Liam

Only for her.

No one else could have talked me into being here, in the Elders’ chamber, pleading the case of someone I’d imagined killing a hundred different ways.

He’d been back in Seaton Falls just under twenty-four-hours and the quick summoning made it clear they were eager to deal with him. Possibly because of all the trouble he’d caused.

Baz was silent, his milky-white eyes lingering on careful penmanship scrawled across a sheet of paper. Two sheets of paper—a letter Evangeline had written, listing the reasons she thought Nick’s life was worth sparing. At her bidding, I supported her plea by adding my two cents, asking the Elders to have mercy on Nick, as much as the Council and High Council would allow.

Baz spoke for the two seated beside him, like always, and I didn’t miss the hint of amusement in his tone.

“When we discussed young Nicholas’ fate months ago … were you not eager to have him put to death?” he asked. “And now, you’re requesting that we show him mercy this evening?”

I knew how ironic this was.

“It isn’t my request, per se. I’m only here on Evangeline’s behalf.”

“I see.” He nodded slowly. “She’s quite compassionate,” he noted, reading more of her words. “And persuasive.”

He’d get no argument out of me on that one.

There was a long bout of silence while he thought, possibly considering Evangeline’s plea. However, I had little hope they’d allow her wishes to sway their decision.

“I’ll present it before the Council and High Council once members arrive shortly, but I make no guarantees. As you well know, we take behavior that threatens the safety and balance of the clan quite seriously.”

I nodded. “I do.”

“Then, please explain this to Evangeline ahead of time. It’s better she be prepared for the worst outcome tonight, because … this isn’t likely to go in her favor.”

There was nothing more to say. In so many words, Baz made it clear they had no intentions on giving Nick a light sentence. I had a mix of comfort and uneasiness about it all.

Comfort knowing Nick wouldn’t be able to hurt Evangeline.

Uneasiness knowing her soft heart would be broken if he received the severest punishment. Despite her ill feelings toward him. She had the presence of mind to see past how he affected her personally, and considered others—his family and friends, and even Nick himself.

But Baz was right; it’d be best to prepare her for the worst.

This thing could go either way.

*****

Evie

There would be repercussions for sneaking off alone while Liam was gone, but I had to.

I had to see for myself.

Warm, yellow light beamed through large windows where the blinds hadn’t been shut. The sun had just gone down, so I guessed they hadn’t gotten around to it.

Thank God they hadn’t gotten around to it.

I watched them from the rooftop of a family’s home who hadn’t yet returned for the night. Perched there, I had a clear view of my parents, of the love and closeness I had only dreamed about lately. They looked so happy. So blissfully unaware.

“I’m still here,” I whispered.

Only to myself, because telling them wouldn’t even matter.

They’d long-since forgotten me.

Mom reached across the table with a laugh, swiping food from Dad’s chin. Tonight was family date night, and from what I could see, removing me from the equation hadn’t changed things all that much. They’d likely just come in from a movie, and per our tradition, they were ending the night with pizza.

I missed them so much I ached all over just thinking about it. They were missing a third of their trio and didn’t even realize it.

Wetness slipped down my cheek and sizzled from the fire blazing just beneath my skin. It kept me warm, seeing as how I’d wandered off after the dinner Elise prepared—no jacket, no phone. Just this emptiness I tried to keep to myself.

I was drawn here similarly to how my core was magnetized with Liam. I simply couldn’t keep my distance. It killed me being in the same town, but having to stay away. So, tonight, I found a way to be with them while still only existing on the fringes.

Like a ghost.

A twinge in the center of my chest prompted me to stifle the tears pooling in my eyes, because I had company—the kind that panics when he can’t find me. The kind that used a handy tether that led him straight here. My skin tingled with awareness as Liam drew closer, still hidden under the darkness of night, but I now heard snow crunching beneath his boots.

I’d climbed a nearby tree and walked a branch tightrope-style to get on this roof. It was a less than graceful performance I was glad no one witnessed but me. Now, putting me to shame, Liam burst into the air just like the night we flew, only with far more control as he landed gracefully beside me. His footing was so sure. A far cry from the slippery dance I’d done over ice-covered shingles twenty-minutes ago.

