We were all sleeping together in Gordon’s basement. There were beds down there. I’d checked on the girls, who slept soundly upstairs, then joined my guys in the basement. Ren slept in one of the smaller beds, his head rolled to the side, his eyes glued closed. He breathed. The guys were so still in the co-joined sleep that it never ceased to scare me, just a little.

What if he didn’t wake up?

Lennon touched my cheek. “We all woke up. He will, too. Wanting you like he can’t breathe, but that will pass—or at least become manageable.”

Wayne came down the stairs, he looked around the room, his gaze stopping on Ren. “Lucky bastard.” He grinned. “Save the best for last, Mika.”

He was so cute. “I haven’t had an order I’m following. It’s just happening as it’s happening.”

“You’ve had no alone time with her,” Gordon pointed out. “And unfortunately, you’re not getting it now either. She needs sleep. We all do. Tomorrow, there are things to do.”

Wayne kicked off his shoes. “Tomorrow she is going with me to Peachtree.”

What was Peachtree? “Which is what?”

Lennon smiled. “A beautiful place by the water.”

“And why are we going there?” I asked as Wayne yawned and crawled into bed next to me. Gordon took the spot on my other side. That was right. As much as possible, I had to sleep with two of them with me. Technically, it would be four of them tonight. Lennon plopped down across the room in a smaller bed.

Wayne finally answered. “To my mother’s grave. If that’s not too… depressing. I actually kind of like it there. I thought I would introduce you.”

I touched the side of his face. “If you’d like to bring me, I’d be happy to go.”

He nodded. “Thanks.”

Gordon tapped on my hip. “Close those brown eyes, and get some sleep. No emergency tonight. We used to hang out here when we were kids. Sometimes I wouldn’t even know they were all here. I’d go to bed and wake up in the morning to all four of them climbing up the stairs. Then Ren moved in. We started sleeping down here more than upstairs. Dad just rolled with it. Neil sometimes didn’t want to make the long walk to school. So he’d stay. Lennon well…”

Across the room, he laughed. “Needed long breaks from my family.”

Wayne nodded. “And sometimes I just wanted to give my parents some time alone. They had little of that, mom being so sick. Then afterward, sometimes he just wanted to be alone. He’d never have said that. I knew anyway. Gordon lost his mom, but he was so young it wasn’t as sad here.”

“Dad did the best he could. He loved everyone here.” Gordon’s voice was low. They were all tired. Just because I was wired from everything being new, the co-joining, and the choices I had to make didn’t mean that they weren’t overwrought from coming home from years away.

I checked on Neil. He was awake, tired too, happy but lonely. He missed us.

I sent him some love, hoping he received it. When he did, his energy increased a little bit. I smiled. Gordon closed his eyes. I watched him for a second then looked away, letting him have his rest undisturbed. Wayne put an arm over me, holding me tightly.

“Kick me if I snore.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m never going to kick you. I might gently encourage you to roll over. I doubt it will bother me. I like being close. I was alone for so long. On that dark road.”

He touched the slope of my nose. “What was it like?”

“Awful.” I shook my head. I didn’t want to bring it here. “But this is better.”

Behind me, Gordon breathed deeply, and across the room Lennon did the same. I could feel their contentment. Sleep was what they needed. Neil was wide awake. How far could I push through the link? I’d sent him love, could I suggest he go to sleep? No, it didn’t work like that.

Wayne’s gaze caressed my face with its warmth. “Is there a place for me in there? In your mind?”

“A big gaping hole where you are supposed to be.”

As though speaking the words made them true, I was deep inside Wayne’s mind, in his memory. He watched me, from behind the bars of the back gate at the Sisterhood. I was fighting the chaos demon. Dead bodies were rising up. His heart was in his throat. He wanted to do something even as he understood there was nothing he could manage that would assist me in that moment.

He thought I was so beautiful. My mind stuttered. Really? Then? When my hair was standing on edge and I looked like something out of a nightmare, my eyes glowing, my body aflame. I didn’t think I was beautiful. Yet, he did.

I was thrown back into my body. His eyes were white. My last link. I sighed. My mind was full. I’d needed him there.

“Wayne.”

He pulled my hand. “Come.”

I scooted out of the bed. Gordon muttered something but didn’t stir. I followed Wayne from the room. Where were we going? He took me around the corner and down the hall to a large washroom. I hadn’t known this was here. I’d cleaned up earlier upstairs in the one where the girls slept.

A huge bath was displayed in the center of the room. Wayne turned a lever, and I realized it was a bigger version of the machine that Gordon had made me in the Sisterhood. It would heat the bath quickly.

“This was the first one Gordon ever made. He destroyed this bathroom five times before he got it right. Javier has patience beyond which I can imagine.”

I grinned at him. “You want to take a bath.”

