by Hana Blue
He was riding right back into the past, almost guaranteed to be put face to face with the woman that he used to call his wife. The woman that he once loved more than anything in the world, all until her true colors shone through. Making it all too clear what kind of monster she was.
He would have to look her in the eyes again. Something I knew for a fact would not end well. I couldn’t imagine what he was feeling. If I was already troubled enough by what was happening myself, I have no clue how I would handle what he is. I’d have no idea how to be that strong. Honestly, it helped to gain my respect again.
It was already later into the afternoon by the time we got to the Sitka border and I felt my skin crawl. A very unwelcoming feeling in the surrounding air. Turning off near the border, we followed the car down a long dirt road that lead us down a thick forest area. The trees were so thick everything around us looked black. The light of the sun unable to touch the ground below.
I recognized the area of course; It was very close to where I first met Aine and Caireen. That night I recognized something was wrong at the bar. We were close to the clearing area that was tucked back into the woods.
A beautiful two-story cabin came into view, tucked against the far end of the clearing. I looked at it in awe. It wasn’t familiar, in fact, I didn’t remember seeing it when I was here before. A few trees stood out front, shadowing over the covered porch that adorned the cabin. A grouping of purple flowers surrounded one side, looking like they lead to the back of the house.
The closer we got, the cozier and more miraculous this cabin seemed. There was no way that it was the home of some alchemist. I had this little shack covered in ivy pictured in the back of my mind. Definitely not this. Not some wooden oasis tucked into the trees.
Pulling up in front of the house, Michael and Josh exited the car, and we followed suit, dismounting our bikes.
“So, this is where the alchemist is?” I called out to Michael, but Damien shook his head from the corner of my eye.
Damien walked up to me, taking a stand in front of the house, admiring it with me. “No. This is Aine’s home.” Damien explained.
I looked over the cabin once more before turning to him. “Why are we here?”
Damien pursed his lips, considering the situation. “I can’t go near the alchemist, Michael knows this. I guess they are counting on Aine returning here.”
“You think she will?” I asked, keeping my eyes on the cabin.
Damien nodded slowly. “She loves this place.”
I sighed. “So, you had this place cloaked, huh? That’s why I’d never seen it, or her.” I muttered.
“Yeah.” Damien sighed as well. “You do not understand the lengths I’ve gone to protect this girl. I saw greatness in her, and I wanted to protect it. I love that woman, she’s like a daughter to me.” Damien added softly, swallowing hard as he voiced his convictions.
“She kind of is now.” I laughed. “She is something special, and I don’t know how it happened, but I love her more than anything. Bond or not. Honestly, there’s now one in this world I’d rather spend forever stuck to.”
Damien chuckled at my response. “I know. Come on, let’s go in a wait.”
I nodded in agreement, following his lead as he made his way inside the cabin. The smell of cinnamon hit my nose, reminding me of her. Its spicy aroma filled the entire house. Much like her room at the pack house, every couch was filled with throw pillows and blankets.
A fireplace stood in the center of the main room. Large and covered in flat stones. Everything was clean and orderly. All dressed in a deep red. The entire space was everything I would have expected from her. It really showed off her style.
Walking deeper into the cabin, I found myself at the foot of an enormous log staircase. Curious, I made my way up the stairs. Wondering what was on the other level of the house. Once at the top, I was met with a thin hallway that had one door on either side and one at the very end.
Choosing the door at the end, I walked down the hallway, the wood floors creaking under my feet as I stepped. Slowly, I reached for the doorknob and pushed the door open. The room that it hid was large, with a tall angled ceiling on one side. Covered in large thin glassed windows.
There was no doubt in my mind whose room this was. It was Aine’s. The décor was dark and moody. The bedding resembling the ones on our bed at the pack house. The entire space smelt like her and it made me feel at home. Entering the room, I approached the large windows, taking a moment to look through them. A dusting of snow covered a field of lavender and wolfbane that had yet to wild and die.
The white sparkles illuminating hauntingly off of the purple flowers. As I stood there, I almost felt like I could imagine her standing there, looking out this very window. Just enjoying the beauty that it gave way to. Processing whatever troubled her by taking in the sight. Closing my eyes, I sighed.
Wondering if she ever stood here, trying to process what was happening after meeting me.
Opening my eyes again, I looked around the room. It was large but didn’t hold much furniture. The largest piece being a king-size bed that was backed up to the far wall. Walking closer to the bed, I saw a large bloodstain on her pillow. Much around the spot her mouth would be when laying on it.
I scoffed. Realizing that was probably because of me. I had a hell of a time handling the pain from our bond. She must have too.
“She’s coming.” I heard Damien call up to me, snapping me out my thoughts.
* * *
Descending the stairs, I heard the loud rumbling of an engine. An aggressive sound that was approaching quickly.
“Whose car is she driving?” I asked Damien as I reached the bottom of the stairs.
