Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Spade
Leaning into Soren, I asked, “Did what I think happened just happen?”
Soren, who had gone unnaturally still beside me, snapped his lips closed and nodded once before saying, “Dashiel has found his fated mate.”
The words had barely settled when Dashiel dropped. One second, he was standing and the next, he was on his knees in front of Landon, bowing low, pressing his forehead to the floor.
“My beloved,” he said, his voice thick with something that sounded a hell of a lot like adoration.
The entire room went dead quiet.
Landon blinked, clearly thrown, his body tensing like he didn’t know whether to scoot back or reach out.
Instead, he looked at Monkey. “W-what’s going on?”
Monkey looked just as lost, his gaze darting between Dashiel and his dad while they were all still kneeling on the floor.
“I—uh—” Monkey scrubbed a hand over his face. “I think… I think he’s sayin’ you’re like… his soulmate? Or something?”
“That is… a very simplified version of it,” Dashiel said, lifting his head.
Slowly, he straightened his spine but remained on his knees. When I’d first seen his eyes, they’d been calm and distant. Now they were anything but. They burned with intensity, and it was all focused on Landon, like nothing else in the world existed.
“Fate has chosen you for me,” Dashiel continued, his voice steady as he spoke, though the emotion beneath it didn’t fade. “Across time, across worlds… you are mine as I am yours.”
Landon’s mouth dropped open. He glanced at the tattoo on Dashiel’s neck, then down at the one wrapped around his wrist.
“Ah… right,” he said after a beat. “And what exactly does that mean for me?”
That was a fair question.
Dashiel rose and held out his hand for Landon, who just stared at it. Monkey stood next, then helped his father to his feet.
Dashiel tucked his hands behind his back and went on.
“It means that if you accept this bond… if you accept me… I will spend the rest of your life at your side.” He paused, like he was choosing every word with precision.
“You will be cherished beyond measure. Protected. Respected. Loved in a way that is written into the very fabric of what I am.”
The weight of that settled over the room.
Heavy and unavoidable.
“I will treat you as the gift you are,” Dashiel finished quietly. “Because that is what you are to me.”
Landon’s throat worked as he swallowed. “You don’t even know me. I don’t know you. And I’m not even into guys.” He moved his attention to Monkey. “Is this some prank?”
Monkey shook his head.
Landon made a strangled sound in the back of his throat. “You talked about vampires before. Rio and Kieran spoke about shifters, and now there’s bodies and blood everywhere and….” He made another strained noise before he drew in a shaky breath. “This is… a lot,” he admitted.
“No one is saying you have to decide right now,” Razor cut in. He was holding onto a bouncing and excited Riker and had his hand over Riker’s mouth.
“Yes,” Soren added beside me. “A fated bond cannot be forced. It must be accepted freely, or it won’t hold as it’s meant to.”
Voices drifted into the room, and Coms appeared with a woman at his side.
Riker ducked out of Razor’s grip and yelled, “Mom! Everyone, this is Ruth, our mom. Mom, everyone.” He rattled that off as he ran at her and hugged her tightly while she smiled warmly down at him.
“Hello, sweetie. I have a group out front healing those who got injured. Their minds will be wiped, and the area will get tidied.” She eyed the rest of the room before asking, “Now, what have I missed?”
Riker, Nox, and Deacon quickly explained what had happened and then about Dashiel and Landon.
While they talked, I muttered to Soren out the corner of my mouth, “Mom? She looks like a sister.”
He smiled. “Shifters age slow, pet.”
After Landon heard the full explanation, he said in a strained voice, “This is really happening?”
Monkey clasped his father’s shoulder. “Yep.”
Landon paled slightly and glanced up at Dashiel, who smiled warmly, before looking away.
Riker perked up and offered, “I can show you, Landon. I’m a fox. Dashiel is an elf, Soren is a vampire, and my family are shifters too.”
Landon released another choked sound.
Ruth hugged Riker against her. “Maybe a bit later, yes?”
Riker pouted and crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine.”
“Okay,” Ruth said, her gaze moving between Landon and Monkey, “I must let you know, Landon, that your decision will affect more than just you.”
Monkey stilled.
“How?” Landon asked, eyes wide.
“If you accept the bond, your connection to Dashiel ties you to our world. That connection then extends through you to your son.”
Monkey’s eyes widened. “Meanin’?”
“Meaning,” Riker said, unable to keep quiet, “you don’t get your memory wiped.”
