called out. Aurora turned to look at him over her shoulder. “After while, crocodile.”
Fifty-One
AURORA
Michael set the two Stellars up with an angel boat for travel. Fittingly enough, he brought them Stellar.
“Irony is clearly not lost on him,” Aurora muttered as she and Gray stepped aboard.
Pulling her by the hand, Gray led her inside. She didn’t have to ask to know he was guiding her to the bedroom. Even in angel time, it had been far too long since they’d been in bed together.
They barely made it to the bed, garments falling around them as they crashed together. Time stopped and sped up simultaneously. Any demons in a hundred mile radius had surely exploded with the waves of ecstasy they created. And Aurora had thought being with Gray in Hell was good…
If she had known angel sex could be so pleasurable, she’d have died a long time ago.
Afterward, the two of them lay on their backs, side by side, sheets tangling around their limbs. The subtle rocking of the angel ship nearly made Aurora want to sleep, though she had no physical reason to do so.
Angels didn’t need sleep.
“I wonder if we will ever have a real home again.”
“I have a home,” Gray murmured, winding his fingers through hers. “Right here. You’re my home.”
Aurora’s eyes rolled upward. “You’re so lame sometimes, Grayson Cross.”
Gray pressed a hand dramatically to his chest. “That hurts.”
“Shut up. You’re an angel now. A Guardian. A Stellar Guardian. Nothing can hurt you.”
“That’s not true at all. You have the power to destroy me if you really wanted to. You know that.”
“Hmm,” Aurora pressed a finger to her chin in false thought. “Suppose I do. I kind of like the idea of that. All that power over you.”
“You’re evil.”
“Have you met my father?” Aurora chided. “Evil is in my angel blood.”
Gray nudged her shoulder with his own. “Don’t say that.”
“What? It’s true.”
“You’re nothing like your father.”
“That reminds me.” Aurora stared thoughtfully up at the dark ceiling. “You know what you said before about Soren looking like you. And you thought he might be yours somehow?”
Gray’s voice went quiet. “Yeah…”
“I think you’re right. I think part of your soul, your DNA even, is wrapped up in him. I can see you in his eyes. Your tenderness. Your goodness.”
Gray brushed a hand along her arm sending sizzling sparks across her skin. “Sorry to break your theory, but I think that’s you you’re seeing in him.”
“No, babe. It’s you.”
“Babe?” Gray said with a soft chuckle. “You’ve never once called me that.”
“Well, don’t get used to it. I’m just trying it out. I have an eternity to try nicknames out on you.”
“I kind of like it.”
Aurora glanced slyly at him. “Better than Grayson?”
“A zillion times better than Grayson.”
He turned on his side then, nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck.
Aurora spoke softly after a long while. “You’re my home too, you know.”
“Jeez. What a lame thing for you to say.”
He lifted his head, moving his lips toward hers, and she pushed him away. “Dammit, Gray. Really? Why do you always have to ruin the moment?”
“We have an eternity of moments together. And, in that case, I'd say I ruin a super small fraction of moments.”
He tried to kiss her again, but she pushed him back again.
“Get away from me, you moment-ruiner.”
“But I’m your home. How can you refuse the sanctuary of your home?”
She laughed, and he moved in to kiss her a third time.
And this time…she let him.
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Melody is the Amazon Bestselling Author of the Underground Series. She lives in Texas with her husband and two fat cats. When she isn’t teaching, she can be found in a cozy coffee shop with a latte in her hand, typing madly away with little awareness of the world around her. As a dreamer by nature—her story worlds are where she is happiest.
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Stellar (The Halo Series Book 3) Page 28