Damien gave out a hollow laugh. “Hers.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. Honestly, I had no idea what she drove, but from the sounds of it, she drove a muscle car. The way the engine growled as it came closer was a sure sign. Stepping out of the house, I stood on the porch, watching as a gunmetal grey dodge charger sped into the driveway, kicking up rocks all around it.
“Well damn,” I muttered, rubbing the side of my neck. That would explain how she could adjust to being on the bike so quickly. It wasn’t the speed that scared her, that was now very clear.
Stepping out of the car, Aine looked at me with shock. Almost like it mortified her to see me at her home. She closed the door to her car, and her boots crunched in the small layer of snow beneath them. Her hair dancing around in the surrounding wind.
Maybe it was my love for her, or maybe my ultimate love for cars. But seeing her all windblown in her leathers, standing next to an old classic muscle car really did it for me. I’ll be damned if she wasn’t perfect for me in every way.
“What are you doing here?” She called out to me. Her face twisting with confusion. She didn’t seem upset to see me, but more so concerned.
Stepping off the porch, I approached her, unable to restrain myself, I pulled her into my arms, happy to know that right now she was safe. Placing a kiss on her forehead, I pulled back and only to find her raising her eyebrows at me.
“Seriously, what are you doing here? It looks like a whole MC is parked outside of my house.”
Aine peeked around my shoulder, then huffed. “And you drug Michael into this.” She added.
I could help but laugh at her reaction, astonished that she had zero regards for the fact I could be here for her own safety. This is exactly why I want surprised she would take off. It was almost like these kinds of things didn’t even dawn on her.
“Maybe I just wanted you to be safe.” I chuckled at her. She rolled her eyes but smiled, anyway.
The sound of harsh vomiting killed the moment though as Caireen stepped from the passenger side of the car. Staining the snow at her feet a ghastly yellow and red color. Aine turned to glimpse at her, then turned back to me. Sighing as she slid her hand down her face.
“He’s inside, isn’t he?” She muttered.
I nodded c
oyly. “I take it you figured out what was wrong?” I muttered sarcastically.
Aine grimaced, shaking her head back and forth slowly. “I’m not ready. It’s too soon.” She almost whispered.
“Hey, she a big girl. It’s time.” I replied, trying to console her distress.
“But now she will fall in love, she will get married, and have children.” She continued on, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“What so wrong with that?” I uttered, and she rolled her eyes.
“Everything, you can’t tell me you envision a wedding and children in our future?”
Her words stung a little. Sure, at first, or even when I was younger, those kinds of thoughts would have been the farthest from my mind. In fact, it was something I would have never considered the day that I met her. But recently, I tossed the idea around. The more I knew her, the more the thought seemed better and better.
“I do actually.” I finally responded. Keeping my tone direct and serious, leaving no room for confusion. Making my intentions known.
Aine looked back up at me like I had grown another head. Like what I had just said was the most ludicrous thing in the world. Which admittedly was not the reaction I was looking for. I guess unlike other women in the world, those kinds of notions weren’t what she was looking for out of life, which was disheartening. Who knows though, maybe her heart could change?
“Caireen!” I heard Josh’s voice call out from behind us and I turned. Looking at him as he watched his mate withering away on the hood of Aine’s car.
Caireen forces herself to stand straight, wiping her face and smoothing her clothes out. Struggling to make herself presentable in an instant.
“She knows?” I muttered to Aine, who nodded in response.
Aine and I both watched as Caireen slowly approached Josh. Moving in a soft, unsure way. A reaction that she had never had around him before. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched tears form in Aine’s eyes. They seemed to be tears of joy as she watched her little sister approach her childhood friend for the very first time as something more than a friend.
Wrapping one arm around her waist, we stood and spectated the moment like proud parents. Neither Josh nor Caireen seemed to notice that we were still here as they approached each other cautiously. The color returning to their faces the closer they got.
Strange enough, watching them was exquisite. I cursed under my breath as I snuck another look at Aine. That’s how we should have been. This is how we should have met. Not like we had. That was my fault, and I recognized that completely. Aine didn’t show me any harm, she was kind all until I tried to kill her.
I tried to kill her.
“You ok?” She muttered softly to me, noticing the irritation that was boiling under my skin.
How could she care so much for me? So much that she would notice my distress and check on me after what I had done. It was beyond me how she could have a heart that pure. This tall, frightening-looking woman, nothing but an angel in disguise.
“That should have been us,” I whispered, and she scoffed a little. A sorrowful smile on her lips.
“It was for me.”
She leaned her head against my shoulder, and we watched as the two embraced. Holding onto each other as close as they could without crawling under each other’s skin. Caireen leaned her forehead against Josh’s and I faintly heard her sigh.
“Mine.”
Exactly what Aine said when she saw me. Could it have been that she was relieved to find me like Caireen was to be in Josh’s arms? Was this really how she felt before I ruined it all?
“Aine?” I muttered, pulling her attention back once more.
She looked at me and smiled. “Yeah?”
Giving her a coy grin, I tucked my lower lip between my teeth.
“Mine.”
