Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
ROWAN
Hope and Declan shifted as soon as I stepped outside. I held one finger to my lips and jerked my head for them to follow. When we were out of hearing distance, Declan spoke. I rarely saw the man disheveled, but Declan’s eyes were wide, and his tan skin was pale.
“What the fuck just happened?”
Hope was slightly less freaked out. She wore a dazed and happy expression. “That. Was. Awesome! Everyone feels like they’ve been tripping balls for the last two hours!”
I stared at her for a long moment, realizing just how much Evie had done.
Declan shot her a quelling look. “This is serious, Hope.” My Second’s mouth dropped open as he did a double take.
Hope was too hyped up to notice. “Dude. I know as well as you do, but you can’t deny you’ve never felt better, right?”
That was the clincher. Evie had shared her claim on my land and restored her claim on Donovan’s old territory while also allowing me authority, but she’d also healed the land, and not quite in the way she thought she might have.
All my old aches and pains were gone. Old injuries, that odd spot in my knee that twinged when rain was coming, the strange ache in the back of my neck when I slept wrong, all things shifter physiology should have fixed but didn’t were now erased as if they’d never been.
Including Hope’s scar.
Declan kept staring at Hope, a completely freaked out expression on his face until she finally noticed. “Dude. What?”
He opened his mouth and snapped it shut just as fast, before looking over at me helplessly.
“Declan?” Hope looked back and forth between us.
I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile and took her by the elbow, leading her away from the kitchen and into the laundry room area where there was a guest bathroom.
After I flipped on the light, I stepped out of the way and gestured for her to go inside, waiting until she was inside before shutting the door.
Declan crossed his arms over his massive chest, his face stricken. “What the hell is she, boss?”
He wasn’t talking about Hope. “She’s the child of two gods and a being of mixed Chimera blood. You know she’s the Fae Queen.”
He nodded. “With that much power, she could be queen of the entire damned world, and I’m not sure anyone could stand against her.”
Soft sobbing came from behind the closed door.
Declan’s expression turned stricken. He went to go to her, but I held him back. “Wait,” I said quietly. “Give her the space she needs. When she’s ready, she will come out.”
He blew out a frustrated breath. “I feel like I’m twenty again. Gods.” He craned his neck to look up at the ceiling. “Half of the guys out there are scared shitless of her. The other half are in love with her.”
Considering what Evie had done out there, I wasn’t surprised. “And you?”
He ran a hand through his hair and speared me with a look.
“I think you’ve stepped into a different world, boss, and you’re taking us along for the ride.
She seems like a good woman, but I’ve never seen so much power contained in a single person.
” His eyes narrowed, before widening a hair.
“Oh, man,” he chuckled. “You crazy sonofabitch. Does she know?”
“I don’t think so.” How the hell was I going to explain what she’d done and the ramifications?
Part of me felt remorse. I don’t think she knew exactly what she was doing when she was doing it, so wrapped in her power, she took whatever the land offered her.
The other part felt a bone deep sense of rightness, of satisfaction, of knowing this was what I’d been seeking for my entire life, and she’d given it to me on a golden platter.
“Poor bastard.” Declan clicked his tongue. “You know you’ve probably set us on a path to war with all the other Lords.” He chuckled and clapped a hand over my shoulder. “Good thing you have all the territory in the world to plan your strategy now.”
The bonds tugged inside my chest. I’d have to visit the new territory soon, see how I could stake a physical claim on it so the other Lords wouldn’t keep trying to encroach.
Hope stepped out of the bathroom, eyes puffy and nose red. “Where is she?”
I stilled.
“Where’s Evie?” Hope looked to Declan.
He held out an arm. “I’ll show you.”
Evie was still sitting in the kitchen when we walked in. She smiled at Hope when she saw her, but the happy smile slid off her face. “Oh. Oh gods, Hope. I am so so—”
My Omega bent and slammed into Evie, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman and burying her face into the crook of her shoulder. Sobs racked Hope’s body. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
Evie’s wide eyes met mine. She blinked a few times and drew Hope in closer. “I did not mean to take the choice away from you.”
“I don’t know that I would have made it,” Hope sobbed. “All I wanted for so long was to be rid of the evidence of what he’d done to me. Looking in the mirror every day told the story of my pain, but there was nothing I could do. I’d tried everything.”
“This won’t make the pain go away,” Evie said softly.
“Yes,” Hope agreed. “My physical pain is gone, which will help me put those memories to rest. It helps knowing everyone else around me won’t be reminded of it as well.
