Twenty
Forest waited and watched, invisible inside Fortress, her watch on silent. Something was happening. No one knew exactly where she was, but she could see Kindel was looking for her, surreptitiously. She followed him down the hall toward her office and had to side-step to avoid colliding with Catarina.
“Kindel, I need something from Forest’s office,” she said. “There was a file she left for me to handle while she was gone, and I forgot about it till now. And since you said she will be back in a week, I need it today if I’m going to get it finished for her by the time she returns.”
“Okay,” he said vaguely. “Do you know where she put it?”
“No.”
She followed him into Forest’s office. Ena wasn’t there. Kindel checked a message on his watch, his face pulling in anxiety. “I have to go. Ena will be back any minute from her break. She’ll help you.”
“Thank you,” Catarina said as Kindel rushed out.
Forest would have followed Kindel, but she stayed still, watching Catarina. She was lying. Forest hadn’t asked her to do anything while she was gone. Ice swooped into her stomach as intuition sparked. Surely not…
As soon as the door shut behind Kindel, Catarina moved around Forest’s desk and began rifling through the files on top. She grabbed Maddox’s file and scanned through it. Forest didn’t breathe. Then Catarina spotted the bag from the lab with Maddox’s watch inside it. Her eyes lit, and she slid it into her pocket. She made to close the file and straighten the pages so they looked undisturbed.
Forest grabbed her letter opener and stabbed it straight through Catarina’s hand, pinning her to the top of the desk before dropping her invisibility.
“Forest! I…” her face blanched in pain, and she spluttered. “Why would you do this? I was just—”
“Save it. You’re under arrest.”
Catarina tried to lash out at her. Forest sucker-punched her in the face. She went down to her knees, awkwardly, with her hand stuck to the desk.
“It’s too late for your precious baby boy. He’ll never recover from the damage I’ve done to him. And neither will your family’s reputation.”
A message pinged Forest’s watch. She looked at it and then sneered at Catarina. “No, it’s your son who’ll never recover, not mine. Kendrick’s dead.”
Erin felt her lungs fill, but she knew she was gone. Thunder rumbled. She felt her body, cradled in his arms, but she knew she was dead. She had to say goodbye. Would he be able to hear her? She didn’t want to leave. Rain drops kissed her face. She looked up into his eyes. His strikingly beautiful eyes, not grey, not green but both colors mixed. Hers. Her generous shadow. His heart of gold encased in a fantasy of masculine beauty and strength. It was a dream. None of it was real. She floated, her soul adrift. This was a trance. He wasn’t holding her. She was dead, their connection destroyed. How could she let go? It was impossible. She would never let go. She didn’t know how, and she didn’t want to know. She had to tell him.
“I can’t stay. I don’t want to leave.”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“I love you, Maddox. It turns me over and breaks me all the way down…makes me something new. I never thought I would feel this. I surrender to it. To you. To us. I’m sorry I have to leave.” Her voice was weak and sleepy.
“I’ve got you, Erin. It’s over.”
She sobbed, her vision wavering like ripples on the water. His hand held her cheek, gold filling her eyes.
“You took me over…” she breathed. “Don’t ever doubt your worth or what I would have done for you... Don’t forget me and don't hide your real face again.”
Thunder rolled louder all around, rain falling harder on her. She blinked. They were in the garden. Where they began.
“You’ll wake soon,” he said.
“Wake me, Maddox…If I’m not dead, wake me.”
He kissed her, so soft it couldn’t be real. She jolted as his blood filled her mouth. All she could see was gold light. It raced under her skin, lighting her up. He lifted her up so her head was on his shoulder. Her fangs throbbed. She needed more. She sank her teeth into his neck. More heat, more light flowed into her.
She broke away, her head thrown back to the rain, gasping. “What are you?”
He held her head in his hands and searched her eyes, then he smiled. “You’re awake now.”
She was. Erin had never felt so awake. All her senses sharpened. “What are you?” she demanded again. “How could your blood do that?”
“I transformed when I thought you were going to die. I’m a mage now.”
She touched his hands and ran her fingers over the light on his forearms. “I like this.”
“I like it, too. I wouldn’t have been able to save you without this power.”
The connection was tearing her up inside. She'd never needed him like she did right then. She needed him to touch her everywhere, and she had to touch him. A thirst built in her throat and burned in her mouth. She had to consume him, absorb him, dissolve into him so they could never be separated again.
“Are we alone?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“I want to mark you. Now. Here. Just you and me.”
“You don’t want a ceremony?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Not like most have. I just want you. And it is a ceremony. Every second of it will be sacred. I don't want to wait. I want it now.”
“You really don’t care that no one is here? You don’t care what you’re wearing?”
