My adrenaline kicks in hard, and everything in me demands I tell her to get back on her feet, to help her up in the least, but the words, the actions necessary won’t seem to come.

Skyla has just bowed down to me as if I were some deity, and normally I would question her sanity, want to laugh off the idea right along with her, but at the moment we’re both serious as shit.

“You’re not allowed to worship me.” It’s true. There might be a storm of insanity brewing in my life, but having my wife lost in worship in my honor isn’t happening. I won’t let it.

Her lips twitch with the idea of a smile. Her fingers quickly work my pants open, and I can’t seem to move, don’t want to.

“Oh, Gage.” Her chest pumps with a silent laugh. “You of all people should realize how little control you have over anything.” She pulls me from my boxers and lands her mouth over me without hesitating. My eyes close, my head pulls back in ecstasy—in relief, as she rides her mouth up and down the length of my dick. “Skyla.” My fingers knit into her hair, and I clench it, pulling it as I move along to the rhythm that her mouth dictates. This is not how I envisioned this night would go. Actually, this is far better than anything I envisioned—although, in truth, it was me worshiping her, my mouth on that delicate part of her body, making her jump out of her skin with this same outrageous level of euphoria.

Skyla dips her hands into my pants and drags her fingernails down my legs, hard, and painful. Just the simple fact Skyla is dispensing the pain makes it feel sublime.

“Shit.” I groan because for whatever reason the pain works for me. Skyla pulls me into her mouth harder, suctioning me down with a ferocity that suggests she has the power to eviscerate me right through my dick. Her hand trails up, and she cups the boys with a little too much vigor and it’s game over. In one quick move, I scoop her up and pin her arms to the closet door.

Skyla’s eyes round out as if trying to absorb how swiftly I’ve managed to land us clear across the room with her arms spread wide. She struggles a moment, but I’m unrelenting with my strength.

“Are you trying to hurt me?” The words grit from me as I take in her beautiful features. Skyla is a goddess, an alien being all unto herself, and I live to worship her. My lips twitch because my thoughts are my own. Despite the fact we’re touching, flesh to beautiful flesh, I have rendered her powers inert around me. In all honesty, it’s not to protect myself so much as it is to protect her. If I knew she were listening, I’d pour out my confessions nonstop, beg for her forgiveness until she gave it, and at the rate things are going with that, it might just be never.

“Yes. I want to hurt you.” Her eyes enliven with fire. Her lips give the curve of a maniacal smile.

“Good.” I loosen my grip over her wrists. “Getting out a little physical aggression might be good for the both of us.” I teleport us to the butterfly room, Skyla beneath me, my legs pinning hers, my hands still holding her arms out like wings.

The room glows as the creatures pinned to the wall stir to life, and one by one they explode into the air around us, fluttering their own wings in shades of electric blue.

“Showoff.” She struggles to free herself, but I’m not letting go.

“You are mine, Skyla.” I swallow down the rage building in me, the hardness of my heart, my crushed and broken ego, and force them to dissolve. In truth, Skyla’s rejection of me these past few months has been far more than devastating. I thought we could rise above anything. I knew that it would be difficult to hear what I had to say, but she closed off her ears right along with her heart. And yet here we are, our love splayed out, spilling between us like oil, messy and inescapable, too slippery to embrace properly. “You will always be mine.” My fingers relax before I pull my hands to myself. I roll off, landing next to her on my back, eyes to the ceiling, an arm over my forehead in regret, without any clue on how to progress with her—my hard-on spiking into the air like a reminder of what we started.

Skyla draws herself up on her knees and pulls off her dress, waving it like a flag of surrender before tossing it across the room. “Come and get what’s yours, Gage Oliver.” She straddles me while raking my shirt open, sending buttons popping off with vigor. “Your wife has a craving that only you can satisfy.” Her chest pulsates in and out, her tits cresting the fabric of her bra, full and heavy, slowly heaving their way out. But I don’t have that kind of time on my hands. I reach up and unlatch the back, sending the girls bouncing into the air, happy to see me—and, dear God, am I ever happy to see them.

I pull her down to me, kicking off my clothes, my mouth finding its way to her soft sweet tits and my tongue makes a home over them, sucking them down into my mouth where they belong. Sorry, boys, tonight they’re mine. This is my body, my beating heart in Skyla’s tender flesh. She has me in so many ways. It’s only fair I get to have her. I ravish her with my mouth, raking up and down her body like a luge, burying my tongue deep inside her, making her quake in record time before I plunge in, no condom. I can’t stand a damn thing between us right now.