When I look in the mirror now, I can see me again.
” She rose and wiped her eyes. “If there is ever anything I can do for you, name it. You will always have a loyal friend in me.”
Tears swelled in Evie’s eyes. Her lower lip trembled. “I am glad I could help, even if it was done inadvertently. Again, I apologize for taking your choice away. Please know it was not my intention. Sometimes the magic sees something to heal and goes rogue.”
Hope smiled. “Healing is never a bad thing.” She laid her hand over her heart and bowed her head to Evie. When she turned around, both of her eyebrows lifted, and a question sparkled in her eyes. I shooed her and Declan away and sat at the table facing Evie.
“Are you alright?”
“Better. The sandwich helped. Thank you.” She cringed as she looked out the kitchen window and saw all my shifters still outside waiting. “Did I do something to them? Besides a spontaneous healing?”
“They’re fine. Mostly curious.”
She rose and went to the kitchen window. In a small voice, she said, “Some of them are frightened, aren’t they?”
Evie touched a spot in her chest. “I can feel them. In here.” She exhaled a deep breath. “I should probably be more concerned about that than I am. I feel good. Better than good. There’s something about this land, Rowan. It speaks to my soul.”
I rose and came up behind her. My heart was both sore and full. She’d gone through so much to keep her autonomy, and this was the opposite of what she’d fought for. How could I tell her? Did I even need to?
“Do you know what happened out there?”
Her fingers tightened as she clutched the edge of the sink. “We’re bonded, you and I, aren’t we? Started in the dirt a few days ago, and I solidified it earlier.”
I moved closer and wrapped my arms around her. My chin rested on top of her head. Evie’s hair smelled like an English garden. “The bond isn’t finished.”
Evie went still in my arms, whether in relief or confusion, I couldn’t tell. Our bond was a lovely, soothing thing, but there was still one more step to take until we were bound permanently. Whether she would do so remained to be seen. “It feels complete.”
“We are also sharing land, and we are both fae. Our bond might be different.”
“Then how can you know it’s not complete?”
My laugh ruffled her hair. “You will know when it’s complete, Evie. I already feel you inside me, your power and your goodness, but when the bond is finished, you will be able to find me, no matter where I am.”
“Do you want this?” Her voice sounded small.
I gently turned her around, trapping her against the sink in the circle of my arms. She lifted her face to mine. “More than anything in the world,” I said. My heart felt tender and raw. If she wanted to wound me, she’d reject me, toss me away, and forfeit our bond. She still could. “Do you?”
She exhaled. “Rowan, I do not—” Evie licked her lips and tried again. “I am confused by all of this and heartsore from all the events of the last few months. I don’t know what this means or how it works. It seems unfair to Caelan.”
The mention of his name felt like a knife sliding through my ribs.
“Bonds do not care who came before.” I touched her chin.
“I know you’re confused and working through things.
If I would have known this bond would advance so much when claiming my land, I would not have allowed you to do so.
Your power and mine are complementary, and we are both linked to the earth. It’s the only explanation I have.”
Her eyes searched mine. “And if I don’t want this?”
It took everything I had to keep my face neutral, but my heart screamed in agony.
“Then you can refuse this. You will have to leave and remove your claim on my lands and the other territory or remove me if you wish to keep your mark there. And then you must stay away. Eventually, the bond will fade.”
“Our friendship would be over.”
I nodded. “Every time we saw each other, the bonds would begin to reform. We could not see each other anymore. And it would be cruel to me to try.”
Evie’s lower lip wobbled. She lifted her hand and stroked my cheek. “I cannot give you an answer now, Rowan. As much as I wish I could do this, I am not ready for something so soon after Caelan.”
She’s right. We both know it, so all I could do was nod.
I pressed a searing kiss to her lips and stepped away.
“I’ll send the staff in later with lunch.
I think it’s best if we do not go into town this morning.
Not everyone will be able to see the bond between us, but some shifters have better senses than others. ”
“Will the other Lords sense the bond?”
She meant Caelan but didn’t want to hurt my feelings. I inclined my head. “Yes. He will know.”
Evie flinched, and my heart broke a little more. “But he will know the bond is not finished?”
“How close are we?”
I smiled. “Too close,” was all the answer I could give her. I laid a hand over my chest. “Thank you for all you’ve done for me. No matter what happens, I will hold you forever close in my heart.”
“Rowan.” Her voice broke. She stepped forward, her hand outstretched, but I couldn’t bear her touch.
I turned and walked away.