She looked up at the sky, rain falling on her face, and smiled. She slid out of the clothes she wore and began to grab at his.
“As it was the first time.”
She winded him.
“I don’t deserve you,” he said.
“Whether that’s true or not, I’m yours. You’re stuck with me.”
They made love again outside in the rain in a celebration of life and memorial of their first time. He filled her spiritually and physically before running his tongue along his incisor, filling his mouth with blood, and biting down into the top of her shoulder. She gasped as his blood ran into the bite mark, sealing inside her skin as her flesh closed, leaving a traditional, crescent, lovers mark behind. She shivered around him, looking into his eyes as she touched the scar he'd just put on her.
Her smile was warm and her eyes bright as she pulled tighter around him. She kissed his neck once and breathed, "Forever," against his skin before she bit down, repeating the same process on him. He touched his new scar when she pulled back. It was warm and added yet another layer to his commitment to her.
His heart sang in exultation. She wasn't ashamed anymore. She'd marked him and taken his mark. The scars were visible to the world. Erin was his, and she would stand by him in the light. Every second of their very private ceremony was sacred and beautiful, just as she'd said it would be. Their hearts and souls entwined along with their bodies. Their love unbearably soft and passionately savage at the same time.
Later, after they’d laid down in his room for a while, just talking, he told her all about what happened. She cried over Jaris a little as he thought she might. It didn’t hurt him. He held her through it, and she grew quiet.
“Where do you want to live?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Us. We can live anywhere you want. I want you happy. We can be rural like this, or further out like Tesla and X. We can live in the middle of the city. Or we could go to the coast like where Melina lives. I don’t care, sweetheart. You decide.”
“That’s a big decision.”
“I’ll make sure your dad is somewhere new if that’s what he wants. If you want him to live near us, I’ll arrange that.”
She touched his face. “Are you just going to throw money at this problem?”
“Absolutely. Do you mind?”
She smiled. “Not this time. I want to live somewhere nice. We need a very private garden for when it rains and a really killer shower in our house for when it doesn’t.”
He chuckled and snuggled into her. “Agreed…I’ve been thinking about what I want to do. Would you mind if I worked with you?”
“What? You mean crafting adoptions?”
“Not exactly. Maybe I could work finding the adoptive parents. I think more people would be willing and interested in bringing kids into their lives if they were just more aware. I could use my celebrity status for that. I could make people listen. I could show them…I want to find a great family for that little tike, Alora…My sister says I’m lucky. Maybe I can spread that around more.”
Tears filled Erin’s eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing at all.” She grabbed his hand and placed it over her heart. “Destiny doesn’t make mistakes.”
They slept through the afternoon. Maddox roused slowly, faintly aware Erin wasn't next to him. He blinked and rolled over. Evening was fading into night, casting shadows all through his room. Her side of the bed was cold. Where was she?
His heart sought hers out, and all he felt was sorrow from her. He got up and dressed quickly. Where was she? He could feel the distance between them. His heart, that had been so light before, now pulled down with darkness.
He strode outside and let their connection lead him to her. He would have messaged her, but she was in a quiet state that stopped him. She wasn't far, but the closer he got, the more he worried. He found her sitting next to Selena's gave, talking quietly to the dead. He didn't know if he should just turn around and leave her alone or not. He frowned, looking down.
"Maddox." Her voice fell softly on his ears and he looked up at her.
"Come."
He strode over to her. She looked up into his face with a sad smile. "I was just telling her some stuff…I miss her."
"I'm sorry. I'd trade my life for hers if it would bring her back for you."
Erin stood, touched his cheek with one hand, and pressed the other over his heart. She shook her head.
"Let it go. I give you permission to forgive yourself. Selena was murdered. It wasn't your doing, and it wasn’t hers. All the blame I assigned to you and then to her for what happened…all my rage and bitterness…it's all gone now. She was stolen from me, but the thief is dead. My memories can rest in peace now. I will always miss her, but I can let her go, as she would have wanted."
"How do you know?" he asked quietly, his heart still tearing.
She sank to her knees, pulling him down with her, next to the tree he planted. She pulled a small folding knife out of her pocket and opened it.
"Hold out your hand," she said.
He did. She laid the double-edged blade flat in his palm before clasping his hand with hers. She turned the blade to the side and sliced both of their hands at the same time. She never let go, their mixed blood falling on the roots of the tree. Gold light ran up the trunk through the cracks in the bark and out along the branches. The leaves shivered.
"The shadows of the past will no longer darken our love." Erin's breath caught. "Look. See it, Maddox…Forgiveness. And only peace follows in its wake."
A flower budded on the tree and opened before their eyes. The petals should have been white…They were gold.