Chapter 20 #2
Then he kissed me.
Not gentle—Riven was never gentle. He kissed me like he was drowning and I was air, like he was starving and I was sustenance, like I was the only thing that had ever mattered in all his long centuries of existence.
"Yours," he growled against my lips when he finally pulled back, his voice vibrating through me. "I'm yours. I've been yours since the first moment I saw you. I'll be yours until the ocean dries up and the stars burn out and there's nothing left but dust."
I kissed him again, softer this time, and felt something slot into place in my chest.
Vale was crying before I even reached him.
"I'm sorry," he said, swiping at his silver eyes with the back of his hand, his voice thick and unsteady. "I'm sorry, I know I should be composed, I should be—"
"You should be exactly who you are," I said, swimming to him and taking his face in my hands, thumbs brushing away tears that just kept falling. "That's all I want from you, Vale. Just you."
He made a sound like something breaking, and then his arms were around me, pulling me close, his face buried in my hair.
"I've written so many songs about you," he whispered against my hair, his voice thick with tears, his body trembling. "Hundreds of them. Thousands. Every melody I've composed since I met you has been about you. About how you make me feel. About how terrified I am of losing you."
"You're not going to lose me," I said, pulling back to look at him, to make sure he could see the truth in my eyes. "I'm right here. And I'm about to make it permanent."
I tore another strip from my shirt and began to braid.
His silver hair was the finest of all of them—soft as silk, shimmering in the bioluminescent light like moonlight on water.
I worked carefully, weaving the rough fabric through the delicate strands, creating something that was neither elegant nor beautiful but was entirely mine.
Vale was silent through the whole process, tears streaming steadily down his face.
When I finished, he reached up to touch the braid with trembling fingers, his expression one of pure wonder.
"I can feel you in it," he said, his voice hushed, awed. "Your scent. Your essence. It's like—it's like you're part of me now."
"I am part of you," I said simply, taking his hand and pressing it over my heart. "And you're part of me. That's what this means." He kissed me then—not desperate like Riven, not deep like Kaelan. Soft. Reverent. Like I was something sacred and he was grateful just to be allowed to touch.
"I'll never take it out," he vowed against my lips, the words a sacred promise. "Never. I'll wear your claim until the day I die, and if there's anything after death, I'll find a way to wear it there too."
I smiled, kissing him once more. "I'm counting on it." Thane was sobbing before I even turned to him.
"I'm sorry," he gasped, tears streaming down his face, his whole body shaking with the force of his emotion, barely able to get the words out. "I'm sorry, I can't stop—I just—you're actually—"
"Come here," I said softly, opening my arms to him. He crashed into me, nearly knocking me backward in the water. His arms wrapped around my waist, his face buried in my neck, his tears hot against my skin.
"I never thought this would happen," he sobbed, his voice muffled against my throat. "I never thought anyone would want us. Want me. I'm not—I'm not strong like Riven, or steady like Kaelan, or talented like Vale. I'm just—"
"You're just the kindest person I've ever known," I interrupted firmly, stroking his honey-colored hair.
"The gentlest. The one who makes me feel safe just by existing.
You're the one who cried the first time I told you about my past because you felt my pain like it was your own.
" I pulled back, forcing him to look at me, to see the truth in my face.
"You're exactly what I need, Thane. Exactly what I want. Now hold still and let me prove it."
He held still. But he didn't stop crying.
I braided his hair slowly, taking my time, letting him feel every pass of my fingers. His hair was the warmest color of all of them—honey and gold and sunshine, even in the dim light of the deep ocean. The fabric from my shirt looked almost wrong against it, too rough, too plain.
When I finished and he reached up to touch it, his face crumpled with fresh tears.
"It's perfect," he whispered, his voice breaking on each syllable. "It's the most perfect thing anyone's ever given me."
"It's just fabric and clumsy braiding," I said, suddenly self-conscious, wondering if I should have tried harder.
"It's you," he corrected fiercely, cupping my face in his hands, his golden-brown eyes blazing through the tears.
