Chapter Twenty
It had been the longest day but I still couldn’t sleep.
The house attempted to coddle me with the hypnotic sound of the wind rustling leaves in a tree, gentle birdsong from the friends painted on my bedroom walls, all the colours of my room muted, soft and soothing.
Nothing worked. When the grandfather clock chimed eleven, I gave up, rolling over to open the drawer in my nightstand and pulling out a sachet of recently harvested lavender.
I tucked it into my pillowcase and breathed in deeply, the herbaceous perfume trying its very best to knock me out, but there was only so much one plant could do.
Especially when there was someone opening our front gate and creeping across the lawn. Shooting out of bed, I almost tripped over my own feet as I knelt onto the window seat, throwing open my window to look outside.
‘There’s no way to surprise you, is there?’ Wyn asked with a chuckle as his head popped up in the magnolia tree.
‘This is a surprise,’ I confirmed happily. The birds in my room switched their song to something more excitable as Wyn moved gracefully from the branches of the tree to my balcony and I hastily ran my fingers through my bedhead, biting colour into my lips.
‘A good one I hope.’
‘The very best.’
For a moment, I was transported back. Kneeling on my window seat, smiling at my sweetheart, the moon and stars dancing in the night sky behind him.
It wasn’t so long since the first time he’d climbed the tree to watch the night pass by my side but at the same time it was forever ago.
A month and a lifetime all at once. It was too easy and too quick, the way the world changed, and rarely for the better.
‘You could’ve come to the front door,’ I said, pulling the oversized Atlanta Braves jersey I loved to sleep in down over my thighs as I climbed out the window to join him.
‘And risk waking Ashley?’ He chuckled lightly and accepted the pillow I handed to him. ‘Besides, this is our tradition.’
Inching along the balcony until my bare legs were touching his denim clad-thighs, I rested my head on his shoulder, sighing with happiness when he draped an arm around me, both of us leaning back against my pillows.
Sleep could wait. The warmth of his body and the soft humidity gave me a tender sense of security I hadn’t felt in forever.
‘Couldn’t let the universe steal all of our first day back together,’ Wyn said with a sigh that was almost a purr. ‘Wouldn’t be right.’
‘Agreed,’ I replied.
‘I spoke with my mom.’
His words hung heavy in the air.
‘And?’
I felt him shift at the side of me, tense for a second, before he sagged, touching his lips to the top of my head.
‘They didn’t believe me. Hard to explain how come I’m so certain there was a Were in Savannah when I wasn’t around and no one here is supposed to know we exist. This is witch territory, no pack members in the city limits.’
‘They couldn’t feel it?’ I asked, recoiling at the memory of its magic, the shockwaves that almost took me off my feet.
‘Magic, yes. A Were, no.’
A shiver of alarm threatened my peace.
‘Don’t worry,’ he said, my head nestled under his chin. ‘I said I’d look into it, Mom said OK. Doesn’t help us with your lone wolf though.’
But I was still anxious. The Weres had sensed magic rising here before I ever arrived. Catherine was gone but I wasn’t. If they came looking for the source, if they sent more of the pack to the city … I gripped his thigh, the solid muscle underneath his jeans yielding to my touch.
‘Should I be worried? Should I send Ashley out of town for safety? What about—’
‘Hey, Em, don’t.’ He brushed his thumb over my bottom lip. ‘I know there are a mountain of problems to figure out, but right now everything is OK. If it’s only for tonight, I want to forget about the rest of it and be with you.’
Days that turned into weeks and weeks that felt like decades had passed since we’d last been together like this.
Things were more complicated now, perhaps they always would be, but when he carelessly raked his fingers through my hair, twisting the waves at the nape of my neck around his hand, I dissolved, all my worries and fears melting away for another day.
There wasn’t a fraction of my being that understood how Emma Catherine’s prophecy could come to pass.
Why would anyone choose to end existence when love this pure existed in the world?