“I know how you feel about hot water.”

He was right. I loved nothing more than a warm bath. Wayne filled the tub then pulled off his shirt. I stood back, admiring the outline of abdomen muscles and the way a splash of dark hair traveled just up to his belly button. He was a beautiful man.

“I felt that.” He rocked back on his feet. “You admiring me.”

I turned off my link to the others. This was just for us. “Easy to admire, Wayne. You’re incredible, inside and out. I know this wasn’t the life you would have chosen. Thank you for doing this with me.”

“What are you talking about?” He extended his hand, and I took it, letting him draw me to him.

“You told me back at the Sisterhood you couldn’t spend your life in violence, that you couldn’t choose this.”

He winced. “That was just after the chaos demon. I was stunned. You were so beautiful, you saw that, and I felt so useless. Do I wish I could keep you safe? Stay here? Hold your hand? Make love to you? Draw you hot baths? Never see another demon? Sure. I think all of us feel that way. That doesn’t mean I would do anything any differently. I’m sorry if you thought I didn’t want this. I want to be with you, however that comes.”

His sadness and worry hit me hard. “Wayne…”

He kissed me, gently. “Did you not bond with me because you thought I didn’t want you?”

“What?” I took his cheeks in my hand. “I bonded with you the second we were alone together, and we weren’t really alone. I love you. I fell in love with you first, if you want to know the truth. That night when you took care of me after the chaos demon. You were so sweet, so gentle. I… just fell head over heels for you. I didn’t blame you for not wanting this. Who would? I…”

“Mika.” His voice shook. “I want this. All of it. I want to be on this journey with you. Every second of it. Please don’t ever think otherwise.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him, starting at his chin and moving up to his mouth. He sighed against the caress. The hair on the back of his neck was soft, and I ran my hands through it. He pulled back just a bit. “How about that bath?”

I stepped away from him just enough to pull my clothes off. His eyes widened, and his cheeks tinged pink. “By divinity, Mika, you’re so beautiful.”

“Did I embarrass you? I guess I thought you wanted me naked since we were getting in the water…” I let my voice trail off. Was there more to say?

He shook his head. “No, I want you very, very naked. I mean this naked. There isn’t more naked than this. I… I don’t have all that much experience with this. I was waiting for you, I think, in my heart. I’ll probably never stop getting a thrill when I see you undressed. I’m not smooth. I can’t help it. I’m sincere.”

“I wouldn’t want you any other way. I want you as you are, by my side, always.”

He stepped out of his pants and picked me up, carrying me into the hot water with him. It was almost too heated, but I adjusted, my muscles relaxing. The tub was huge, we both fit in it, although snugly. Too much moving around and one of us, probably me because he was going to co-join into dreamland, would have to clean up the water.

“Wayne, it occurs to me that if you pass out into co-joined sleep in the tub, you might drown.”

He nodded. “I’ll get out the second I’m tired. I promise.” He was quiet for a second. “I want to give you pleasure, Mika. Is there a way you really like it?”

I’d never really thought about it. I was new to this, too. The others had promised me I would enjoy it and I had. I lay against his chest, my rear end pressed against his hardening groin. I took his hand in mine, guiding it toward my entrance and to that spot of nerves that loved to be rubbed so much during penetration.

I did love to have it touched. I wanted Wayne’s fingers to touch me there. “Feel that?”

“Hmm.” His noise was affirmative, so I leaned further against him, letting my neck go slack. At first, he stroked it gently but the more he touched me the more friction he gave me. The water made it harder but Wayne’s steady touches compensated. I stopped analyzing it after that. Jolts of pleasure traveled up and down my spine and before long I was moaning with each circular movement he made. Yes, this was exactly what I liked, exactly what I wanted.

My body moved without me consciously thinking about it. I rubbed my ass against his cock, and he moaned in time with me. He almost sounded pained, and I understood the sentiment. There was a mix of pain with this pleasure. By divinity, I needed completion. This was the sweetest of torture.

I pushed back against him harder, and he moaned even louder. His noises were hot, and they made me want this even more. Water splashed. I didn’t care, not even a bit. Wayne bit down on my shoulder, and I exploded against his fingers. It was fantastic, but it wasn’t enough.

I turned fast, feeling energetic not languid. I straddled him, sliding him inside of me. He cried out as I took him in, balls deep. He threw his head back against the tub. “Fuck. Sorry. Mika, I’m not going to last long. Oh wow. I…”

I kissed him. I didn’t need anything else, just him. He had nothing he needed to do except come deep inside of me. My body buzzed from what we’d just done, and it didn’t take long until my muscles clenched against him. I wanted more. Oh, yes. Please. I came a second time without realizing I was going to. My body trembled. Wayne followed after me, emptying himself until he panted from it. We stared at each other, and he finally beamed at me.