“Show off,” I smiled, wrangling in the emotions I allowed to surface when I was alone.

He filled the space to my right, and to my surprise, I wasn’t chastised for running off on my own. He didn’t waste breath pointing out all the reasons this was an awful idea.

He just … sat.

I inched closer to his side, slinking my bare arm around his. Our combined light was mesmerizing, a network of glowing veins that ended where my fingers tangled with his. My cheek pressed to his shoulder and I breathed deep, keeping my eyes on my parents, accepting the fact that I was an outsider.

A car passed on the street in front of the house and my eyes followed it until it came to a stop in the circular drive next door—the Stokes’ home. The entire first floor was lit and the car that just pulled in, joined three others. It looked like the entire family was there.

All except Nick.

Tonight was sure to be a somber one for their pack. I knew this to be a fact without seeing any of them face-to-face, without having to guess. As I sat here watching Kyle jog to the front door, I knew Nick was with the Council where his future hung in the balance.

I couldn’t turn away now, wondering if the letter Liam had just delivered for me was enough. Wondering what would happen if it wasn’t. The Elders respected me, but they didn’t respect me nearly enough for my words to change their minds. Still, I had to try. I couldn’t sit by, knowing it might have mattered if I spoke up. So, despite it likely being a futile effort, I wrote the letter.

Now, all we could do was wait.

“You did everything you could.” Liam’s voice touched my ears and the rest of the world took a step back. “Baz gave his word that the Council, and High Council, would take your thoughts into consideration.”

The High Council—a combination of several clan’s oldest lycans who’d been groomed to uphold their law to the fullest. Yeah … they’d take the letter of a fretful teenage girl real serious.

I kept my doubtful thoughts to myself for fear of what might happen if I released them into the atmosphere. It may have been superstitious, but I couldn’t afford to jinx this situation any more than it already had been.

“Thank you for going,” I replied, squeezing his fingers a bit. “I know you hated being there, but … you went, and I won’t forget it.”

He nudged me a bit before placing a kiss on top of my head. “You’re welcome.”

When there was no more movement at the Stokes residence, I turned toward my own again, just as Mom moved to the sink to wash the few dishes they dirtied. My father flipped through mail while they laughed at each others’ jokes, shared about the day both had at work. I could almost guess the conversation because it was always the same.

Not redundant, just … comfortingly familiar.

More words moved into my hair and I tilted my head some to listen.

“I told you it was Ivan who did my tattoos, that we were the only two who mastered the technique, but I never told you how we ended up in Egypt where we learned.”

I lived for these moments, being told about my past, my family. Liam had my full, undivided attention.

“It was never a mystery where I came from, but I didn’t know much about my past other than being the product of rogue dragon shifters who’d made a game of leaving human women for dead.”

I remembered the story. Liam’s mother was the victim of an epidemic spreading throughout Egypt centuries ago. Human women were ravished by these shifters, and then, because their bodies weren’t made to handle birthing super-human children into the world, they died after delivering, thus creating an explosion of feral dragons.

It was my father’s duty to put a stop to it, and during that journey, he found and spared Liam, making him a part of our family.

“Yes, you told me that part,” I said softly, eager to hear what he’d share next.

A surge of air filled his lungs and his shoulder moved with it, shifting my body because my weight mostly rested on him.

“The part I hadn’t shared yet was how that stayed with me, how it lingered in my head that I didn’t belong with your mother and father.”

My brow tensed as I thought about that. He’d never shared that he felt displaced, and I guess I didn’t consider it because, to me, he was always so focused. I can admit it was sometimes hard to see past my own hurt to grasp the bigger picture, but Liam always seemed so … together. It never even crossed my mind that we had so much in common. That he, too, had dealt with the emotional stirring of being adopted.

Heat pulsed through my palm when I held his hand tighter.

“It hit me out of nowhere right after my first shift at twenty—this unshakable feeling of being a fish out of water,” he explained. “Most of your brothers were like you, favored the gifts of their dragon more than those of the wolf, but it was never far from my mind that we were different, that I didn’t quite belong.”