Surrendering to his touch, I lay my head against his chest and luxuriated in the steady sound of his heartbeat.
‘Can I ask you something?’
‘Anything.’
‘Do you feel different?’ I asked, leaning closer into him, running my hand up and down his arm, from shoulder to wrist, marvelling at the lines of his bicep and triceps, the turn of his forearm. ‘Since you phased with the pack?’
‘Yes,’ Wyn admitted. ‘Everything is amplified. I’m stronger, faster. I feel more tuned in, like I’m always on my third coffee, if that makes sense.’
‘It sounds familiar.’
He pressed another kiss to the top of my head and I let myself relax deeper into him.
‘It’s still new. I have a lot to learn, some parts of the phase start slow and get stronger over time, but the connection to the rest of the pack?
’ His heart began to thud a little faster.
‘I always felt like I was on the outside of my family. Now I’m a part of something so much bigger and it’s overwhelming, in a good way. Do you know what I mean?’
‘Yes and no.’
A frown drew my eyebrows closer together as I tried to put my own experience into words. ‘When Catherine was here, things were clearer, but since she disappeared … It’s just me, no pack to share my experiences, no other witches. I’m all alone.’
‘No, you’re not,’ Wyn whispered, his fingers finding my cheekbone, then my chin, finally turning my face up towards his. ‘You’ll never be alone, Emily, not while I’m here.’
Words I wanted to hear but still struggled to believe.
‘How long are you here?’ I asked.
‘Forever.’
His eyes were fierce, burning in the darkness.
‘Even when I’m not in the city, I’m with you, Em, I am yours always.’
The kiss that chased his words was an explosion.
A million stars burst into a billion fragments, consuming my body and soul.
When our lips met, I transcended. I was locked in my body and hovering outside of it at the same time, fighting to get closer to Wyn, slipping into his lap, my arms around his neck, my legs draped over his.
Swathes of plush, night-blooming jasmine unfurled along the walls of Bell House, the tiny white flowers scenting the night with a heady perfume as they wrapped themselves around my balcony, around me, around Wyn.
We were tied together, to each other and the house, my magic embracing him as tightly as he embraced me.
He pulled away first, panting for breath, our foreheads still touching and the sliver of air between us hot and hazy.
‘I didn’t think the way I felt about you could be more intense, but ever since the phase …’ Wyn’s whole body trembled as he huffed out the slightest nervous laugh. ‘I’m trying not to scare you.’
‘You could never scare me,’ I promised, stroking his silky hair, pained by the inches of space between us. He caught my fingers and brought them to his lips.
‘Not even on the full moon?’
‘You’re always you.’ I traced the outline of his mouth, his breath hot on my skin. ‘I’ve seen the wolf and I wasn’t afraid.’
His gaze was so full of love, I lost my words, tongue-tied and too caught up in his eyes for talk. There on my balcony, surrounded by jasmine, the rest of the world went away. It was just the two of us, him and me, and no one else.
‘Sometimes I forget who I was before this all started. I think about the day I got in my truck to come looking for Cole and somehow, I think I was always driving to find you.’
The mention of his brother cast a shadow, it always did, it always would, but Wyn wouldn’t let me look away. With his palm flush against my cheek, he held my gaze.
‘I think that’s why I didn’t fit into the world. I was missing the most important piece: you.’
‘And your pack.’
‘The pack I would never have known about,’ he amended delicately. ‘If your grandmother hadn’t brought you to Savannah.’
It was a strange way to look at things but it was true. If Catherine hadn’t caused my father’s death, manipulated me into murdering Cole during his phase, Wyn would never have been inducted into the pack in his place.
‘There’s so much I would change if I could,’ I said, unable to keep a tear from my eye. Unknowingly taking Cole’s life ate away at me every day.
‘Can’t change what is, only what could be,’ Wyn replied. ‘Except when it comes to you. Nothing could change that. I’m a moth to a flame, Em, you burn so bright, even in the darkness. I will always find you.’