Thirty One
The Future Is This
Dominic~
“So, this is where you were hiding out?” I laughed at Aine, who was seated in front of the fireplace alone. Her legs crossed on the bare wood floor, seemingly enamored by the flames.
Everyone else was out back, having made a fire in the pit that Aine and Caireen had built at some point. Despite their distance from home, they still took the time to celebrate like they always did. All except for Aine, who had stayed out of sight for most of the evening.
After a while of everyone, including Caireen asking me where she was, and why she wasn’t joining in on the festivities, I went out to find her. I figured that she was struggling with what was going on still and didn’t want to upset her sister by being negative. Something that Aine was known for. She would always spare Caireen her thoughts, never wanting to cause her to be jaded.
And it seemed that I was right.
She just hid away in the house, far away from the festivities and joy. She just looked off into the flames that roared within the stone fireplace, like they held all the answers in the world. Almost as though the heat from the fire would burn away all of her uncertainty.
It was distressing to see her secluding herself away like this. I didn’t know what was keeping her away, and I wasn’t sure if she’d even tell me. But I had a pretty good idea of what it was. Aine had raised Caireen like a daughter, and I could only guess that she was taking this recent change as more than just a sister, but as a mother. A mother that she didn’t have the very best mating experience.
Coming up to her, I lowered myself to the floor beside her. The heat from the fireplace warmed my face and left an almost romantic glow on Aine’s. Illuminating every mark like they were veins of gold, glittering on a cavern wall. Causing the harsh marks to look beautiful and almost majestic.
“You know, she would probably like to have her sister with her. To celebrate with.” I muttered to her.
Aine sighed, closing her eyes. “I know.”
“Come on Aine, tell me what you are thinking. Why are you hiding in here?” I pushed her. Hoping that by some chance, she would be comfortable enough now to share with me what she was feeling.
“I… I guess it’s just a lot to process,” Aine muttered. “I’m jealous, I’m sad. I’m confused.” Aine began.
Taking Aine’s hands in my own, grateful for her being willing to talk, I sat and listened. Giving her an outlet to vent, to maybe help process.
“It’s sad. Of course, I’m happy for her. She got the experience we all look forward to. What I looked forward to. I guess the fact she got this beautiful moment when I had to run for my life has made me feel a little sorry for myself. For a minute I truly thought that maybe it was because I was a hunter, that was why my luck was shit with everything. But now. Like everything else, it’s just me. I’m the problem.”
Pulling her hands to my face, I kissed the back of them. “No, that was not you. It was my fault.”
Brushing off my words, Aine sighed and continued. “On top of that, I now have to accept that she is all grown up. My one job on this earth, the job I took more seriously than any other, is over. I don’t have to raise her, or protect her, or care for her anymore. I have no other purpose. It’s gone now.”
“You still have a purpose, and you have no idea what could happen in the future Aine.”
She shook her head at me. “Are you afraid of the future?” She then asked me, finally looking away from the flames to me. Her red eyes glimmering with hope and sadness, all at the same time.
I shook my head no. Because I wasn’t. The future used to scare me. Not anymore, though. I knew now that no matter what the future held, it still held her, and that thought alone was enough to make me want to see it to the end.
“No. Because it has you.”
A tear formed in the corner of her eye as she looked at me. Almost surprised by what I had said.
“You are a softie, aren’t you?” She giggled through the tears that were now flowing.
I couldn’t help but laugh. I never was before. There was something about Aine that changed me. Within the blink of an eye, I became very different. I beca
me the man that I should have been, and I watched her soften.
“Only for you.” I joked, and she shook her head.
Wrapping her arms around me, she leaned her head on my chest, pulling me tight up against her. The warmth of the fire glowing around us. It would be moments like these that I would cherish for the rest of my life. The moments when she let down her walls enough to drag me in. No doubt building them right back up, but this time, around the both of us.
“Now quit your pity party. Your sister needs you.”
Sniffling lightly, Aine nodded against my shoulder.
* * *
AINE~
Stepping back out into the backyard, hand in hand with Dominic, I felt a little better. My selfishness diminishing a little. Sitting around the fire, I noticed that Allea and Ciri came after all, and they were sitting in their respective spots next to their mates. Looking like all was right in the world, and that there was nowhere else they would rather be.
A feeling that I too shared as I stood side by side with Dominic.
Smiling to them softly, I directed my gaze at Caireen, who nodded to me lightly. She sat so proudly next to Josh, and with her hair pulled back into a ponytail, I could see that they completed their mating. A shiny, fresh mark gracing her neck.
Dominic squeezed my hand, passing on his strength to me.
Looking up to him, I couldn’t help but give a grateful smile. Whether I’d like to admit it. He was my everything now, and every small gesture, every loving moment spent, made everything feel stronger. All questions and doubts in my mind, nothing but distant memories.
Letting go of Dominic’s hand, I walked over to sit next to Caireen, who took my hand in hers.
Leaning over so I could whisper to her, she smiled.
“Congrats. You sure got stuck with an excellent one.” I whispered in her ear and she began glowing.