“Gage.” Skyla groans so loud, her panting pierces the air like a scream. “Are you insane?” A wild cry escapes her, and then in a moment of synchronicity, she presses me in deeper with her hands flattened against my back. “I love you.” She takes up my face in her hands, her watery eyes pouring into mine.

“I know.” I land a searing kiss over her lips before pulling back. “I love you more than there are words, Skyla. You are the other side of me. For so long I thought it was Logan of all people.” I wash her face in a long tracking kiss. “But it’s always been you, Skyla. We are connected far deeper, far stronger than any earthly union, any heavenly covenant.” I smooth the hair off her forehead. “No more words.” My body thrusts inside her. Skyla’s body is tight as hell, so hot and wet all for me, and I’m close to losing it before pulling out and coming over her belly. I fall on top of her, my mouth fused to hers, her probing tongue sweeping softly inside of me, and it feels like I’m home, like Skyla and I are back on track—as if we had never skipped a beat to begin with. Our hearts slam over one another with rage as if we incited a riot in one another, and in a way we did. We may not have had that difficult conversation that’s been strangling me by the balls for the last three months, but we don’t have to do that tonight.

She cleans up with a small burp rag from the boys before tossing it onto the floor.

“Smooth, Oliver. Good call, though.”

A dull laugh pumps through me as I dig my fingers into her hair. Skyla scoots in close, and my skin drinks down the feel of hers.

“I missed this,” I say as I blink us back to the comfort of our bed, and she bubbles with a laugh as she takes in the messy room around us. For a brief second, my eyes flit to the bookcase and latch onto that smooth stone Candace gifted us with my destiny written out in a single number, and I’m quick to look away.

“I missed this, too.” Her lips twitch like she might cry. “I vote we move forward.”

“I concur. But before we do that, I do have to say that I abhor myself for ever bringing you an ounce of grief, and I repent in dust and ashes.”

Her eyes fill with tears, and it feels as if a million years trek by slowly.

“When do you think we should have it out?” She ticks her head toward the window as if the words we need to share can only be done so outside of this sacred space, and I second that motion.

“Another time.” My finger moves to her lips, and I press into them a moment. “And I will speak, and you will listen.”

Her eyes widen at the boldness of my words.

“And you, Skyla”—I’m not done being bold by a long shot—“will tell me exactly what the hell you’re doing with Chloe.”

Her pretty pink mouth falls open, and she’s quick to close it again. She gives a little shrug, and her nipples bounce in turn. “Fair enough.”

“Really?” I’m amused and equally intoxicated by this beautiful woman in my bed. I pull her to me, chest to chest, her mouth inches from mine where it belongs. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She dots my lips with a quick kiss. “But you won’t be so thankful when you find out.”

I wince as if she struck me, partially because I know it’s true and partially because she agreed to do it in the first place.

“I appreciate your honesty.”

“You think you do—but you won’t.” Her cryptic words slice right to the bone.

The faint cry of a child comes from down the hall, and Skyla flinches.

“That’s Nathan.” Her arm crosses over my chest as she snuggles in close. “My mother has them for the night. I have enough milk pumped so they should be fine.” Nathan’s wail pierces through the wall like a knife.

“I bet Tad loves that.”

“Mom says he sleeps like a corpse until noon.”

“Noon, huh? Must be nice.” Even though I haven’t been here losing sleep right along with Skyla, I haven’t enjoyed a wink on my own. “I vote we do just that.” I bury a kiss in her hair before moving to her lips and indulging in a lingering twisted lip-lock that makes me dizzy in the process. I’m always dizzy around Skyla. For as long as I’ve known her, that I’ve known her kisses, I don’t know which way is up when I’m around her.

She moans as she pulls away just a notch, “Mom and Tad will be fumigating for termites soon. We’ll need to move out for a week at least.”

“Move out?” My thoughts run wild with places to take her and the boys. “Our house is filled to the brim with bodies. How about my parents’?” A growl emits from her, and I buck with a silent laugh. “We’ll go to Whitehorse. Logan won’t mind.”

“I’ll mind.” She lies back on the pillow, and the moonlight kisses her features with a tangerine glow. “Lexy is squatting on his couch. I can’t stand her arrogance.”

“We’ll figure it out. Lexy doesn’t have anything on you, Skyla. Don’t entertain her level of crazy. Logan isn’t going anywhere.” It should probably feel strange to entertain the idea, but it doesn’t.

