Chapter 17 - Adalyn
I didn’t know what possessed me to trust Zephyr. Perhaps it was knowing I had sealed every entrance by bringing us in here. Once the spell latched onto the main entrance, it automatically spread to every opening, protection for whenever witches found refuge and sanctuary here.
He led me past the pool and down an endless tunnel that only spiraled into darkness. And, still, I trusted him. Even when I couldn’t see our hands in front of us, he talked to me. He told me about how it felt to shift. Zephyr let me latch onto his voice as we walked through the dark.
“Scared of the dark?” he asked.
“No,” I answered. At least not the fully pitch-black kind .
“I must admit it’s a bit creepier when I’m not a wolf,” he muttered.
So he truly had walked through our sanctuary as a wolf. My cleanse had settled my soul, but it had only made me feel closer to Zephyr. It was as if my bloodline had looked upon me and heard my apology but still said we find it agreeable . Or perhaps that was my imagination.
“Okay,” he said, “It’s just up ahead.”
“How can you tell?”
“I have great tracking senses,” he answered.
We veered right—and entered a small, low-ceilinged room with nothing in there, but a bundle of blankets and cushions that I recognized were from our bed.
Our bed, I realized I had thought.
But then I looked up.
There was a small circular opening in the room—another entrance, sealed off with that shimmering glow—and the sky stretched out through it.
“I call it the stargazing room,” Zephyr said, striding into the room. He had snagged one of the robes that witches usually made use of. It was too small, but he didn’t seem at all bothered. He spread his arms out as if he belonged in there. Typical shifter , I thought, but I was smiling. Outside, the sky had grown dark, making me realize how long I had been locked in the cleanse. My legs still trembled from the unexpected orgasm Zephyr had given me. He’d filled my vision, demanding my attention, and I had made him work for it.
I didn’t know what had changed between us, but I knew what he was talking about when he said he didn’t want me far from him. I felt attuned to him now as well, like a string tying us together that pulled noticeably whenever we were parted.
The stars were out above us, and I spun around slowly, trying to see everything from that small circular window.
“It’s beautiful,” I murmured.
Zephyr caught my eye, and a smile, softer than I had seen from him before appeared on his face. “I had a plan to bring you here earlier, so I gathered all our bed coverings. I hope that’s okay.”
It was the first time he had checked without a hint of mockery. There was still that teasing glint in his eye, but his tone let me know he was being serious.
He’s starting to respect this space, I thought.
I returned the smile.
“It’s more than okay,” I answered. In truth, I didn’t know if it was, but nobody could contradict me. I wandered over to the pile of sheets and landed in it comfortably. Zephyr joined me a second later.
“Is this a date?” I taunted.
A second after I asked, I wondered if it was the wrong thing to ask. Zephyr tensed beside me.
“I’ve…” He cleared his throat. “I’ve never really… Taken a girl out.”
“No,” I laughed, pressing a hand to his chest as I turned to look at him. “That’s a lie! Frazer said you’ve had a lot of girls in the past.”
“Yeah,” he said. “But not dated .”
“Player,” I muttered under my breath. It made me want to shift away from him, but he growled and tugged me flush against his chest. His body warmth seeped through my robe. I unknotted the tie on the robe and let it slip open. Not to tease him but just for the casual comfort. Zephyr’s hand brushed gently up and down my chest, between my breasts. Not to tease or arouse but just to touch .
And I let him.
Part of me was still strained, wanting to move his hand, remain loyal to my coven, and never let a shifter lay his hands on me. Another part longed for it and said this is not just any shifter. This is Zephyr . And there was something about him that made my world start turning upside down.
“What do people do on a date, then?” Zephyr asked.
“Well, I grew up in Azure Cove after I turned eighteen, and before that, boys weren’t exactly date material back in Brooklyn, or they just wanted to know what losing their virginity to a witch would feel like.”
“Did they ever find out?”
“No,” I muttered. “Which only made them more relentless.”
I felt him tense beneath me. I hoped he was remembering his taunts from the pool, realizing how those words would have made me feel.