My mouth cocked upwards in an uncertain smile. ‘I’m not sure I love that analogy for you. Moths don’t tend to fare well around flame, at least not for long.’
‘You’re not afraid of me and I’m not afraid of you.’ He plucked a flower from the jasmine vine and tucked it behind my ear. ‘I don’t care what your grandmother told you or some ancestor decided two hundred years ago, you won’t hurt me. Your magic is beautiful, just like you.’
I kissed him again because I wanted to believe him and when he kissed me back, the golden string wound around our hearts pulled me into him, straddling his lap to get closer.
My jersey rode up around my waist and his hands found the bare skin of my lower back, drawing a soft moan from me, a sound he echoed, only stronger, more fervent.
My jasmine vines surged upwards, weaving themselves around us until I couldn’t see the sky, protecting us from the world and keeping us only for each other.
All I could hear was the slip of skin on skin and hard, fast breathing, and I couldn’t tell if it was coming from me or Wyn.
‘Emily,’ he murmured my name and magic flooded through me, swirling in my blood, filling me up to the brim with sensations I’d only dreamed of before. It wasn’t possible for me to hold him close enough, there was no connection we could share that would be too deep.
Surrendering to the ferocity of his kisses, I let go, closing my eyes and losing myself to the pressure of Wyn’s mouth, tiny sparks flickering on my skin every time his tongue brushed over mine.
He stopped to kiss me again, a quick touch that turned into something deeper when my arms caught him around the waist and his hands found my hair, eyes closed, lips throbbing, all common sense evaporating around us.
It was Wyn who pulled away first, leaving a longing burning inside me that I wasn’t ready for.
‘Emily.’
My name fell from his lips again, only this time his voice was full of wonder. I pressed forward to resume the kiss, impatient fists curled in the fabric of his shirt, until something cold and wet landed on the top of my nose.
‘It’s snowing,’ he whispered as sparkling flecks of white settled on the ground around us. ‘You made it snow.’
The cradle of jasmine vines unravelled itself, slipping back along the walls of Bell House until Wyn and I were sitting in the middle of the sweetest snowstorm, Lafayette Square turned into our own personal snow globe in the middle of July.
‘I should go,’ he said, nuzzling into my neck. ‘It’s late.’
‘And snowing,’ I replied, flushing as I gathered myself, climbing out of his lap and rearranging my jersey. The curtains at my window fluttered to remind me there was another option. ‘You could stay,’ I suggested. ‘If you want to.’
Wyn’s mouth opened, his green-grey eyes darker than I had ever seen them before and shining in a way that made me catch my breath.
‘I want to. I really want to.’
Carefully, with one hand on the railing, he rose to his feet, his wavy hair obscuring his face. ‘But we have forever, right? I want it to be perfect.’
My response was a barely there nod and I wasn’t sure if I was more confused or relieved.
There was nothing I wanted more than to fall asleep with my head on Wyn’s chest and wake up to his heartbeat in the morning but the part that came in between?
That still made me anxious, no matter how certain I was this was meant to be.
The snow melted away and I felt it return to the air, drifting back into the clouds, the trees, the atmosphere, still with me, only in another form.
Wyn held out a hand to help me to my feet and pulled me in for another kiss, something softer, sweeter.
‘Try to get some sleep,’ he said, holding my face in his hands, his lips against my forehead. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’
‘Tomorrow,’ I agreed and I leaned over the balcony, clutching my jersey around my thighs as I watched him climb effortlessly down the magnolia tree.
‘I love you, Emily James,’ he called up with that sleepy half-smile I’d dreamed about for almost a whole month.
‘I love you, Wyn Evans,’ I replied. ‘There’s nothing in this world that could change that.’
He grinned. ‘I know. You’d have to kill me to convince me otherwise.’
The words stole my smile but Wyn was too far away to see. Alone on the balcony, I watched him cross Lafayette Square, and shivered in the balmy night.