Chapter 24 Amari
AMARI
I’m sitting in the web bed, chatting with Moria, Kemnebi, and Tofi. I’ve dedicated my nights to talks with Carla, and then quality time with my children.
I’ve even hunted with them in the forest a few times, cheering on their kills. But there’s one thing I can’t do for them. They miss their mommy desperately.
I sit up and look at each of them. “One day, we are all going to be one big happy family again. I can feel it. I know it’s going to happen.”
Suddenly, Tofi, Moria, and Kemnebi begin sending me images in excitement. Mommy, Mommy’s home, Mommy.
“No, children, she’s not...” I stop when I capture the familiar scent that now feels foreign to me because it’s faded after months of not being with her. Peaches. That sweet, peachy scent that used to cling to her skin, to her clothes, to our bed.
My entire body goes rigid. My heart, starts pounding against my ribs.
I sit up slowly on the web bed and look down. She’s staring up at me from the forest floor with her hands on her hips. Her curls are wild and free around her face. Her eyes are locked on mine.
“Well, this is quite the role reversal. Are you going to come down and give me a kiss?”
I freeze, looking down at her. My vision blurs. I’m crying. She’s crying too. Her tears are pink, full of magic, glowing tracks down her cheeks.
“You aren’t real.” My voice breaks on the words. “You’re just in my head. Like every night.”
She sighs, and the sound is so achingly familiar. “Come down and find out.”
I shake my head, still suspended in disbelief. My hands grip the edge of the web bed. “Nuh uh.”
She giggles, the sound washing over me. She starts pacing below me, and I track her every movement like a starving man watching food. “I remember a moment like this when you tried to get me out of my web and I wouldn’t.”
The memory hits me. When we first started this, when she was still so guarded, so afraid to trust.
She looks to Tofi with a wicked grin. “Tofi, cut the web bed down.”
I grin and the smile is almost childlike, hopeful, terrified. My face feels strange making the expression after so many weeks of grief.
She looks at Tofi again. “Do it for Mommy.”
Tofi does. She cuts the web with one precise slice and I drop from it.
I’m perfectly prepared to land on my feet with, but Carla uses her magic to stop me before I land.
A magical web wraps around me, pink and glowing, humming with her power.
She grabs the magical web, pulling it closer like reeling in a fish.
Then it vanishes, dropping me at my feet when I’m just inches away from her.
I can feel the heat radiating from her body. I can see the rise and fall of her chest. I can smell that peachy scent so strong now it makes me dizzy.
“You’re home.” The words come out choked, strangled, like I can’t get them out properly. Like my throat has closed around them.
She reaches out slowly, giving me time to pull away if this is a dream. Her hand is shaking. She gently strokes my cheek and I can feel her. She’s warm and magical and solid and real.
I close my eyes from her touch, leaning into her palm. She starts crying with me, both of us shaking with the force of our emotions.
I drop to my knees and she falls with me, our bodies crashing together. I pull her into my arms so tightly I’m afraid I might hurt her, but I can’t let go. I can’t. Not now. Not ever again.
We just cry together, two months of separation, of loneliness, of aching need pouring out of us. She wraps her arms around me and buries her face in my neck, taking in the scent of me. Her lips brush against my claim mark and I shudder.
“You’re real. You’re really here. I’m not dreaming.” I bury my face in her curls, breathing her in.
“I’m here. I’m home.”
“It’s over. It’s finally over.” I pull back just enough to cup her face, my thumbs wiping away her pink tears.
“Not quite.” She pulls back slightly, and fear spikes through me.
“What do you mean?” My grip tightens on her.
“I have to physically live in both realms.”
I pull back from her to look at her face properly. To memorize every detail I’ve been missing. “What?”
“When I first became Queen of Limbo, I wasn’t properly balancing out the time. I made here with you more of a priority. I can’t do that anymore.” Gentle words, but final.
I nod in acknowledgment, trying to process. “Okay.”
She sighs, her breath soft against my skin. “And I have other responsibilities. I can’t interfere in what’s going on with Brookstone and Blackburn anymore, nor what’s going on in Wintermoon. I can only observe, offer guidance.
I grab her hand and pull it to my lips, kissing the back of it, then her palm, then her wrist. “I understand. I don’t care. I’ll take whatever I can get.”
“And I have to work with Angie and Anora to build a coven. Not right away, but when the time is right.” She watches my face carefully.
I smile at her, genuine and warm. “The Blackwoods. I love the sound of it.”
She relaxes slightly. “You’re not angry?”
“Angry?” I laugh, the sound wet with tears. “Baby, I’m holding you. You’re in my arms. You’re here. Nothing else matters.”
“How long can you stay?” I ask, my voice soft, almost afraid of the answer.
“Two, three days at the most, then I must go back to limbo.”
Two or three days. It’s not enough. It will never be enough. But it’s more than I had an hour ago.