Her gaze drops to my chest, and she takes in a heavy breath. “I’m not concerned about him. The only man I want, need, and demand to have in my life is right here in this bed with me.” Her gaze slowly meets with mine. “I didn’t know if we’d have this again. I didn’t expect tonight to end up this way. But I’m glad it did. I’m glad that we’re on the path to healing. I may not like the reality of what landed us in this mess to begin with, but I dislike the distance it invoked a whole lot more.” Her fingers twist into the hair at the base of my neck. “We are family, Gage. That means everything to me. We have two precious baby boys. I don’t want you to miss out on their lives. I want to share it all with you. I want everything that this beautiful union of ours has to offer.” She swallows hard as her fingers threaten to tear the hair right out of my skull. “No matter how difficult it will be to hear the words come from your lips, I have already made peace with them before they ever do. I need you to know that. This is deeper than forgiveness, Gage. I’ve wiped the slate clean on your deception, on your incessant need to protect me with your silence. You have my forgiveness before you ever ask for it. All I ask in return is the very same courtesy.”

My blood runs cold. “You’re talking about Chloe?”

She gives a faint nod as if even that was pushing it. “Our outward lives may never be the same, but there’s no difference where it counts.” Her hand touches over her heart. “Right here. You and I—we’re still Gage and Skyla. You’re my best friend. You’re not second place or some passing phase that I can’t wait to be rid of. You are my forever. And you’re right. We are the masters of our destinies. My mother gave me the green light to rebel, and you are my favorite rebellion.” Her hand slips down to my dick that’s already throbbing to take her once again. “I wondered if you’d pull out. I’m not sure I would have minded all that much if you didn’t.” She shakes her head, and a tiny laugh bubbles from her. “Those cute boys of yours cast one strong spell over me. Okay, so we should probably wait—but my point is, we’re not going anywhere. I’ve discovered something very poignant about myself, Gage.”

“What’s that?” I pull her finger to me and kiss the tip.

“I belong to you. My need to have you—to have us, transcends everything I thought I knew about love, about life, about death, regarding how I feel about the people around me.”

My heart stops beating. Does she mean Logan? For sure she means Dudley, or at least my ego wants to believe it’s so, but Logan? A part of me refuses to believe it. Not because my ego desperately wants for it to be true, but because I don’t want to hurt for Logan in that way. In the back of my mind, even I believe that she and Logan belong together. If her mother has made anything clear to me, it’s the fact I’m the unholy stumbling block in their love story. I am the stone my father threw in their path, and Skyla has simply tripped and landed into my bed for a little while.

She shakes her head. “Not true. Don’t believe your own lies, Oliver.”

“How did you do that?” I sit up on my elbow, taking her in, those crystal eyes of hers pulling me in. Skyla shouldn’t hear me. I didn’t let down my guard. There’s no way her powers have the authority to usurp mine.

“You’re right. They don’t.” An incredible sadness weighs down her features. “I guess you can say it’s sort of a loaner power gifted from you. The boys made me strong, but it’s fading. Each day these new gifts wane just a little bit more. I’m not as powerful as you are, Gage. And one day soon I will no longer be able to penetrate that minefield of secrets you have.”

“There won’t be any more secrets.” I steal a kiss from the hollow of her neck. “Let’s make a pact, Skyla”—I pick up her hand—“a covenant amongst ourselves, that we remain strong as steel.”

“Strong as the Steel Barricade?” Her smile flexes in amusement. “I like that. The impenetrable steel wall of our love. We are our own. We belong to us. They can’t have us. They can’t take what rightfully belongs to you and to me.”

“Our love is strong as steel, as relentless as time, as stubborn as death. We are one life, you and I. We cannot be broken.”

“Our love is strong as steel.” Her fingers rake across my back until I’m over her, balancing my weight on my elbows, careful not to crush her.

“To a new beginning,” I whisper over her lips.

“The portal to forever.”

Forever. That’s exactly how long our love will last.

And for the first time for as long as I can remember, I don’t feel Logan’s shadow hovering over our bed. Logan has dissipated, evaporated into the past, dissolved into the atmosphere like some long-dead ghost. It’s just Skyla and I—destiny can approve or disapprove. It doesn’t really matter. We’re happening. And we always will be.

* * *

A hard knock emits over the door, and I pull Skyla in even tighter like a reflex. My mind floats easily back into a dream as my body gives way to thick, delicious sleep once again.

Pressured knocking picks up again as my lids struggle to pry themselves open. Skyla takes a deep, audible breath, pressing her bare bottom into my stomach, and I bury a kiss in her hair.

“Skyla?” Lizbeth’s voice resonates clear as if she were in the room, and I force myself to wake the hell up. “Oh, my! Is that you, Gage?”

I give a few tired blinks, and Lizbeth’s disembodied head seems to be floating over the dresser. It takes a moment for me to realize she’s burst through the door and moved the dresser over a few inches as she tries to muscle her way into the room.

