Chapter 31
Chapter
Thirty-One
brENTON
Water curled at my bare feet as the tide swept in. With Finley’s hand in mine, it was a near perfect moment.
If we didn’t have the monumental failure from our training in the astral realm hanging over us. I’d been so certain I could pick apart Zaicha’s threads, but she’d almost harmed Finley in the process.
Then there was Javier’s declaration. Not only did he plan to move to Vistos but Finley now knew Elias was responsible for Javier’s father’s death. It didn’t sit well with me for her to know the act without understanding the details surrounding it.
I kicked at a broken shell, sending it tumbling across the sand.
“There’s a lot more to what Javi said earlier,” I said, voice rough. “It was Elias who ordered George to kill his father. And there’s so much more to it than that.”
Finley studied me, her eyes patient as I tried to find the right words.
“I know you all tore through the veil because Teddy was in danger,” she said, her tone low and gentle. “Commander Hudson said if King Elias hadn’t done that, Teddy would be dead.”
I dipped my head in a single nod, relieved she knew that much.
Still, the movement felt heavier than it should have.
“While she was at work, a large refrigerator had fallen atop her. She was pinned, bleeding internally, and when we arrived, she was screaming at a man hovering over her, Javier’s father.
Telling him to stop, saying he was killing her. ”
The sound of those desperate words lived in the back of my mind, and my throat tightened at the memory.
“So Elias . . . He reacted. He gave the order, and George followed through while Elias dropped to his knees to tend to Teddy.” I drew in a shaky breath that ended on a dry laugh.
“Only later, we learned he wasn’t hurting her.
He was trying to save her. Every time he attempted to lift the fridge, it caused her more pain.
That’s what she’d been begging him to stop.
We didn’t know, though. We would never have killed an innocent male. ”
Finley’s brows furrowed, and I saw the understanding in her expression. “You keep saying we and us, but you didn’t do anything.”
I shook my head, sand shifting beneath my feet as we continued walking.
“The four of us—Elias, George, Everly, and me—we’re more than a group or a unit.
If one of us moves, we all move. If one of us screws up, we all bleed for it.
I was there. I didn’t question it, didn’t stop it.
Why would I?” I huffed out another humorless laugh.
“I believed he was trying to kill Elias’s mate.
I would’ve killed that male just as easily. ”
A muscle ticked in my jaw. Everything had changed after that. Not just the endless winter we’d brought into the human realm. Not even the spiral that had started Elias and Teddy’s relationship.
That moment dug its claws into Elias. To this day, I sometimes found George staring at his hands as if they were permanently stained.
“You can’t distort that moment into something it isn’t,” I said, my voice rougher now.
“No one else was there. No one else saw the way Elias would’ve broken himself to get to her.
The way Teddy screamed. The scent of her blood and fear—” I swallowed hard, but it didn’t clear the tightness.
“It was overwhelming. George didn’t hesitate because none of us did. ”
Finley’s other hand came up to cradle mine. We stopped walking, her steady heartbeat against my unsteady breathing.
“Javi’s not wrong to hurt,” she said quietly.
My back stiffened in reply.
“He has every right to, Brenton,” she said even softer, careful but not backing down. “But what happened, what King Elias did, what all of you did, wasn’t done in cruelty. It was borne from panic. It came from love.”
I blew out a rough breath, and when I lowered my head, Finley rested her forehead against mine. Her breath was warm against my lips, and I caught myself licking them, wanting to chase the taste of her.
We stood there for long beats. Just breathing. Letting the weight of everything settle without crushing us.
“The day I told you of the manicures I want,” she started, not inching away but holding me closer, “you said you’d choose me over your friends. Over your family.”
Her hand came up to my cheek, her thumb running slow circles against my skin. I leaned into her instinctively, because with Finley, I always did.
“I need you to know something,” she continued. “I will never put you in a position where you have to choose. You are my soul-bound mate, Brent. But they . . .” Her eyes caught mine, certainty shining behind the brilliant silver and hazel. “They’re your people. That matters.”
She didn’t say even if they don’t like me, but it was there, her insecurity threaded through every word. Even if they didn’t make space for her, she wouldn’t ask me to give them up.