His fingertips danced over my skin lightly. My nipples pebbled, and still, he didn’t move to make the moment more intimate. Above us, the stars twinkled, and I was captivated. I felt his eyes flicker between me and the sky.
“God, we’re dumb, aren’t we?” I laughed. “Wondering what people do on dates.”
“Yeah, but we haven’t exactly had normal upbringings.” Zephyr shrugged. “This is as good as it gets for now.”
“Well, I imagine that people get to know each other,” I suggested. “There’s probably good food involved.”
“Shame I can’t go to the store,” he muttered. “I’d have brought back the best pizza around.”
“You mean the only pizza around?” I sniggered.
Zephyr laughed, the movement jostling me. Finally, his fingertips grazed my nipples, and I let out a soft sigh. His hand traveled up to my neck, gliding over my jawline, tracing my face, even as we gazed at the sky.
“And as for getting to know each other,” he said, considering, “Ask me something. Anything. I’ll answer it.” There was an edge to his voice that made me wonder if he thought he would regret offering that.
“What made you enter the military?” I asked.
“My dad was in it,” he answered. “He died in battle, but that didn’t make me enter. I always looked up to him. He passed away when I was eleven. A grenade took out his convoy. He left behind his wife, a loyal, kind woman, who always taught me to be proud of myself. He left behind twins, and an older son.”
“Twins?” I echoed.
Zephyr nodded and pointed to his head. “They read Zephyr and Zane .” He ran his free hand over the tattoos on his scalp. “Zane was my twin. He—he was killed when we were seventeen, right before we graduated in Pittsburgh. I grew up in this tiny town where everybody knew one another, much like here, so processing his death was hard. It got suffocating. I had so much anger. When I tried to outrun it, fight, and kill my way through it, I couldn’t. It wasn’t helping, so I tried to discipline it instead in the military. I was good—better than I thought I would be, climbed the ranks, met the other guys, made my mom proud. My older brother still lives with her in Pittsburgh, but I don’t go home as much anymore. Too many ghosts.”
I hadn’t expected him to spill as much as he had. I found I didn’t know what to do with these words that held such value. His face was stoic when I looked at him, his jaw clenched.
“What made you finally leave Brooklyn? I don’t think Azure Cove has a college program for witches and brews,” he laughed, but his mood wasn’t entirely in it. His voice fell flat, dryly joking, almost a mocking comment again. But I knew it wasn’t, and my annoyance simmered down.
“My parents were killed,” I said. “In… Bad circumstances. I was eighteen, but I hated Brooklyn. Everyone thought it was funny to play the practical jokes on the witch. The one labeled every name you can think of. It was excruciating, and I’d spent my teenage years begging my mom and dad to let me be home- schooled. After they died, I found everything was noisier and busier than ever. There was no peace, clean air, or place to go and escape. I’m sure there would have been if I had looked harder, found contacts, but I didn’t. In my mom’s belongings I found a picture of her and my dad holding up a cod in the ocean. The back of the photograph marked the location as Azure Cove. I got on a flight the day after their funeral to the mainland, got a boat over, and met my grandmother. Next thing I knew, I was part of a much bigger coven than I realized.”
Zephyr laughed. “I know that feeling.”
“Which one?”
“Finding out your life is bigger than you imagine.” He gazed up at the stars. “My bloodline holds a lot of history that I can’t keep ignoring.”
I nodded.
“Why do you hate witches so much, Zephyr?”
“Why do you hate shifters?”
The answers hung between us in the silence. It hit me in that moment how much we mirrored one another. Our lives forever changed by death, choices sending us far away from home, and a new enemy gained.
“A witch killed your brother,” I whispered.
“In cold blood,” he answered. Then he paused. “But… Adalyn, it wasn’t just any witch.”
“What do you mean?”
Zephyr turned to gaze at me. “It was a Lindell witch from your coven. Bloodline or sworn-in, I don’t know. But I hunted her down through any state I heard rumors in.” His mouth was set into a grimace. “I don’t regret anything I did in the name of revenge.”
Weight slammed into me as I gazed at the man who had been the cause of some of my covens’ deaths. And I couldn’t comprehend it. It made me uneasy, as if the floor suddenly had been taken away.