“Mother!” Skyla pulls a pillow over her head and gives a sharp scream.

“I can’t believe this!” Lizbeth’s face lights up red as a Valentine heart. “My God, is this real? I wished for this to happen. I mean, I prayed. Heck, I even saw that father of yours and fell on my knees for him to do something for God’s sake—but this?” Her gaze rides down the length of me, and her mouth falls open once she hits pay dirt.

I glance down to find the sheets wrapped around Skyla’s chest, the rest of them off the bed, leaving my own body as naked as the day I was born. And shit. Is she staring at my crotch?

“Wow.” Her fingers tap over her lips a moment, but those eyes are still firmly pinned to my dick. “Just wow. Gage Oliver…” She staggers unsteady on her feet.

“We’ll be down in a minute.” I sit up and casually pull the pillow from Skyla’s face and land it on my lap.

“Oh, Skyla.” She shakes her head at her mortified daughter. “I’ve always known you were a lucky girl. But this?”

Skyla beams a tiny stuffed elephant at her mother, and Lizbeth vacates the premises, shutting the door behind her.

“I’ll make brunch!” she shouts from the other side. “Take your time! Get back to whatever it is you were doing!”

“Aww, sick,” a faint female voice rises alongside hers. One of Skyla’s sisters no doubt.

Skyla falls against my chest and gives my leg a light scratch. “Welcome to my fabulous life.”

“It is fabulous.” I pull her up and steal a kiss off her lips. “It’s our life, and I’m damn glad to be in it.”

“You are?” Her clear eyes tear up, making them shine ten times brighter. Skyla is the only person I know that has a shooting star buried in her eyes. She’s magnificent, spectacular, and has the power to take my breath away with something as innocuous as a question.

“I am.” I pull her over me, and her body molds to mine. “How about we hit that brunch, then maybe we can get the boys and get lost for a few hours?”

She looks up, and her wild hair fans out over my face. “Sorry.” She brushes it away with a soft giggle locked in her throat. “How about first I make your day?” Her knee grazes over my balls.

“I’m afraid our powers combined aren’t enough to barricade your mother from the bedroom. I had that door locked.” I wince at the thought of Skyla deep-throating me and Lizbeth providing the cheering section.

“Who said anything about the bedroom?” Her fingers drip down my chest until they hit home, and my entire body comes to life at her touch. “I’m in need of a serious shower—and after last night, so are you.”

I don’t debate it. In one quick move, I pick her up and land us in the bathroom. Before too long, the relaxing spray of nice hot water rains down over us. Skyla leans back and lets the water dissolve her wooly mane to a sleek blonde waterfall running over her shoulders. The water beads off her flesh, off her beautiful lips, and it’s in this moment I decide that Skyla is mine in this life and after it. Life cannot stop the two of us from being together, and I’m not letting death stop it either. It’s a peculiar thought for a peculiar day, but a blessed day—a new beginning. I pull her in close, my hard-on already close to home where it needs to be.

“I love you,” I whisper, my lids hanging heavy at the sight of my gorgeous wife with the steam rising around her as if venerating her beauty. “Go ahead”—a dull smile comes to my lips—“make my day.”

Skyla drops to her knees and does just that.

* * *

About an hour later, Skyla and I sail downstairs with a spring in our steps, my entire body one hundred percent satisfied, and my antenna already going up in hopes to get more of the same later tonight.

“Here they are!” Lizbeth howls from the kitchen. Tad is seated at the table with a paper clutched in his hands, and he curls down a corner long enough to grunt. His left arm is still sticking straight out in a splint, still healing from the burn he endured a few months back, and I feel for the guy. Drake and Bree are seated at the bar, each with a matching bowl of cereal, the hot pink box acting as a partition between them. But my gaze goes straight to the family room floor where Mia and Melissa each hold a beautiful bouncing, happy to see us baby boy.

“Hey, little dude.” Mia hands me Barron, and I scoop Nathan from Melissa. “God, I’ve missed you guys.” I pepper both their faces with a spray of kisses. I’ve seen the boys every single day, but this day, with our family back intact, it feels as if I’m home from a long hiatus that I never want to repeat.

Nathan gives a hearty deep chuckle while gripping my hair at the temple, and I can’t help but land a kiss right over his sharp little dimple. Barron grunts and kicks and slaps the crap out of my face, and the room breaks out into laughter.

“So—you’re back, like for good? Or was this just some dirty booty call?” Melissa’s lip twitches with a look of disgust.

“I’m back.”

She scoffs to her sister. “Guess it’s time to get those earmuffs handy again.”