But that wasn’t how they worked. They could be stubborn, protective in ways that left their mark, but they didn’t turn their backs on the ones who mattered.
And Finley mattered to me. Everly had more than softened to her and treated her like she’d been part of our group all along.
Alastor was as friendly as he was to anyone new in our group, in his own strange but comforting ways.
And Teddy . . . Teddy would probably throw a party and shove a mimosa in her hand before Finley got through their door.
Because the truth was, once they gave her a chance, they’d see what I saw. The stubborn, fierce, beautiful way she burned. The way she carried so much in her heart. And they’d make room for her. Not because I asked it of them, but because she would carve out her own space simply by being herself.
“They’ll welcome you,” I said, certain. “You’ll probably have to hold Teddy back with a shield, especially once she gets to know you.
And Etienne, he’s a part of you.” My hand circled her wrist, and I brushed my thumb across her skin.
“So he’s a part of this.” I smirked. “Whether he wants to be or not.”
Her laugh slipped out as if it’d surprised her. She tipped her head, her eyes glistening. “No one could ever love me the way you do. Thank you for making room for Etienne too.”
I dipped my head to kiss along her jaw and down the curve of her neck. “Lolli,” I murmured, voice low. “I already told you, you don’t have to give him up for me. If he’s important to you, then he’s important to me. That’s just how it is.”
Her fingers traced over the muscle of my arm, a light touch that skimmed up the curve of my neck only to get lost in my hair. Her touch melted through the edges of everything heavy until all I felt was her.
“You know,” she said, voice soft but wickedly sultry. “I added something to my list yesterday. Something you can mark off with me right now, if you want to.”
A slow grin tugged at the corner of my lips despite the weight of today. “Oh yeah?” I rasped, the sound catching at the back of my throat.
She nodded, her nose brushing mine. “Making out on the beach.”
My laugh came out rough. It quieted when I slid a hand up and pushed her shirt over her shoulder.
I lowered my head to press slow, open-mouthed kisses along the column of her neck and across her shoulder.
“Tell me,” I whispered across her skin. “Is getting sand in unmentionable areas part of that list, too?”
She let out a soft, bubbling laugh. “Would that really be a bad thing? Think of all the ways you’ll have to clean me up afterwards.
“Dangerous words, Lolli.” My lips skimmed back up. Along the line of her jaw, until her laughter melted into a shiver.
Her fingers slid back into my hair, her nails grazing my scalp. A deep sound rumbled from my chest in answer. She made one too, a quiet, breathy purr that wrapped around me and dragged me under.
I traced the outline of her body until I reached her waist. I tipped her back onto the sand, lowering her carefully. She laughed again when her back hit the ground, but the sound quickly dissolved to a gasp when I followed her down.
The kiss I pressed along the corner of her mouth was nothing short of a tease. Just enough to make her chase me for more.
She arched against me, her nails digging deeper into my scalp. I groaned at the sound she made when I nipped at her pulse against her throat.
“Brenton.” The way she whispered my name was my undoing, all wrapped up in a single breath.
I kissed her again. Harder, deeper. She opened for me, and the world around us faded away.
But then she pushed at my shoulder, laughing when I inched away. With that wicked smile in place, she flipped us over with a quick twist of her hips. I hit the sand with a soft thud, grinning up at her as she straddled me, her hair falling onto my face.
“Always my damsel,” she whispered against my lips.
“Always.”
Her lips moved slowly, and I savored how soft and right they felt moving against mine. While the kiss started tender, it quickly grew hungrier. Our tongues tangled, and I swallowed the whimper she made as her fingers dug possessively under my shirt and across my chest.
Wanting more, I framed her face and kissed her, a scorching kiss that had her pressing into me, her kisses just as frantic. My head was lost in a haze of lust. I needed her. All of her.
My hand slipped beneath the hem of her shirt, where I rubbed lazy patterns against her skin. Her hips rocked against mine, the breath between us thick with want. I could taste her laughter on my tongue, could feel the way her heartbeat raced to match my own.
I wanted her. Every damn inch of her. But I wanted her to decide when she’d let me give her everything. Not because she felt she had to. I wouldn’t take anything less than exactly what she wanted.