“I love you, Wayne.”

I really, really did.

I woke up later in bed, tucked between the now quite unconscious Wayne and Gordon who had rolled, still asleep, to embrace me when I’d climbed back into the bed. Wayne had been alert enough to clean up the water in the bathroom, and then we’d both fallen asleep back in the darkness of the bedroom Javier had made for these guys when they’d been young.

I was glad to get to share it with them now.

Neil’s arrival was what woke me up. He came down the stairs quietly in the dark and stopped at the end of my bed, touching my foot. I leaned back on my elbows. “Hi there. Missed you.”

He squeezed me again. “I’m going to take the bed in the corner. Couldn’t sleep so far away from you. My parents will come by in the morning or maybe mid-day. I needed to be here.”

“I’m so glad that you are.” I really meant that. Now that he was here, everything was just better. “Ren and Wayne are knocked out for a while.”

Gordon grumbled next to me. “But Lennon and I are not.” He stood, getting off the bed. “Crawl in with Mika. That kind of walk in the dark means you get her the rest of the night. Glad you didn’t fall in the dark.”

Neil kicked off his shoes and crawled in next to me. He smelled like the woods and felt a little cool from being outside. I listened as Gordon readjusted across the room and closed my eyes. They were all here. I needed them. I would never let them go.

I dreamed of the fire. A drumbeat filled the night, and I whirled around. My guards were there but they weren’t statues. They stood watching me.

“Mika?” Neil called out my name. “What is happening?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. You’re really here with me. That’s different.”

“We’re always here,” Wayne answered. “Just most of the time, we can’t communicate with you. Did you all go here when you co-joined?”

“No.” Gordon turned to him. “Or maybe. I have no memory of that dream state.”

Ren walked toward me, his eyebrows coming up when he did. “I can actually move.”

Lennon spun around, staring in all directions. “What is going on?”

“The drum beats for all of us, Sister Mika.” I knew the voice of the woman speaking to me. The true Sister Superior, the voice of the divine, the one who chose all of us. I’d not seen her in so long. The spirits rarely spoke to me, and the Sister herself never made an appearance. “You made quite a proclamation when you declared you would keep your vision. You were heard. What now, Mika? Teagan cannot see you anymore. What you do now will turn everything. Choose wisely, but choose.”

Neil’s arms came around me, and soon I was surrounded by my five. The Sister raised her eyebrows. “They would defend you from me?”

“They would defend me from anything.”

The smallest smile crossed her mouth. “Then we chose wisely. I knew we had. Reed makes grand mistakes, and then he turns around and makes the absolute right decisions. You speak for divinity now, you, Anne, Teagan. The others. We’re all counting on you to be the women we know you to be.”

I sat up in bed, looking wildly around. Neil’s eyes flew open, and he grabbed my hand bringing it to his mouth. Feet hit the floor in the room, and soon Lennon and Gordon were surrounding the bed. We all breathed hard. Wayne and Ren hadn’t stirred, so whatever that was it hadn’t interrupted their needed rest from the co-joining.

“What do you suppose that meant?” I looked between the three of them.

“It felt sort of…” Neil cleared his throat. “Like she was proud of you. At first, the whole scene was threatening. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. Then it changed.”

I scooted off the bed. I needed to move. “She’s not threatening. She’s loving. That was the most extreme I can remember seeing her. Not that I remember much. I don’t. Just a sense of she loved us. She cried when she told me it was time to go. She wished us well. I don’t think she’d hurt anyone.”

I let the three of them hold me together. All would be well. It had to be.

Ren stumbled up the stairs when we were in the middle of breakfast. It turned out that Javier cooked, too. Every time I finished eating, he refilled my plate. “I’m absolutely stuffed.”

He shook his head. “Gordon, your wife has to eat more. She does important work.”

Wife. I stopped at the word and looked at my plate. The other Sisters with Anne who had guards called their guards husbands. But I didn’t know how or why that had happened. They loved me, and we were forever. That much I knew.

Gordon took my hand in his. “It’s that and then some, Dad. But you might want to give me the chance to propose before you have us married.”

Ren poured himself some hot tea. “Wait till Wayne gets up. Looks like you two co-joined while I was asleep. Then we’ll ask.”

They were going to ask? I sat straighter in my chair. “Really?”

Neil sat forward. “Maybe you should eat more.”

The girls came chattering down the stairs. Had there ever been a more perfect morning? Neil’s parents arrived and visited for a while. They were quiet but kind. His mother hugged me tightly when she left, and his father shook my hand, not once but twice. Unlike Lennon’s parents, they were kind. Wayne eventually made his way upstairs and collapsed in a chair in the living room. He looked a little dazed.

“Did you get up too soon?”

He raised his head. “I hate lying around.”