“Are you kidding?” Mia dusts herself off as she staggers to her feet. “I employed mine last night right after I heard the first slam of the headboard.”

Tad struts over, looking his usual disgruntled self. “Neither of you needs earmuffs because I paid a king’s ransom to make sure none of us would have to deal with that disgusting dirty noise pollution.”

It’s true. A while back, Tad had the walls soundproofed by way of carpeting, and it’s been a blight to look at ever since. Another reason I need to get my act together and get my family the hell out of Dodge.

“I heard nothing.” Melissa grunts while glancing to my crotch.

“Well, I heard everything!” Mia spasms into my ear. “Why don’t the two of you pick up stakes and find somewhere else to do the nasty?”

“Mia!” Lizbeth waves her off with a flick of the wrist before scooping Barron out of my arms. “Believe you me, not one thing these two do in that bed of theirs qualifies as nasty—or dirty or disgusting, Tad Landon! Leave the lovebirds alone, would you?” She offers me a quick wink before nodding for Skyla and me to follow her to the kitchen. “Come check out the little project the boys and I worked on all night long.”

Rows and rows of parchment paper line the counter with hundreds of white chalky looking deformed cookies.

Tad steps over and pops a couple into his mouth and audible crunching ensues.

“Would you stop!” Lizbeth smacks him over the wrist. “Those are made of plaster!”

Tad spits them onto the floor so fast it looks like vomit.

“Crap.” Skyla takes Barron from me and shields his eyes. “What are those? They look—weird.”

“Vaginas!” Lizbeth says it just above a whisper, and Beau pops up from between her legs.

“Bagina! Bagina!” His cheeks are pinched pink, and judging by that mile wide grin of his, bagina is his new favorite word.

“Oh hush, you!” Lizbeth is light with the reprimand. “Go check on Misty and Ember for me.”

“No!” Beau ratchets up his pitching arm and smacks Lizbeth square on the bottom, and the room lights up with the sound. I know Beau has been a bit testy lately, but smacking his grandmother over the ass should be the line in the sand. I glance to Drake, but he’s all but drowning in his cereal bowl.

“Bree!” Skyla gasps at both Bree and Drake who lazily make their way over. “And, Mom, really? Vaginas?” she practically mouths the word.

“Yes!” Her eyes light up. “Chloe was right.” Crap. I should have known Chloe was instrumental in this anatomical lunacy. “I did a little research, and they’re all the rage right now. Look at this.” She pulls one from the corner painted a light pink with a tiny little pearl buried right in that magic spot.

Shit. I lean in to get a better look, and holy hell, it’s anatomically correct with every last crease and fold. Nathan does his best to snatch one, and I quickly move him out of range. It’s not your time, buddy.

Lizbeth holds it out for Skyla and me. “It’s beautiful, don’t you think?” She pulls it to her chest as if to model it. “And the best part is the boys helped make them.” She gives Nathan a quick tickle. “Isn’t that right, Punky-Poo!”

“Helped make them?” Skyla looks as if she’s about to be sick, and I’m right there with her. “Don’t say that.” She twists the baby away from her mother, and he breaks out into a deep hearty chuckle. “My boys did no such thing.”

“Oh, but they did!” Her eyes light up with insanity as she clasps Barron by the ankle. “How do you think I got the shape so uniform? I used the boys’ feet to create a cast. And don’t you worry. I made sure to include my Nate Nate, too!” She gives Nathan’s toe a quick pinch, and he laughs while kicking her like a donkey.

“Shit,” I hiss under my breath. “You’re kidding, right?”

Drake lets out a honk of a laugh. “Brings new meaning to pussyfooting around, doesn’t it!”

Brielle lets out a cackle as she joins in on the fun. “Brings new meaning to family jewels!” She dots her finger over the pearl embedded at Lizbeth’s clitoral craft.

“Oh my loving God.” Skyla’s face pinches with color as rage percolates to the top of her eyeballs, and once again I’m right there with her, glaring at my mother-in-law without meaning to.

“You’re all sick in the head!” Mia snaps a few pictures of the rows and rows of unpainted pussies lying out like the latest bakery confections. “And now the world is going to know it, too!” Melissa joins her on a snapping spree, and I’m quick to wave my hand over the evidence.

“Would you knock it off?” I bark so loud the room rattles. “Delete that shit right now! These are my boys, and nobody is going to damage them like this.” God. Don’t they know things live on the Internet forever? The last thing I want is my boys being mercilessly called pussies for the rest of their days because of one irresponsible night with their grandmother of all people.

“Ha!” Tad pokes a finger into my chest. “You don’t get to talk to my girls that way. You watch that filthy, disgusting mouth of yours, Gregory! Or I’ll land you on your ear in five seconds flat!”

