“There you are.” Lacey held out a cup of warm broth. “I was beginning to think you would never wake up.”

Raine squinted against the setting sun. “Please tell the guys conducting mining operations in my head to stop.”

“That’s what you get for conjuring a magic blast. We felt the wave of aftershocks all the way down here.” Lacey’s brows hitched a couple of centimeters in the chastise direction. “Mighty impressive, though. Wish I’d been there to see it. I'm surprised you lived through it. Most don’t.”

Raine threw an arm over her eyes. “They were threatening to…” she pushed to her elbow with a panicked gasp. “Where’s Beck?”

“He’s fine.” Lacey sat on the edge of Raine’s queen-sized bed and slid the broth onto the nightstand.

Raine pressed her forefinger against her temple to ease the throbbing. “How did I get here? How long have I been out?”

“The transmitter Frost gave Myka worked. We managed to get to you just in time.” Lacey straightened the sheets, her worry lines deepening. “You’ve slept for days. I was starting to worry whether you’d make it out of the magic coma until Mandy showed up at my door barking.”

“Mandy,” Raine relaxed into the comfort of her bed. “How’s my fuzzy girl?”

“Still following Beck everywhere.” Lacey placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. The twins are with him.”

“The twins? And you ask me not to worry?” Raine managed to limp a smile into place as she tried to remember the past few weeks. Relief settled in when the intact memories began to tumble back into her mind. Beck. Myka. Tila. They were all there. The timeline was intact. She reached for Lacey’s hand, not knowing if she wanted to hear the news. “And Myka?”

Lacey’s severe expression made her sit up. Raine squeezed her friend’s hand. “Tell me.”

“He’s been sentenced to death.”

Raine inhale. “We need to help him. He saved our lives.”

“He anticipated you might decide to be a hero and try to rescue him. He asked Frost to give you this.” Lacey placed a round disc in her hand, patted her leg, and stood. “I’ll leave you in private to listen to his message and make some tea for your headache.” Lacey walked out of her bedroom and eased the door shut.

Raine pushed the pillows against the headboard and slid back. She stared at the metal disc in her lap, not sure if she wanted to touch the thing.

She imagined his serious but gentle face. He was a good man. He’d protected her and her son, and for his service he was being condemned. It was wrong. All wrong.

She lifted the metal disc to eye level and held her thumb against the fingerprint pad. Myka’s hologram appeared.

My beloved, by the time you get this message, you and Beck will be home, and, most important, safe. Tila confirmed both of you are no longer infected. However, there is no way of knowing how Beck will react to the blood cell exchange. He is alive. I hope you feel that counts for something.

Don’t fret for me. You will always be with me, my beloved. You are my heart. My one true love. Look for me in the stars.

A tear pooled and cut a path down her cheek. “Oh, Myka. Why did you do it? Why did you make such a sacrifice?” But she knew why. He loved her. He showed her in so many ways, small and heroically large.

She’d questioned his love over and over again, but his actions expressed his love more clearly than any words could have.

Bitter loneliness squeezed her heart. She placed the disc next to her heart and curled into a ball around it. She wanted to hold him. Be close to him in the only way she knew how. Rivers of emotions spilled out. When she couldn’t keep the despair in any longer, sleep tucked her into a cocoon of memories.

When she awoke, the moon filtered into her bedroom through the open curtains. She threw back the covers, needing to feel close to Myka, to touch him, to feel him beneath her fingertips, and there was only one place she could be with him. She wandered down the hall into Beck’s room.

“Mom. You're awake.”

She sat on the edge of his bed. “I am awake.” She brushed Beck’s bangs off his forehead. “Whatcha doing?”

“I’m teaching Mr. Weebles a new trick. Watch.”

The white mouse raced down Beck’s arm to the lock in his lap and proceeded to work the key until the bolt snapped open. Mr. Weebles stood on his hind feet with his paws outstretched to wait for a treat, which Beck placed into his little paws.

“Well done,” Raine clapped, faking her excitement for her son’s sake. She appreciated the exuberance in her son’s eyes. Only a short time ago, she’d been overwhelmed with bleakness, loneliness…unsure whether her bright, adorable son would live.

Beck tapped her knee. “Want to see another cool trick?”

“Another trick?” Raine paused at the slight hesitation in her son’s voice.

“It’s not a trick, really.” He looked at her directly. “Jonah and Joseph thought it was badass. Oops.” he blushed over the slip.

“Should I be worried?” she asked, the concern on his face adding a whole new layer of anxiety.

“I don’t think so. Aunt Lacey thought it would be a good reminder of Myka. After all, he saved my life.”

“Myka? I don’t understand.” She searched his face for a clue.

“You will. Watch my eyes.”

Beck lifted his chin. A second skin from underneath his eyelid slid out of the top of his eyes, closed, then rolled back.

She cupped his jaw. “Do that again.”

He repeated the lid roll. A tingle of excitement ran through her.

“And look.” Beck pulled back his sleeve. “These appeared a few days ago. I wanted to show you when they appeared, but you were still asleep.”

Little blue circles had, indeed, appeared in random patterns across his skin. “Myka called those freckles.”