Monkey let out a breath. “Thank fuck.”
A few quiet chuckles broke the tension, but Ruth lifted a hand slightly.
“But that’s only if the bond is accepted,” she repeated. “If it’s not… then we proceed as we normally would.”
Monkey’s relief faded just a fraction, and he flicked his gaze back to his father. “So… no pressure,” he muttered.
Landon huffed something that might’ve been a laugh if it wasn’t so strained. He dragged a hand over the back of his neck, looking between everyone.
When his gaze landed back on Ruth, he asked, “Can I have time?”
“Of course. You’ll have a month. After that, even a vampire’s power won’t work to extract the memories,” Ruth said.
Landon exhaled slowly, relaxing a little, while still clearly trying to wrap his head around something that didn’t fit into the world he knew.
He looked up at Dashiel and asked, “You’re okay with me having time to process all this?”
Dashiel inclined his head. “Take whatever time you require.”
“And… you’re okay with, ah, Fate picking me for you? Do you even like guys? I’ve never….” He trailed off, blushing.
“You are already my beloved, but I would never want to pressure you into anything you do not wish to do.”
Landon nodded, and I noticed his gaze kept shifting up to Dashiel’s ears. Their tips peeked out, but they were mostly hidden behind his midnight-colored hair.
“What about me?” Coms asked.
“Who are you?” Ruth questioned.
Shit.
Could I lie and pretend Coms was a blood brother?
But before I could, Monkey said, “Coms is my half brother.”
Landon’s eyes widened, and he thinned his lips.
It was a bold-faced lie, but could it work?
Ruth’s gaze lightened with humor. “One thing you should know about shifters. We can scent a lie.”
Fuck.
Monkey went to say something, but Ruth held up her hand. “Just don’t do it around anyone other than the people here. Coms, you assisted in this night?”
“Yeah,” he replied.
“We’ll see the outcome of Landon’s choice for the three of you and organize a date in the future for the decision.”
Holy shit. She was giving them a chance, but it all depended on Monkey’s dad, who was back to staring up at the tall elf.
“Pops, don’t make a choice just because of us either. You need to be certain,” Monkey told him.
“Agreed,” Coms said.
Landon nodded.
“I would like for us to get to know each other,” Dashiel offered.
Another blush rose in Landon’s cheeks. He cleared his throat. “Ah… yeah. Yes. I guess we could do that.”
Dashiel looked thrilled.
That was when Razor clapped his hands once, sharp and decisive. “Right. Well, now that Fate’s done its thing, everyone smells like blood and looks like hell. Go clean up.”
That got everyone moving again.
“Yeah, I’m not sittin’ in this shirt any longer,” Monkey muttered, already backing away. “Pops, you’re comin’ with me.”
Landon nodded absently, though his eyes lingered on Dashiel for a second longer before he let himself be dragged off.
I glanced up at Soren. “You good?”
His gaze softened slightly when it landed on me. “I am now.”
Yeah, he’d been beyond worried.
I would’ve been as well.
Our forever had nearly been ripped away from us.
People drifted off or started to clean, almost like things were back to normal.
Like I hadn’t nearly died on this floor. Like monsters hadn’t torn each other apart in the same space where people were chatting and laughing.
Maybe it should’ve felt weird, but it didn’t.
Because Soren was here.
He was the most important part of my life, and I needed to tell him how I felt. Sure, I’d told him I loved him, but those words didn’t do justice to everything I felt in my heart.
“We’re gonna hit the showers,” I called, taking Soren’s hand in mine.
Riker snorted. “We won’t see them again. Deacon, call in the cleanup crew. I don’t want to do all this.”
I didn’t hear the reply; I was too busy dragging Soren out of the room.
I needed him to myself.
We’d both been wound too tight, and I couldn’t get the image out of my head of his face after he’d realized the blood on me had been mine. That split second where something inside him broke.
He’d thought about how he could’ve lost me, and it’d destroyed him.
The way he’d reacted, the way he’d ended Patrick, it hadn’t been just in anger; it’d been fear. It was raw, vicious, and uncontrolled.
Soren was powerful—stronger than anyone I’d ever known—but I never wanted to see that kind of fear in him again.
Not because he couldn’t handle it, but because I couldn’t handle what it did to him.
And there was only one way to make sure I could stand beside him—like, truly stand beside him—in this world.
I was going to ask him to make me reborn.