“He really does.” Ren nudged my foot, and I looked back over at Wayne who had fallen right back to sleep in the chair. Ren laughed. “Wayne thinks he can fight magical sleep? Looks like it’s divinity, one, Wayne, zero.”

By mid-afternoon, everyone was awake. I wanted to see the tree, but I’d promised Wayne we’d go see his mother’s grave. That was the most important thing for me to do. When it came down to it, there was nothing more important than how I cared for my loved ones. That tree had been standing there for thousands of years. It would wait a bit more for my visit.

The girls opened their books to study demons, which seemed out of place on Peter’s. I hadn’t been there a full day, and yet somehow, demons felt far away, like I’d stepped out of time, as though they sort of didn’t exist. I shook my head. It was a weird feeling, like a fog settled over the rest of the world. The girls weren’t affected by it, or at least they made no indication that they had been.

Gordon offered to stay behind. He wanted to help his father catch up on work while we were around, and he’d guard the girls while he did. Not that there was really anything to protect them from. Unless Lennon’s parents showed up and said horrible things to them.

I doubted that would happen.

Wayne wanted to bring me alone, so we agreed to all meet up later at the tree. Gordon would bring the girls. I didn’t know what I expected to happen at the tree. Probably nothing. It might all be a giant let down. All this fuss to get me here so I could view a tree. Even if it was magical, and I thought it likely, that didn’t mean my seeing it was going to elicit any change in the universe.

Still, I’d come to see it, and see it I would.

“This whole place is called Peachtree.” The area was enough of a distance from Gordon’s father’s home that we could have taken the carriage. I’d wanted to walk, and since the weather was mild, Wayne had agreed. If I wasn’t careful, I’d spend my whole visit to Peter’s holed up in Gordon’s home letting his father make me feel more welcome than I ever had before.

Wayne held my hand. Every so often, he’d bring it to his mouth and kiss my fingers. Each time he did it, a sigh escaped from inside of me. He’d smile. We’d do it again. There were worse things than being adored.

I’d never be used to it. I’d never take it for granted.

“Because this is where the peach trees are?” I pointed at the massive amount of growing fruit trees in the area.

“I didn’t say it was terribly creative, just that it was the name.”

I laughed, a loud, hard sound, then covered my mouth with my hand. He stopped and stared at me before he burst out laughing, too. When had anything been so funny? I so rarely really cracked up.

“And she likes my sense of humor, too.” He kissed my cheek. “This way.”

I followed him into a quiet graveyard. I’d never been in one before. In my world—in any existence outside of this place—graveyards were a thing of the past. Bodies were gotten rid of so as to not be stolen by people who wanted to rip their teeth out or remove their limbs for nefarious purposes. That is if the body hadn’t been possessed. If they were that was a whole other issue. That dead body could be walking around for months then just fall over when the demon left it. There were body removal people who got paid, sometimes, to get rid of the bodies. Or maybe they did something nefarious with it, too. Then there were the pits. I shuddered at my memory of seeing them.

Mostly, the dead were burned, and it was better that way.

But here on Peter’s, there was this lovely graveyard where Wayne could visit his mother. We stopped at her gravestone, which was well kept. I ran my fingers over her name. Zoe. That was a lovely name.

“Mom, I told you I’d bring my wife to see you one day, and I’ve done it. I mean, she’s not my wife. I guess we’re going to ask her later today.” A surge of pleasure moved through me at his words. They were really serious about this. “I’m hoping she says yes. She’s a Sister. You used to tell me stories about them. She’s even more magical than you said they were. I love her. You’d have loved her, too. Everything is going to be okay. Somehow it is. Because Mika is in the world.”

Tears flooded my eyes, and I pushed them away. His words were so sweet. I wished I could roll around in them. But even as I felt all the beauty in what he said, a cold washed over me. Not from Wayne. He was so incredibly touching. The chill was because I had so readily accepted this, because Peter’s was a place where people stood and spoke to gravestones. No one here would ever be dragged to a mine. Oh sure, someone had taken a Sister here once. And then they’d banned visitors like that from coming.

This place had been manufactured somehow to keep demons away. That was beautiful. It was also fake. Wayne was real. His love was true. My guys were all they claimed to be. Their families were as they seemed. It was like those peach trees. Eventually, the fruit would fall off Peter’s Isle, and as sweet as the juice tasted, left too long, it would eventually rot on the ground.

Nothing this sweet lasted forever.

Wayne lifted his gaze to look at me. “Are you okay?”

“You’re beautiful. Your mom must have been extraordinary. I wish I had known her.”

He smiled at me. “You do. That’s true. I love you for it. That’s not all you’re thinking.”

“No.” I relaced our fingers. “It can wait. I love you. What was your favorite thing about her?”

I’d stay in this moment, present in it. But I wouldn’t forget what I always should have known.