“Freckles,” her son’s eyes lit up, “I always wanted freckles, and having blue ones is even better.”

Regret because Myka was missing this moment...would miss all Beck’s future moments...pressed in. She’d been there when Beck took his first steps, and again when he lost his first tooth, and again when he magically sprouted his first seedlings. She didn’t want to miss any of his special moments.

“Cool, huh?” Her son’s excitement ebbed into her soul.

“Way cool.” Her smile expanded, even though her heart was heavy.

She had a reminder of her son’s savior, and hers. He would always be with them, at least in a small way.

“Do you know why Aunt Lacey won’t let anyone of us into the cornfield?”

The tender feeling was blendered into a puree of emotions. “Beck. There’s something you need to know.”

A knock on the doorframe made Raine pause.

“That his pumpkin patch has been relocated to make room for a new well,” Lacey said from the doorway. “Is that what he should know?”

“A new well?” Raine asked.

“Yes. The old well started growing a weird fungus. In your absence, the town council decided we would close up the old one and build a new one.” Lacey gave her a strange look. “Even Theo approved.”

Ah. The Sheriff found more energy pods.

“It’s unfortunate we had to destroy the pumpkin patch,” Lacey continued, “but the new seedlings should be sprouting any time now.”

Beck held out his hand to let Mr. Weebles run up his arm and hop into his shirt pocket. “Oh, good. I mean, from the looks on your faces, I thought someone died.”

You almost did, and Myka will soon.

“But your pumpkin.” Raine wanted to apologize, but couldn’t find the words.

“It’s okay, Mom. The pumpkin had stopped growing. I didn’t pollinate it right the first time, and had to use magic to get it to keep growing. It wouldn’t have been fair to compete against the ones who grew their pumpkins naturally.” He nodded his acceptance. “While we were gone, Aunt Lacey germinated new mega-seeds.”

“Look at you, using those big words.”

Beck ducked his head and brushed his bangs aside. “I know it’s dark outside, but I’d like to have a look. I’ll only be a minute.”

Raine’s protectiveness kicked in, but Beck had matured overnight. She couldn’t protect him from every danger. Besides, Vincent and Connor were most likely having a gorge fest in her cornfields and would watch out for her son.

“Go ahead. But be careful.”

“Awesome.” He scooted off the bed and raced out of the room.

Raine stared at the empty doorway where her son had exited. “Okay. Tell me that wasn’t freaky.”

“Which part? About him taking the pumpkin news in stride? Him wanting to be outside instead of inside playing computer games? Or his eye shields?”

“All of the above.”

Lacey laughed until the giggles became contagious, but the joy didn’t last for long.

Thoughts of Myka, his heroism, flattened her spirits.

“Why did he do it? Why did he risk his life?” Raine didn’t need to specify who because Lacey was already reaching for her hand.

“I don’t know,” Lacey shook her head. “Myka is a good man, and I know he wants to be with you. Don’t give up hope. Things have a way of working out.”

Raine had long since put hope away in a drawer and settled for a safe life. She hadn’t dared wish for more, not until Myka came along.

She’d be lying to herself if she didn’t admit she’d fallen in love with the Waterman. A sting of tears threatened a gusher, and she fought against the tide. She had promised herself she would never cry over a man again. She should have known to never say never.

A tear hovered on the edge of her chin before plopping onto her hand.

“Tighten your shields,” Lacey reminded. “Otherwise the rest of the town will be blubbering right along with you.”

The thought of watering plants with tears seemed absurd until she reached into her pocket and found the little black, granular seeds.

She closed her hand into a fist.

“You’re right. No more tears. I need to get busy.”

She jumped out of bed and dashed out the door.

“Where are you going?” Lacey called. “You should be resting.”

“To pot some seeds,” she smiled and walked briskly to the front door.

Once outside, she turned toward the shed and the mushroom compost pile.

Lacey dropped into step beside her. “Stubborn woman. You should be in bed, resting. You just woke up, bless the heavens.”

“I’ll be fine.” She righted a pot, scooped up the fertile soil, then stuck her finger into the middle, creating a deep hole. With a swipe of her finger under her eye, she gathered a tear and rolled the seed into the salty mixture before letting the grain drop into the hole.

Lacey looked on. “Do you think those tiny seeds will grow?”

“They will grow, as their sisters did on the space station. But, like Beck, I want these little ones to grow on their own. They will be loved and treasured.”

“Just as you would love and treasure Myka if he were here?”

The exhaustion Raine had been holding off made her movements feel heavy. “There is a saying about friends.”

The corner of Lacey’s mouth quirked upward. “That we know too much?”

Raine reached out a hand to enfold Lacey’s. “That to have a true friend is to be blessed. And today I feel blessed.”

She was grateful to the community. They had helped retrieve her and her son, and watched over them both while they healed.

She would hold onto the positive for as long as she could, because eventually the loneliness would come. She lifted her sleeve and rubbed her skin, wishing for her mating patterns to return, knowing they had forever disappeared.

For all the times she pushed back against Myka for mating her without her permission, she’d take every wasted second back.

She was his. For now. Forever.

Rippled rings or not.