A long breadth of silence passed between us and I couldn’t believe I missed it, couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen that same distant look in his eyes I sometimes saw in my own.

“It was Elise who suggested I go to Egypt, to find myself,” he shared. “Of course, being overprotective, she made me take one of your brothers,” he added with a smile. “So, with her and your father’s blessing, Ivan and I left. Didn’t come back for six months.”

“And did you find yourself while you were away?”

He shrugged and one corner of his mouth turned upward. “That voyage made me aware of many things.”

I turned, letting my eyes settle on his face, shimmering silver beneath moonlight.

“You gonna keep me guessing?” I pressed, smiling a bit.

A hint of nostalgia softened the stern lines of his expression as his gaze landed on our matching bracelets.

“It made me painfully aware of where home truly was,” he breathed. “I enjoyed learning about my people, enjoyed learning their ways, but more than anything, I wanted to get back to you.”

He always said exactly the right thing at exactly the right time.

My heart fluttered.

“Were we … together that early on? Right after you first shifted?” I asked.

Liam shook his head.

“No, far from it,” he laughed. “I was willing to own my feelings long before your stubbornness would allow you to admit you needed anyone other than yourself.”

I had to laugh. I didn’t think of myself as being that way now, but if I had to guess, I wasn’t as cold as I may have seemed back then either. There was a small part of me that naturally preferred to conceal my emotions, but it was my mom, Rebecka, who taught me it was okay to feel.

So, I guess I was different in some ways.

“How’d you do it?” I asked with a grin, leaning into his side again.

“Do what?”

“How’d you knock down The Great Wall of Evangeline,” I teased.

A soft chuckle wrapped in a deep, velvety voice warmed my soul when it left his mouth. “Lots and lots of hard work,” he joked. “But it was well worth it.”

I was glad to hear he felt that way.

“Tell me about the day I finally came to my senses.” Those were the perfect words. A girl had to be senseless not to see Liam for what he is. Myself included. In both lifetimes.

He laughed again before sharing. “Well … I wish I could tell you we had a fairytale beginning, but it wasn’t anything like that. In fact, I distinctly remember you once referring to me as ‘the most pompous, insufferable bastard you ever had the pleasure of slapping’.”

He laughed, but I didn’t. Actually, I was kind of mortified.

“Was I really that terrible?”

When he caught his breath, he answered. “Nah, you were no more snobbish and entitled than any other princess.”

I cringed at the thought of speaking to him that way.

“But I always saw through it, saw your big heart through all the ice.” His chest vibrated with another deep chuckle. “Even when you were telling me how much you hated me, or how overprotective I was, I saw it.”

“Saw…?”

“This,” he clarified. “Our future.”

I had to laugh. “So, even through the rudeness, and the insults … you knew we were meant to be.”

He nodded as if he saw nothing wrong with anything I said. “Absolutely. I’ve never wanted anything unless it was a challenge.”

And I guess I gave him that and then some.

“I’m pretty sure my immunity to your callousness was why your father assigned me to you, to serve as your warrior,” he went on to explain. “You went through five in one year and, eventually, he got sick of searching for new, trustworthy shifters to fill the role. Next thing I know, he came to me with the proposition. And because I knew you were mine from the beginning, I didn’t hesitate to accept.” His smile grew. “You, on the other hand, weren’t quite as easily convinced.”

“We couldn’t have always been at each other’s throats,” I commented, feeling confused. If I was close to my brothers, I had to have been somewhat close to him as well, seeing as how we were raised together.

“We definitely had our good days,” he explained. “But … I can own that I was at fault for some of the bad ones.”

Curiosity was eating me up inside. “Meaning?”

“I hold on too tight,” he admitted. When I didn’t dismiss the claim, he looked at me and laughed. “Stating the obvious, I know. Let’s just say not much has changed there. And let’s also say you’re much more gracious about it now than you were then.”

I smiled against his shoulder. “You still haven’t said how you changed my mind.”

I didn’t care that it wasn’t some fairytale, didn’t care that the story seemed to involve at least some measure of me cursing him out, I only cared that we ended up here.

