Chapter 449


    Chapter 449


    Xander


    Watching the High Council be nothing more than dried-up husks had been one of the most


    terrifying and satisfying sights of my entire life. Yet, already, the memory of it was fading. We’d fled


    the ind on the boat the High Council had arrived on, and Ste had managed to keep us safe to


    just beyond the wall hiding the ind. The farther away we got, the blurrier everything became.


    “How much will we be able to remember?” I asked her. We were all in an SUV she’d


    commandeered for us as soon as we made it back to the maind. I knew that’s what had


    happened, although the details of the journey were almost gone.


    Ste was in the passenger seat and turned to me. Her gaze was solemn. “Probably nothing. The


    dead might not have been able to take our bodies, but they had to be satisfied with something. They


    will gnaw on the memories of that battle for eons.”


    I looked into the rearview mirror at my three mates. Lanie’s gaze met mine. Shadows hollowed her


    cheeks and under her eyes, but she smiled at me. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever


    known.


    Mason leaned forward to look out the front windshield. “Are we ready to do this?”


    We’d returned to Brightsky. This time, we’d stopped in Standard to go through the regr process


    of being admitted to the enve. None of us wanted to face whatever security defenses Mchi


    might have put into ce after we left. Ste had been unable to tell us if we’d been in danger or


    not.


    “My visions have gone dark for now,” she had said without any strain or concern in her tone. “When


    I need them again, they’ll return. For now, we have to rely on our instincts.”


    It might have felt like a punishment, being denied the guidance from…well, whoever or whatever it


    was that had guided Ste as a Celestial. Instead, it felt more like a reward. We hade through


    the fire and been hardened, like diamonds.


    We could trust ourselves to make the right choices.


    “Let’s go in,” I said. “See what kind of wee we get.”


    ***


    Gabri


    I stared into the mirror with a sigh at my reflection. The sses didn’t feel right. I just couldn’t get


    used to them.


    “I think you look gorgeous with them,” said Targon as he hugged me from behind to kiss my cheek.


    “Admittedly, I’m biased. But still. Gorgeous.”


    Targon Alonius had saved my life with a couple discs of ss and wire frames. The eyesses had


    honed my vision and revealed the third eye imnted by the High Council. The moment I found out


    about it, all the memories of Orion and what he’d allowed them to do hade flooding back. In


    minutes, I’d blocked every vision that could be sent to the scrying device.


    I’d expected an attack from the High Council because of that and had even warned Mchi to


    prepare, but to our mutual shock, nobody came. Everything in Brightsky had been quiet. Stable.


    For the first time in years, I’d allowed myself to entertain the idea that I could be happy with a


    partner who didn’t try to use me for his own gain. Targon and I had fallen for each other hard and


    fast…but I wasn’tining. I’d learned that life was too short to waste.


    “Grammy.” ina tugged my sleeve. “Daddy.”


    Startled, I shook my head. “Honey, this is Dr. Alonius, remember?”


    ina burst intoughter, shaking her head. She pointed toward the living room. “No! Daddy!”


    I turned with a gasp of surprise. “Xander!”


    My boy hade home. Until I had my arms around him, or at least as much around him as I could


    get, I couldn’t believe that he was real. He lifted me off my feet, squeezing the breath out of me, and


    twirled me around.


    All of them hade home. I hugged them each in turn. Weughed and cried with joy as the twins


    greeted their parents and their sister. And then I introduced them to Targon, and although Xander


    grumbled, he also shook the doctor’s hand.


    The door flew open, and we all turned toward it. Mchi flew toward Lanie and grabbed her up to


    fly her around the room so fast they both became a blur. She staggered,ughing breathlessly when


    he put her down. The Ancient vampire hugged her, then held her off at arm’s length.


    “Wee home,” he said. “By the Sun’s golden mantle, I thought for sure all of you were dead.”


    Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    Within minutes, he was calling for a celebration throughout the entire enve. We had so much to


    celebrate, the festivities wouldst for days. The whirlwind of our reunion finally simmered down


    when Mchi left us alone once again.


    The twins were sleepy eyed despite the excitement, and Ste took them off to bed with the


    promise of a bedtime story. Nothing too scary. My heart swelled with gratitude as I looked at my


    family, returned to me. We had so much to talk about…but in the end there was one ending to the


    story that they all expected and I couldn’t provide.


    “We’re leaving the enve,” Xander said. “This isn’t the ce for us anymore. We can go after the


    parties are over.”


    “No. Not me.” I said to each of them, meeting their gazes one at a time. “I’m going to stay here. This


    is where I belong.”