I stand and pull her up with me, then scoop her up into my arms like she weighs nothing. She fits perfectly against my chest, like she was made for this exact spot.
I start walking her back toward Medina Castle, my steps slow because I’m not ready to share her with anyone else yet.
I look back at the children who are following, their many legs creating a soft symphony in the forest. “Please, give Daddy some time with Mommy. She’s all yours tomorrow, I swear it.”
Tofi, Moria, and Kemnebi send us images of a booing audience and tomatoes being thrown at us.
“Haters. They’re lucky I’m even sharing you.” I kiss Carla’s forehead.
“Are the children still banned from Limbo?” I ask as I carry her, holding her closer.
She shakes her head. “No, not anymore. That was me. I didn’t want you to be alone. I knew if they came to limbo with me, they would stay.”
She giggles. “Well, except Tofi.”
We laugh in unison, and it feels so good to laugh with her again. To share joy instead of just pain.
The soldiers gasp when they see me carrying Carla into the castle. They bow their heads respectfully, and I see some of them smiling. Word will spread through Wintermoon by morning.
I set her down on her feet in the foyer and she looks around, taking it all in. Her eyes roam over everything like she’s seeing it for the first time.
“Can I cook for you? Wash your feet?” I move closer, unable to keep distance between us.
She rolls her eyes. “You aren’t doing any of that.”
“Then what am I good for?” I move closer still, wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her into a loving kiss. Soft at first, then deeper.
“So much. More than you’ll ever understand, Amari.”
I start to kiss her again, groaning when Bobby steps out of his office. He flashes to the foyer with his vampire speed, picking Carla up and giving her the biggest hug. He spins her around.
“I’m so happy you’re home.”
He sets her down on her feet. She gives him the Black Panther fist. “Right on, brother.”
Bobby cries but does the same, his fist meeting hers. “Right on, sister.”
I get frustrated. “All of Wintermoon will be happy she’s home, but I just got her back.” I roughly grab her arm, possessive. “She’s mine just for a little while.”
Bobby grins, understanding. “I’m going back to work. Brookstone and Blackburn have been oddly quiet lately and it’s kind of scary.”
Carla giggles at that when she looks at me. We share a knowing look. She’s been terrorizing Alexis.
“I’m cooking a pot roast. Family dinner later?” Bobby asks.
“I would love that,” she tells him.
I scoop her back into my arms and carry her up the stairs to our bedroom, taking them two at a time.
“You know I could just teleport us.”
“What’s the fun in that?”
I carry her into our room and she looks around, closing her eyes with a smile. “It smells like you. Like home.”
“When’s the last time you had a shower?” I ask.
She looks at me with narrowed eyes. “Are you saying I stink?”
“No,” I say nervously, setting her down on her feet. “You smell lovely.”
She fans me off. “I’m just messing with you.
I don’t shower in limbo. There’s nothing there unless I make it so.
I just kind of sit around, make sure order is restored in there and Verto is my executioner.
” She pauses. “I’m changing the rules a bit in limbo.
Before it was more chaotic and my children just fed at will.
Now, I’m giving the souls a chance to roam.
Seems to keep things more peaceful there. ”
“I knew you’d find a way.”
I get closer to her. “You smell incredible.”
She grins at me and I pull her in for another kiss, deeper this time. My fangs ache with need.
“But take a shower with me. I want to worship your skin.”
“Amari...”
I pick her up and carry her into the bathroom. Then I start to undress her, slowly peeling off her dress. She’s not wearing anything underneath. Her caramel skin glows. Her curves are perfect, breasts full, nipples already hardening.
I undress myself, pulling off my shirt, my pants, until I’m naked before her. Her eyes roam over my body, appreciation clear in her gaze.
I grab washcloths and towels, then turn on the shower. Steam fills the bathroom as the water heats.
I pull her under the spray with me, the hot water cascading over both of us. I grab the soap and washcloth, lathering it up.
“Let me take care of you.”
I start washing her, beginning with her shoulders, moving down her arms with gentle circular motions. I wash her breasts, cupping them, thumbs brushing over her nipples. She gasps, arching into my touch.
I wash her stomach, her hips, then drop to my knees. I wash her legs, her feet, worshipping every inch of her skin. Then I work my way back up, my hands sliding between her thighs.
“Amari,” she breathes.
“I’ve missed you so much.” I stand, pulling her close. “Every second of every day.”
She takes the washcloth from me. “My turn.”
She washes me with the same reverence, her hands gliding over my chest, my abs, lower. When her hand wraps around my dick, I groan.
“Carla.”
“I’ve missed you too.” She strokes me slowly, water running over us.
She looks up at me with those eyes I’ve been dreaming about for two months. “I want you to fuck me like a bear.”
I grin, pulling her close. “It would be my pleasure.”