“I was supposed to escort you on … an outing,” he said vaguely, leaving me to guess what he could mean. But then, he made things crystal clear. “Your father arranged for you to court the son of a Duke. They were lycans, but only other supernaturals were aware.”

I choked out a laugh, thinking of how many social cues I miss on the regular. Thinking how, once, my summer goal had been to learn how to burp the alphabet. Thinking how I had a reputation around my house as being a ‘snorter’ if I laughed too hard. So, me? Courting the son of a Duke?

“True story,” Liam smiled. “You two weren’t allowed to leave your family’s property, so he took you for a walk through one of the gardens. I had to stick close by, of course.”

I tried to imagine it, Liam sitting idly by while I walked hand-in-hand with someone else. It reminded me of his first meeting with Nick. Who would’ve thought we lived through that twice?

“The guy spent the whole time trying to outsmart me, trying to lose me so he could be alone with you, but he had no idea how persistent I can be.”

Those lips of his spread with a devilish grin after he spoke. Those lips I wanted against mine even now as he shared long-forgotten memories locked somewhere within me.

“Eventually, he gave up and settled for sitting beside you on a stone bench near the castle wall. And I held my post despite the hatred and jealousy eating me alive from the inside out.”

“What’d you do? Rip his throat out?” I teased, knowing that was his kill of choice.

He grinned again. “If doing so wouldn’t have sentenced me to death, I’m sure I would have.”

“What happened next?”

He thought back. “Well, he played it cool for a bit, but then got the bright idea that this was a good time to kiss you … and I guess we could consider that my breaking point.”

I was almost afraid to ask.

“Or … maybe we’ll say that was his jaw’s breaking point,” he corrected. “Thus, earning me the title of the most pompous, insufferable bastard you ever had the pleasure of slapping.”

Holding a hand over my mouth to stifle a laugh. “I really slapped you?”

He nodded. “Yup, and it was a good one. My cheek stung for hours.”

It was so hard to imagine us as anything but loving and affectionate toward one another. No wonder the indifference I first showed toward him wasn’t a deterrent. He’d dealt with much worse from me.

“Did you get in trouble for hurting him?” I asked.

He shook his head casually. “Not much. Your father lied to the Duke, told him he’d deal with me that evening. Basically, it just earned me an hour long lecture.”

My teeth dragged along my bottom lip as I zoned out, picturing it all like a movie playing inside my head.

“And all this led to me finally accepting my feelings for you?” I asked a bit skeptically, failing to see how it all came together.

I glanced up when Liam didn’t answer right away. Scrubbing a hand down his face, grazing his low-shaven beard as a smile ghosted on his lips. I was dying for a response.

“It did,” he went on. “I went to you later, hoping to apologize.”

“And … did you?”

His lips quirked a bit and I felt my heart flutter.

“I did,” he teased, being cryptic again. Maybe on purpose. “And you forgave me.” I blinked at him when he added, “Actually, if memory of that night serves me well … you forgave me three times.”

Heat spread across my cheeks and I breathed a deep, quivering, “Oh …” as realization set in.

There was no need to guess what he meant.

An electric pulse vibrated from my core, through my limbs just at the thought of … forgiving him.

“From that point, your father no longer had an issue finding a warrior who could put up with you, because I was permanently on the job.” White teeth flashed when he added, “You might say I was the best you ever had.”

That heat in my cheeks spread down my neck as I deciphered yet another double-meaning.

As if taking things slowly with him wasn’t already difficult enough …

My house went pitch black and I focused there again, on thoughts of a life that seemed so distant now. Liam’s arm moved to my shoulders and he held me close. Having him here, talking me through this moment, was exactly what I needed. As I guessed, my parents made their way upstairs for the evening, I stood. My eyes lingered there for a moment, on those dark windows, and I decided to find a positive takeaway from all this.

They were alive.

They were safe.

They were happy.

Liam’s story stuck with me, namely the part where he traveled home to find himself. He returned to Bahir Dar with a sense of closure that went beyond seeing himself mirrored in his people. He had closure because he realized the word “home” was relative.

My parents’ memories would never be restored, and I had to accept that. But, thanks to Liam, I still had family.

I still had love.