“You have the nerve to call me filthy and disgusting? Take a look at your wife’s latest offerings!”

A gasp comes from behind, presumably the wife in question.

“Whoa, dude.” Drake pulls me over to the fridge as if to defuse the situation.

But Tad’s not done with me yet. He comes at me with his finger wagging. “My wife is making a killing with this nonsense, and I don’t need your dirty mouth, or your ridiculous judgments making things harder for her. If she’s content whittling unmentionable parts, then I back her up one hundred percent.”

I glance back to Lizbeth with her hand on her chest, clearly melting at her husband’s sudden spurt of devotion.

“Okay.” I do my best to shrug it off, but I end up shuddering instead. “Then I’m good with it, too.” My cheek tugs to the side because I’m still not sure if I just spouted off the truth. “Just leave my kids out of it. Recast those things with Tad’s feet, and I’ll have no problem with it.”

A collective groan works through the room at the thought of large, overgrown, malodorous delicate female parts.

“Now that’s nonsense.” Lizbeth picks up Misty who just strolled in, and I can’t help but notice the resemblance between her and the boys. Damn Demetri, spraying his genetics all over the place. “I’ll use this precious angel and Ember. Their feet will be more than happy to serve. Besides, that way we can get some real feminine energy going.”

Mia balks at the idea. “The only place you’ll get those girls going is straight into the arms of social services. You’re nuts if you think employing two minors into your quasi-sex trade is a good idea.”

“Would you stop!” Lizbeth barks. “It is not a sex trade! You’re always so dramatic, Mia.”

“That’s right!” Tad pulls his pants up clear to his chest. “This is sex for money! We’re not giving anything away in this family—especially not our feet!”

Drake gives me a quick sock to the arm as he nods me a few feet into the family room. “The old lady and I are tying the knot, and I need you to step up as best man. Got it?”

I blink over at him, trying to digest what the hell he just said, but my eyes go straight to that widow’s peak buried in the center of this forehead. As intrusive as it is, it’s almost impressive. My head spins, still lost in Tad’s sex trade argument that quickly went south. I glance back to Skyla because I’d swear Drake and Bree tied the knot a long time ago, and I catch Lizbeth pulling her in.

“And my God—the length of him!” Lizbeth looks up, and our eyes meet for a few uncomfortable seconds.

Bree breaks out into a high-pitched laugh. “There’s a reason we called him the baseball bat in high school.” Leave it to Bree to evict any secrecy from their powwow.

“I’m done with this conversation.” Skyla stalks over, visibly irritated, and Barron’s dark hair wafts in the breeze, light as feathers. “What’s this about a best man?”

Brielle jumps three feet in the air. “The cat’s out of the bag! We’re getting married!”

“You are married,” Skyla flatlines, and I rub my shoulder against hers in a show of solidarity. Knew it.

“Not officially,” Bree snarks back. “Plus, we’re doing it right this time. Lots of money is being spent in the honor of our big day.” She bats her lashes up at her prospective and current groom before turning to Skyla. “I thought to myself, why does Laken get to have you as her maid of honor? Why isn’t my bestie my freaking maid of honor? And then I remembered how lame it was that we just took off and eloped. I’m really sorry about that.” She bites her lip while posturing toward my wife. “But I’m going to make it all up to you now. I’ve already talked to Logan about letting us have the ceremony at Silent Cove on the Fourth of July, and we’ll have fireworks and cake, and the whole nine—”

Skyla cuts her off, “Laken yards. Wow. Are you sure you want to venture into copycat waters? We can do something really nice right here at the house.”

Tad gags from behind. “Don’t you think about it, son! I’ve got a good mind to put an end to all the freeloading that takes place around here.”

“Keep your cool, Pops.” Drake slaps him hard over the back, and Tad’s rigid extension salutes the ceiling. “Logan and I squared things away. And don’t worry. You raised me right. I offered him top dollar to have my ass hitched on his property.”

Tad shakes his face at Mach 5 as if coming to. “Top dollar? While, I’ll give you the entire Landon estate for half!” His face is still powdered with those plaster pussies he tried to shove down his throat.

“No, thanks.” Bree scowls at her father-in-law with a look of nausea. Not that I can blame her. “I’m doing it right. I want an evening wedding with all my friends and family present. Ellis is helping me score some entertainment through his dad’s connections. We’re talking big names here. I don’t even recall dancing at Laken’s mediocre beach bash.”

Skyla frowns at her best friend. “Just make sure you’re doing this for the right reasons. That would be for you and Drake. Don’t let what Laken does with her life dictate yours.”

