Chapter 34 #2
Her three colleagues stared at her, brows furrowed, unconvinced. ‘No one misses this shit, Soleil,’ Zima stated, deadpan.
She smiled at their disbelief, thinking privately how little they knew.
This simple, honest life, the friendship, the routine, the lack of immediate, existential threat, was a fantasy compared to the life she’d fled.
She would scrub every pipe on The Sombra if it meant keeping this life.
Without missing a beat, she shot her friends a raised brow. ‘Honeys, cleaning has its perks, you’ve no idea. More importantly, I missed you guys and the gossip. What have you been hoarding?’
‘So last week Yanni and Oona were fighting again in the communal showers, and they broke two sinks this time,’ Astra whispered conspiratorially, leaning in.
‘Nada,’ Soleil murmured. ‘Why?’
‘Some showdown about an ex, so Yanni’s moved out and they both have to pony up for the repair bill.’
Zima added, ‘Also, Tess, that rude, overbearing inspector from Sanitary was caught selling our restricted-grade cleaning solvents to the crew on the Odyssey for double the price.’
‘Karma baby,’ Wren proclaimed, with a grin. ‘That woman has been such a pain in my ass that seeing her being marched away in cuffs was deliciously whimsical.’
Soleil sipped her tea and smiled.
Normalcy. It tasted sweeter than any pastry she ever baked.
That evening, the lakeside beach curved in a crescent of soft silver sand, kissed by the pale glow of The Sombra’s moon.
The lake lapped at the shore, its glassy surface streaked with the glimmer of stars.
Torches flickered in the warm breeze, casting golden radiance over driftwood benches and woven rugs. At the same time, the scent of wood smoke and sizzling meat thickened the air with a kind of ancient joy.
Santi had an arm wrapped around Soleil from the moment they arrived.
It was a grounding touch she inclined into as he led her toward the fire pit where his pack was already gathered.
When he caught the subtle hitch in her breath, the soft tension in her spine, his hold became more deliberate, protective, and anchoring.
While she spent time with Zev, she hadn’t done the same with the rest of the group, let alone altogether in one place.
She was nervous meeting them all at once.
‘They’ll love you,’ he murmured against her temple. ‘Like I do.’
‘Why, though? I used to wear a crown of blood and ash,’ she whispered, voice tight. ‘What if they still see it? In a spectral sense?’
He kissed her forehead and smiled. ‘Then they’ll bow to your commitment to change. But they won’t reject you, mi sol. They’ll welcome and adore you like I do.’
She shot him a grateful look, straightened her back, and let him lead her closer to the fire pit.
Zev and Boaz took charge of the grill.
The pair argued over the merits of dry rub versus marinade.
Ignoring their bickering, Mak threw sliced peppers into a cast-iron pan and tossed them.
Rigo had already uncorked too many bottles and was singing haunting love songs while strumming a guitar.
Kaal stood with a drink in hand, eyeing Soleil now and then with a quiet assessment that lacked judgment.
Xander, the Alpha and Signet’s leader, was a silent observer.
Leaning back on a sun-warmed boulder, Savvine tucked beside him like a blade sheathed in silk, he observed the action unfold.
Santi guided her to the group, never removing his hand from her back.
The pack welcomed the couple with nods, a few jokes, the kind forged by shared history and deep trust.
She also got a hug from Savvine and Miral, and she grasped them tight, grateful for their kindness.
Still shy, however, Soleil lingered on the edge of their conversation, smiling when she had to, but her gaze drifted to the fire, flickering shadows, lost in thought.
Until Xander approached her.
He didn’t speak at first; he just stood with her at the bonfire circle, his presence and aura vast and still.
In time, he swiveled, his violet and gold eyes catching hers.
‘Soleil, we don’t judge you,’ he rasped in his gravelly timbre.
She jolted. ‘What?’
‘What they did to you. What they took. That none of it was your choice. We’ve all danced with monsters, Soleil. Yours just wore your uncle’s and father’s face. Santi also praised your bravery in seeking justice for your mother. That alone absolves you of all the shit you’ve gone through.’