"It's you, claiming me, choosing me, saying I'm worth keeping.
That's the most perfect gift anyone could ever give.
" He kissed me—soft and desperate and tasting of salt.
"Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you—"
I kissed him to stop the words, pulling him close, letting him shake against me until the worst of the sobs subsided.
When I finally pulled back, all four of them were watching me.
Four ancient, terrifying, beautiful creatures.
Four alphas who had been waiting centuries for someone to claim them.
Four braids, rough and imperfect, woven with strips of my own clothing.
Mine.
They were all mine now.
"I've decided," I said, and my voice didn't shake at all. "I want to stay. With you. I don't want to go back to that ship, to that world, to any of it."
Silence. Absolute, ringing silence. Then Riven made a sound like a dying animal and surged forward, crushing me against his chest.
"Say it again," he demanded, his voice cracked and desperate against my hair. "Please. I need to hear it again."
"I want to stay," I repeated, wrapping my arms around him, feeling his heart pound against mine. "I want to be yours. All of yours. Completely. Forever."
"Forever," he echoed, the word coming out broken, reverent. "Forever. She said forever."
"She said forever," Vale confirmed, and he was crying again, his silver eyes streaming, a smile breaking through the tears. "She's staying. She's actually staying."
Thane couldn't speak at all. He just pressed himself against my back, his face buried between my shoulder blades, his whole body shaking with silent sobs. Kaelan was the last to move. He swam forward slowly, his dark eyes never leaving my face, and cupped my cheek in one massive hand.
"You're sure," he said, and it wasn't quite a question. His thumb traced my cheekbone, gentle despite the intensity in his gaze. "This is what you want. Not because you're afraid, not because you're running out of options—"
"Because I'm ready," I finished for him, covering his hand with mine. "Because I want you. Because I'm done running." I turned my head, pressing a kiss to his palm. "Because you're worth staying for."
The sound he made was quiet—nothing like Riven's broken cry or Thane's sobs. But the tears that tracked down his face said everything.
"Then you're ours," he said, his voice thick with a thousand years of waiting. "And we're yours. Forever."
"Forever," I agreed.
The word tasted like freedom.
The potion started to wear off too soon. I felt the familiar tightness in my lungs, the subtle warning that my time underwater was ending. But this time, when I looked toward the surface, I didn't feel the usual dread.
"I have to go back," I said reluctantly, feeling the ache of separation already building. "One more night. To get my things. To—"
"We'll come for you tomorrow," Kaelan said immediately, his hand tightening on my waist, possessive and protective. "The moment it's safe. We'll take you away from that ship forever."
"What about the crew?" I asked, worry flickering through me. "They'll notice I'm gone. They might—"
"Vale will handle it," Riven interrupted, a dark satisfaction in his voice, his golden eyes glinting. "His voice can make them forget. Make them think you fell overboard, or never existed at all. Whatever we need."
I looked at Vale, who nodded, his silver eyes still wet with tears but determined now.
"I'll make sure no one comes looking for you," he promised, his voice steady despite the emotion in it. "No one will ever hurt you again. No one will ever find you."
The thought should have been frightening. Disappearing from the human world entirely, becoming someone—something—else.
Instead, it felt like the first day of the rest of my life.
"Tomorrow night," I said, leaning up to kiss Kaelan, then Riven, then Vale, then Thane. Each kiss a promise. Each touch a vow. "I'll be ready."
"We'll be waiting," Thane said, his voice still thick with tears but steadier now, his hand finding mine and squeezing tight. "We're always waiting for you."
I swam toward the surface, my lungs beginning to burn. But before I broke through, I looked back. Four sirens floated in the dark water below me. Four braids, woven with strips of my clothing, marking them as mine.
Four pairs of eyes, watching me with devotion so absolute it made my chest ache.
Mine, I thought, and the word sang through my blood like a promise. All mine.
I surfaced with a gasp, hauled myself up the rope ladder, and collapsed on the deck of the ship.
One more night.
Then I would be free.