Chapter 20
CHAPTER 20
What a fucking day.
Of all things Leo expected when he set out to find the artifact, discovering his dead wife—who wasn’t ever actually his wife—and his daughter—who was even cuter in person—never crossed his mind.
And yet, he’d returned with the latter, a sweet tyke who beamed, without issue, unlike Ruth.
They arrived in the portal room, intact and alive, albeit minus the orb. Aries and Sage were waiting for them, kind of.
They stood over the thirteenth dais staring at it. Probably because two-thirds of it was now filled.
Olivia whispered, “Only one piece left.”
Aries and Sage strode for them, with the former saying, “Sage says you had quite the adventure in the jungle.”
“No shit.”
“Congrats on finding your daughter and getting everyone out alive. Let me ease your burden.” Aries held out his hands.
Was it weird Leo didn’t want to let either Ruth or Olivia go?
His daughter made the choice and reached out—not to Aries, but to Sage. Olivia slipped from Leo’s grip to Sage’s and murmured, “Hello, Auntie Sage. I did it. I escaped.”
“Yes, you did, little muffin. I’m so proud of you. I knew you could do it.”
At their exchange, anger hit Leo quick and furious. “You knew she was alive.” He kept his voice low rather than yelling and scaring his daughter.
“Yes.” Sage didn’t even have the grace to look chagrinned.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he growled.
“I swear I only found out recently,” Sage stated, her lips turned down. “I only realized Olivia was alive when I got pregnant.” Her hand went to her belly. “I wanted to tell you, but every future showed that ending in tragedy.”
“But you saw how her death tortured me,” he exclaimed.
“She couldn’t tell, Daddy,” lisped Olivia. “If you knew, you would have looked for me.”
“Hell yeah, I would have scoured the ends of the Earth to find you.”
“And died,” Sage bluntly stated. “This was the only way.”
“I’m safe now, Daddy. Aren’t you happy?”
At Olivia’s tremulous query, his anger slipped away as quickly as it rushed in to be replaced with pain. “All this time, I thought my dreams were just wishful thinking.”
“Dreams you never told me about,” Sage chided. “Had I known from the start, perhaps things could have been different.”
How could he tell people he saw and spoke to his dead daughter? He shifted Ruth in his grip. “I take it you saw what happened in the jungle?”
“Parts of it.” Sage’s lips pursed. “I saw you surrounded by armed men led by Kylie, who works for Cetus, by the way.”
“You’re fucking kidding. When did that happen?”
“Before you even met. But don’t ask me the details. How and why that happened are unclear.”
“She claimed to have met me on purpose.”
“So I could be born,” Olivia murmured. “They wanted someone like Auntie Sage.”
They? “Do you know who’s giving the orders?” Leo asked.
“The bad man.”
“He hurt you?” Leo would hunt him down and?—
“No. He was nice to me. Nicer than Kylie.” Before he could decide how to kill that conniving traitor, Olivia’s lips twisted. “She can’t be mean to me anymore.”
Sage mouthed, “Kylie’s dead.”
“Again?” Leo couldn’t help a sarcastic lilt. Then before he said something nasty about Kylie in front of Olivia, he admitted his failure. “Me and Ruth found the relic, but it disappeared when we beamed.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Aries stated. “Looks like it found its way to where it belonged.” His gaze went to the partially filled thirteenth dais.
“What will happen when we find the third artifact?” Leo asked.
Aries shrugged. “No idea.”
“Should we be worried? Cetus seems pretty intent on getting their hands on it.”
“They already have it,” Sage announced with an ominous tone. “But hopefully, Capricorn will manage to get it back.”
“Does he need help?” Leo wouldn’t mind getting even with the company that caused him so much pain and turmoil.
“No. He must go alone if the world is to be saved.”
Leo might have asked more questions but Olivia piped in, “I’m hungry.”
“Let us go see what Tower has for you to eat. I know it’s already prepared you a room.” Sage glanced at Leo. “You’ll notice a few changes inside your apartment.”
Tower was accommodating their newest addition. “I’ll join you and Olivia after I put Ruth to bed.”
“Don’t hurry, Daddy. Auntie Sage and I will be having a nap after my snack,” his daughter declared, raising Sage’s brows.
The seer’s lips curved. “That sounds like a fine plan, little muffin. Shall we?”
While it killed Leo to see Olivia walking away, his heart felt light. Lighter than it had since that dark day.
His baby girl was home.
Safe.
And he would never ever lose her again.
With Ruth cradled in his arms, he carried her to his room and did a double take at the changed space. There was a couch instead of recliners, big enough for three. The dining table had an extra chair, but most significant of all, the enclosed bedroom.
Leo lay Ruth down on the mattress and debated seeking out Olivia, despite her napping claim, when her lashes fluttered.
“Leo,” she murmured.
“Right here, Buttercup.”
“We’re home.”
“We are. Safe and sound. Olivia too.”
“Oh thank goodness. That was terrifying. Where is Olivia?” asked as she sat up and glanced around.
“Having a snack then a nap with Sage.” He pursed his lips before adding. “She’s safe, and yet I’m kind of panicking I dreamed it all now that she’s out of sight.”
“A normal feeling. It will take some time before you adjust to the fact she’s back in your life. If you’re feeling that ill at ease, you can go track her down. I’ll be fine.”