“I don’t want to talk about that ho anymore.” Bree swats Beau away as he circles near her legs. “What’s important is that my bestie and I get back on track. And guess what, missy? You get to plot out my bachelorette party!”

“Oh joy.” Skyla looks up at me.

“And, dude”—Drake nails me in the arm with his fist—“you get to plan my last night of freedom.”

I glance to Skyla, and we share a quiet smile. “Drake, I’m really flattered, but shouldn’t you ask Ethan to fill these big shoes? I’m down if he’s out—but he is your brother.”

“Oh shit.” He ticks his head back a notch with a stumped look on his face. “I’d better ask. I’d hate to piss the dude off.” He struts off toward Ethan’s room and barrels on in without knocking. “Dude, get off that chick—we’ve got a wedding to plan.”

Great. I put a half-hearted effort into covering Nathan’s eyes. “Maybe we should take off for a bit?” Like forever, I want to add, but I’m betting the boys are better off with the nutcases that run this asylum than in a house full of corpses—although at this point it’s debatable.

“I agree.” Skyla gives Bree a quick hug. “Congrats. Let’s get together soon. Between your upcoming nuptials and Ezrina’s new baby, we’re going to have a busy year.”

“Don’t forget these boys.” I jostle Nathan between the two of us, and he reaches out and grabs ahold of his brother’s hand. “It’s a whole year of firsts for these little guys.”

“That’s right.” Bree gives Nathan’s nose a quick thump. “First smile, first laugh, first kiss—heck, these boys even got a little pussy this year.”

“And that’s the last time we’re going to mention it.” I twist Nathan out of her reach. “Skyla, let’s get out of here.”

“It couldn’t be fast enough.”

Or long enough.

* * *

Skyla and I load the boys into the minivan and drive down the long gray tongue of the island with no real rhyme or reason other than getting as far away as possible from the lunacy the Landon house has to offer. I’d take her to Whitehorse, but a part of me doesn’t want to see Logan just yet. I’d take her to my house, but I know Skyla isn’t up for seeing my mother. Our own home is ironically off the short list since it’s temporarily doubling as a glorified holding tank for the cemetery castoffs. And, of course, there’s Dudley’s, and well—Dudley is there. But there is one place.

“How about Rockaway?” she asks as if reading my mind, and the thought sets me slightly on edge.

“Rockaway it is. Home sweet home.” The turnoff comes up next, and I take it. Soon the evergreens give way to ebony-colored sand, the hard line of navy waters just beyond its borders. “This feels like home to me.”

“Too bad we couldn’t live in that hut you built. I think we’d need to add on a nursery if we did.”

I glance in the rearview mirror to find the boys both fast asleep—a miracle in and of itself.

“Looks like the boys aren’t too interested in visiting the hut just yet.”

A light sprinkle sizzles over the windshield as I pull in as close to the sand as possible.

“Hut or no hut, this is perfect.” Skyla takes up my hand as we watch the waves crashing over themselves, white with anger as they roar their fury onto shore. “This is where you asked me to marry you.” She bites down hard on her lip. “This has always been our place, hasn’t it?”

“It’s a beautiful place—a perfect place to call our own.” I pull her hand forward and kiss my grandmother’s ring still firmly on her finger. During this entire nightmare, Skyla always had it on, and that alone gave me all the hope I needed.

“I couldn’t do it.” Her eyes look to the ring as she holds it between us. “I tried, but I didn’t have it in me to take it off. I thought we were over, but I guess my heart knew otherwise.” Her fingers graze through the scruff on my chin a moment.

“I saw that stone last night.” My throat tightens as I struggle to get the words out. That stone Candace sent down—all but threw at my head last December comes to mind. She said it had my number on it, the exact remainder of my time here on the planet. “It was on the bookshelf, but I couldn’t help but think it was mocking me.”

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I swear, I would flush the thing down the toilet if I could. In fact, we should go back and get it right now and pitch it into the sea.”

“No.” A tired laugh stumps through me. “I swear, it’s fine. It’s just—I thought maybe we should talk about it. Seven—the number.” Our eyes lock, and a shiver runs through me at the thought of verbalizing anything that demonic stone had to say. It feels as if I’ve unleashed a celestial dragon, and in an irony too big to wrap my head around, I am in fact that horrific serpent.

Skyla takes a ragged breath at the idea of what that number might mean.

I bring her hand to my lips and press in a kiss. “We’ve passed up seconds, minutes, hours, weeks, so I guess we’ll know in July if it’s months, and if not, it must be years.”

“Decades,” she’s quick to counter. “It will be decades. My mother knows how much you mean to the boys and me.”