Her mouth parted, but no words came.
Then his ancient, silver-black, spectral lycan spirit moved like mist from his chest.
It circled her once, before folding into her crimson wolf form.
The two spirits glimmered together in silence, then dissolved like stardust.
When his wolf spirit flashed back into his frame, Soleil gazed into Xander’s face, relieved to find a smile.
‘Welcome to the Signet family, Red.’
‘Sante.’
It was all she could say as he prowled away.
Soleil closed her eyes and breathed.
When she returned to the fire, the worry inside her eased. Her shoulders straighter, her hands unclenched.
She accepted a drink from Savvine, who pulled her close in a half-hug. ‘I’m over the moon I now have an ally, honey, because this pack is freakin’ strong-willed, Miral included.’
Miral leaned in with a conspiratorial whisper. ‘We don’t put up with shit or being messed around, and we don’t suffer fools. We’re wild, rowdy, but always loving, and you’ll fit right in with us.’
Soleil chuckled. ‘I think I’ll be fine. Fact, when you throw me to the wolves, I come back leading the pack as queen.’
Miral reared her head back and snapped her fingers. ‘Oh, you’re feisty, Soleil. I like you more every day.’
‘My bad bitch attitude spices everything up,’ Soleil said with a sweet smile.
The trio laughed, joined in sisterhood as the rest of the night slipped by.
Banter soon filled the air.
Boaz called Mak a ‘show pony’ for his silk shirt and tailored linen pants.
Zev challenged Kaal to a hot pepper duel (which he instantly regretted).
Rigo played mind games with Miral to see if his quick intellect could outdo her high-tech intelligence.
He failed every time but kept trying, coming close to beating her with a complex equation.
‘I pity the woman who realizes your obsession with numbers is what you term as the best foreplay,’ Miral snarked.
Santi, of course, was ever the charming rogue, smooth-tongued and laughing, his wit sharp enough to nick everyone at least once.
Yet his gaze and attention never left Soleil.
She started chiming in, then with more confidence.
Her voice grew stronger, her smile surer.
At one point, she stole a grilled peach right off Boaz’s plate and winked when he growled in mock protest.
Later, as the fire crackled and the stars swam lazy paths overhead, she ended up in Santi’s lap, his arms encircled her waist, her head against his shoulder.
They didn’t need words.
Around them, the pack laughed and argued and toasted the moon.
Soleil was silent.
In the flicker of the firelight, Soleil stared down at her hands.
Where once there had been a secret implanted into her wrist, now there was only smooth, unblemished skin.
Just a day earlier, Miral had invited her and Santi to the med-lab located on the executive level of The Sombra.
Soleil sat still, Santi at her side, while Miral prepped her with a gentle local anesthetic.
‘This shitty nanite cuff in you is a fokkin’ crude and cruel device,’ Miral muttered, inspecting the embedded node. ‘Obsolete. Borderline barbaric. Whoever designed this abomination should be shot into the sun.’
Santi grunted. ‘That’s probably where his bones lie now.’
With deft precision, Miral used a neural tool, gleaming and bone-thin, to disengage the wrist controller nestled deep in the fibers of Soleil’s hands.
She didn’t experience any pain, only the strange sensation of the pressure she endured on her wrists for years being lifted away.
When the procedure was complete, Miral smiled. ‘All done. You’re now free as a bird.’
Was she? she thought even now, seated by Santi at the fire pit.
The heat and muscled hardness of Santi’s arms curled around her, as unbidden memories of the suffering wrought from her forearms and her past assailed her mind.
Santi leaned into her, brushing her ear with his lips, pulling her to the present.
‘Nada, carino,’ he murmured. ‘Focus on the here and now.’
She turned to him and lost herself in the love in his violet-gilded eyes.
She inhaled as the unwanted evocation faded like dissipating smoke.
‘Naam, my honey,’ she whispered, kissing the corner of his lush, curved lips, meaning it with all of her heart.
Safe and adored in the arms of her Star-Claimed Omega.
THE SIGNET WOLVES SAGA
Continues …