Before he could decide if that was being a little too overprotective, a haze formed in the air and cleared to show Olivia sitting at a table with Sage and Aries eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and drinking juice. He also saw the yawn that almost swallowed her head.
“Thank you, Tower,” he murmured.
Ruth put her hand on his. “Everything will be fine.”
“Will it? I just found out my life was a lie. At least the part with Kylie in it. She used me.” His lips twisted. “And I never even guessed.”
“Don’t you dare start blaming yourself for not realizing she plotted your entire relationship. You couldn’t have known. No one would have.”
He sighed. “Still feel dumb.”
“I know the feeling. You, Tower, magic, mysterious relics and ruins. My entire worldview has shifted.”
“In a good way?” he asked, holding his breath as he waited for an answer.
“Yes. Although I could do with less of the scary stuff. I’d rather not have a gun to my head ever again.”
“Speaking of that threat, what the fuck was that back in the jungle? Telling me to leave you,” he chided.
“I saw a chance for you to rescue Olivia and save the relic.”
“At the cost of your life?”
Her lips quirked. “Yeah, well, if it helps, I didn’t know an altruist existed within me.”
“I wouldn’t have let them kill you. I would have handed it over first.”
She cupped his cheeks and pressed a soft kiss, murmuring, “I know.”
At the touch of her mouth, need filled him. A need to reassure himself she’d survived. A need to feel alive. A need for the connection he only felt with her.
Leo kept their lips locked as he removed her damp clothes, revealing the curves that begged for his touch. As her own hands tugged at his shirt, he caressed her smooth skin.
She shivered.
“Cold?” he asked against her lips.
“More like impatient,” she murmured. “Is it weird I want to feel close to you?”
“Not weird at all. You survived something challenging. We both did. And now we celebrate.”
With those words, he trailed kisses along her jaw and then down her neck. She responded with gasps and shudders, her body writhing on the sheets. He played with her breasts, suckling the pert nipples, fondling their full weight before he moved lower, kissing his way down her to the thatch of curls that hid her sex.
Her thighs parted for him as he nestled between. He blew hotly against her moist nether lips, and Ruth sighed. Parched for a taste, Leo buried his face, and his tongue licked the addictive honey that was hers alone. Everything about Ruth entranced him.
Scent. The sounds she made. How her body quivered and responded. His cock replied by swelling so thickly it almost hurt. He thrust a finger into her as he lapped at her clit, knowing by her panting breath and the tightening of her channel that she as close.
He worked her faster, thrusting a second finger in and grunting in satisfaction as he felt her muscles tightening. She orgasmed, hips bucking wildly, but he held on and continued to not only draw out her pleasure but ramped it up again.
When she whimpered his name, “Leo,” he slid up the length of her body, pausing only to kiss each of her nipples before claiming her mouth. As they kissed, he buried his cock deep, wanting to shout at the slick feel of her sex clenching tight.
Fuck, she felt so good in his arms, around his cock, against his lips.
Her arms laced around his neck, and she murmured, “Wasn’t I supposed to be on top since I won?”
Oh hell yeah. He rolled them, keeping their bodies intimately locked. She gasped and laughed as her fingers splayed over his chest.
Her smile was pure delight, and it almost made him come. She began to grind against him, swirling her hips, drawing him deep.
So deep.
Her breathing quickened, as did her pace. His hands on her hips helped her to keep moving as pleasure took over. She tightened. Squeezed. And when she came milked him hard enough he couldn’t help but come.
Came inside the woman who was always destined to be his bonded mate.
As they collapsed in a pile of trembling limbs, she huffed, “Sex isn’t supposed to be that good.”
He chuckled. “It is when you find the right person.”
“But why me out of everyone in the world?” she asked.
“Because you are the only star that shines for me.” Probably the most inane and sappy thing he’d ever said.
Yet she didn’t laugh. She replied with a soft, “You make me believe love can exist.”
“And you’ve given me a reason to live.”
A bell chimed, and Leo rolled out of bed. “I think that’s our cue to get dressed.”
They managed to be presentable when Sage arrived, holding Olivia’s hand. His daughter had been changed from the dull gray tracksuit to something pink and frilly.
Upon seeing Leo, Olivia beamed, squealed, “Daddy! Look at me!” and ran.
He’d never dropped so fast. He caught his daughter in a swinging hug, feeling his heart ready to burst. “Hey, baby girl. How was your snack and nap?”
“So good. The food here is so yummy. And look. I got a dress.”
Olivia got more than that. The apartment had a new door that opened into a little girl’s dream room. Canopied bed, a giant toy box, and bright colors everywhere.
“I love it!” Olivia exclaimed, whirling around. She skipped as she inspected her new bedroom until she paused by a kid-sized table with chairs set with a white rose-patterned porcelain tea set.
Leo’s daughter glanced at Ruth and shyly said, “Would you show me how to have a tea party?’
“I would be delighted.”
And that was how Leo ended up wearing a tiara, sitting in a tiny chair, holding a small teacup with his baby finger—since the others wouldn’t fit through the loop—having tea—grape juice—and cookies.
This warrior had never been happier.
And he went to bed with a smile. Woke with one, too. But that was Ruth’s fault. She had his cock in her mouth.
What a start to a glorious day. A glorious life.