“Decades.” I press my head back into the seat and try to digest it. There’s no way Candace would gift me a blessing that big, and seven more decades with Skyla as my wife would be exactly that, a blessing.

She shakes her head with tears wobbling, threating to tumble forth into the world, but she’s slow to let them fall. “Let’s move on. I hate that stone. I hate a lot of things.” She swallows hard. “Why did you do it—the covenant with Demetri? I’m ready to listen.” Skyla holds my gaze, heavy as the sea, as angry as those sooted clouds darkening the skies.

I glance back to the boys one last time. Still sound asleep. In a way, this is the perfect moment to bare my soul with all parties present and accounted for. The rain pounds over the windshield and the air in the van sours.

“You know that I love you”—my voice hitches as I force my gaze to seal over hers—“that I would do anything for the boys. When I broke faith with the Barricade, the penalty was that someone I hold dear would take my place in my father’s wicked world.” My eyes flit to the raging sea for a moment, the whitewash beating the shore. I feel that much rage and more at the thought of Demetri’s wicked world. “At the time, I couldn’t imagine who that would be—so I agreed.” My eyes close, and I’m transported right back to the stone of sacrifice where Demetri set my universe on fire. “The night the boys were born I don’t know who or what detained me, but I tried to move heaven and hell to get to you, Skyla. God, I did.” My head taps against the seat as tears come to the party, and I sniff them back. “When I held Barron—I heard him.” My voice breaks as I burst through this dam of emotions. “I heard him as if he were in the room with me.”

“Heard who, Gage?” Her voice quivers, and she leans in close. Skyla slides over and squeezes onto my lap. Her cool hands clasp over my face. “Who?”

“Demetri.” It’s as if I’m back there, in that room, holding my precious son for the very first time. “It was Barron he was after.” My face falls into my hand, and I pinch my eyes closed, trying my hardest to get a grip, to stop crying like a pussy and take it like a man. “I knew then what I had to do, Skyla. I needed to take his place. Demetri can have me—but he can’t have my boys.”

Tears sit frozen in her eyes, unable to fall, paralyzed by the truth. “Gage.” My name expires from her lungs like the hiss of a train pulling from the station, and in a way it is. The definition of who we are has long since left the platform. We have derailed, left the world as we once knew it. In truth, I had left back in November. It’s just now Skyla is joining me on this runaway train to hell. “You are my hero.” Her voice is hoarse, a mere whisper, an idea of what it could be. “I’m sorry about the pain I’ve caused, the hurt.”

“No.” My finger lands over her lips, harder than I meant for it to, but the idea of Skyla apologizing to me is sacrilegious. It is also the very last thing in the world I want. “You had every right. I wanted to tell you.” A watershed of tears warm my face. “But I didn’t want Demetri’s madness to ruin those precious first moments we had with the boys. He gave me an ultimatum. I had to commit the night of the christening or the deal was off the table.” Our eyes lock, our shared anger fuses in a stream of unification. “And that’s what you saw that night.” My voice shakes with rage at what’s become of me. “As much as I want to blame myself for getting in the mess to begin with”—I shake my head at the idea—“I’m certain he would have found another way. It just so happens that I made it easy for him.”

“Then we’ll make it hard.” She grips my hands and holds them between us. “This is the springtime of our rebellion.”

“There is no rebellion for me, Skyla. I’ve accepted my fate. You are looking at the face of your enemy. I can fight it, but it will be tough. Then slowly as time goes on, my heart, my ideals will bend to the will of my father.”

“And if that happens, I will defeat you,” Skyla says it soft, quiet, with such love in her eyes, it erases any doubt that we could ever truly be enemies. Our love has transcended anything that might bog us down ever again. Even if she grew to despise me, love would still be there like an undercurrent.

“You are well able.” It’s true. Skyla has the ability, the mental fortitude, and stamina needed to defy any form of evil thrust in her path. In my worst state of being, I would simply be a stump for her to step over on her journey to greatness. I have no doubt about that. “And that is what waits for me.”

“Don’t buy into it, Gage.” Her lips linger over mine, hot and dripping with our shared tears. “Please, no. You’re strong. Your strength is what gives us hope. Look at you now. You’re here with me. We’re still Gage and Skyla. See? Nothing has changed.”

“It wouldn’t for now. None of this takes place with me in the natural.” I look into the eyes of my precious wife, the girl I’ve worshiped ever since she was nothing more than a figment of my visions. “The truth is, Skyla—I’m worth more to Demetri dead than I am alive. I am a dead man walking. Expect my death, Skyla.” My thumb wipes the tears from her cheek. “It will be upon us soon.”