“A shifter killed my parents,” I told him. “And it doesn’t make us equal, or what you did okay, but… I thought about killing shifters myself after their deaths, and I think I would have, had I known for sure if anyone was one. I was with them, in my back garden.” The memories tore through me, cleaving my heart. “The wolf launched over the gate, tore my mother’s throat out. My father tried to step in, but he barely took a step. I couldn’t cast quick enough to do anything, to protect them, or myself. But the wolf suddenly dropped to the floor, and shifted into a male. Blood began pouring from his mouth. My mom had spelled her own blood poisonous, lest she be killed. She would take her attacker with her. The shifter was dead within minutes, and I didn’t know what to do. I called my mom’s best friend, and she helped me.”
I remembered lying in their bed for a week after that, curled up, my eyes on the window outside, waiting for another wolf to come and finish me off so I could be with them, too.
Nothing else had come.
I had been left alone.
“And then I came to Azure Cove,” I said. “And suddenly, I had footsteps to fill and a coven to honor in a way my mom hadn’t. She had remained loyal to witches and their beliefs but she had turned her back on the island here. She hadn’t wanted to protect or save it, not like my grandmother or I did.”
“You carry your grandmother’s burden,” Zephyr guessed.
I nodded. “Sometimes it’s too heavy,” I admitted. “Sometimes, I don’t want to be consumed by anger and hatred.”
That’s why you feel so good to give into , I thought quietly to myself, knowing I wouldn’t admit this yet.
Zephyr cleared his throat. “When I went into the military, I thought I would never wash my hands clean of blood. It’s ironic because I only stained them more.” Without thinking, I linked my fingers through his. “But it felt good to hone my need to do something with this suffocating anger. This… This feud. My dad had always warned me about witches, but my mom told me a different story. A story about my bloodline and unity and an island. I thought it was just a story, but…”
He shrugged.
I was too lost in thoughts of my dream. We were always meant to reunite our bloodlines, Adalyn.
I froze.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I answered. “I just… Dreams.”
Zephyr let out a soft laugh. “You’ve had them too?”
I looked at him, surprised. “Yes. Mine are… Well, they’re about you. About us.”
“Mine too,” he answered. “After that day, Hec and I came to the Emporium, and I realized you were a Lindell, then they turned darker. I imagined you were the witch that killed my brother. I know you’re not, but you know how dreams are.”
I nodded. “I shouldn’t be with you here, Zephyr.”
His smile grew. “I think it’s a little too late for that, isn’t it?”
“Far too late,” I replied. The air was heavy with our confessions and darkest parts of ourselves. I felt the loss of my coven sisters, the ones killed in Zephyr’s rampage, and I understood my hatred of him initially. But underneath that, I understood why he had done it. I had wanted to kill everything that reminded me of my parents’ killer but couldn’t. Zephyr had given into revenge while I had given into responsibility, taking up the mantle my mother had disowned.
I thought of my grandmother’s words earlier that day: One day, you shall walk in my footsteps. You must know all and everything about our lineage. Including Zephyr’s place within it.
I thought I knew what she meant now. Between Zephyr’s mom’s story, which she had told him about his bloodline and an island, and Gramma’s words, I had an idea of the truth.
Zephyr was from the ancient shifter bloodline that had brought his witch mate with him.
And if that was the case…
We were truly, in a way, reuniting our bloodlines.
My body tensed, and Zephyr noticed.
But instead of asking more questions that would fill the air with more weight, he only turned my face up to kiss me. His hand cupped my face as I shifted closer to him, half straddling him. I let him kiss me—kiss the darkness and the sadness away. Kiss all the worries and trauma and everything I didn’t want to think about yet.
With each swipe of his tongue, Zephyr took it all away.
When we pulled away, I kissed his jaw, mapped my way down to his throat, and ran my finger over his muscled clavicle.
“Zephyr?” I asked.
“Yes, Adalyn?”
“Will you teach me how to defend myself?”
He leaned back, a grin crooking on his face. “Weren’t you the one telling me all this time you can do that?”
“Magically, I can, but physically, I have no self-defense skills. I want you to teach me.”