Chapter 34
The rain patters down, and though Rogan and I are entwined together, basking in the afterglow of our lovemaking, I know our love is short-lived.
His love for me, that is.
I, myself, will never love another.
But even I’m surprised at how soon our nirvana ceases.
Rogan jerks, lifts his head. He inhales, long and slow and sure. Then he dislodges himself from me.
It’s her.
She’s here.
I could say my heart is breaking, but it already broke.
It broke the day I found out my father had orchestrated this whole thing, that Rogan’s love for me isn’t real, and that we’re not true fated mates.
Unfortunately, my love for him is real.
Damn my father, anyway.
Outside the bunker, a wolf howls.
Rogan rolls away from me, and the change takes him.
I watch closely—the sheer beauty of his metamorphosis.
It’s likely the last time I’ll see it.
The lush fur covers his body, and his muscles stretch and shorten, his bones snap. And the last part, when his handsome face becomes lupine. His teeth snap into place much like my own when I’m about to feed.
Or about to mate.
He looks at me, his green eyes both aroused and sad.
I stroke the fur on his cheek. “Go,” I say softly. “Go to your fate. Your son and I will be fine.”
He purrs into my hand but then in a flash scampers up and out of the bunker.
Because I’m a fucking sadist, I dress quickly and crawl out.
Two wolves frolic together in the rain.
It’s beautiful in a heartbreaking way.
I touch my abdomen. “I’ll always have this part of your daddy,” I say softly to my unborn child. “And he won’t forsake you, no matter how many litters that wolf bitch gives him.”
I’m not being fair, I know. This is no more her fault than it is Rogan’s.
The fault lies solely at my father’s feet, and it’s time he and I had it out.
I need to see him, find out the status of the war, because based on what I’ve seen here, it’s over…and no one won.
I also need him to level with me about my stepfather. Is it my destiny to kill him? Because if it is, I can’t. I won’t do that to my mother, no matter how satisfying it would be for me.
Only one thing is keeping me from doing this.
I’m in the fucking ether and I don’t know how to get out.
Rogan and his new mate run off through the rain, and when they’re no longer within my field of vision, I crawl back down into the bunker.
I pace over the dirt floor, yanking on my own hair as images of two wolves mating under the rain force themselves into my mind.
“No!” I say out loud. “No. I won’t go there. There’s nothing that can be done.”
“Are you sure about that?”
My heart races as I whip around toward the female voice.
The woman is beautiful in her age, her long hair a lustrous silver. Her eyes are a deep and piercing shade of amethyst, and they seem to hold the weight of countless untold secrets. Her skin is pale as moonlight, and when she opens her mouth, her fangs descend.
I back away, covering my abdomen. “Get the fuck out of here,” I demand.
“I’m of no danger to you,” she says, her voice louder now. She walks toward me and holds out one arm cloaked in black velvet. “I would never harm royal blood.”
I keep my guard up. “Who the hell are you?”
“I’m Lady Alara,” she says.
“And that’s supposed to mean something to me?”
“I’m the oldest living vampire,” she says, “and I’ve come to help you.”
“Oh yeah? Then can you get me and my unborn son out of here? I don’t even know where the hell we are.”
“Child,” she begins.
“I’m no child.”
She laughs softly. “To me, you are a child. This is the ether.”
“I know that much. I just don’t know how the hell to get out of here.”
“To move through the ether, you must understand the ether. It is not just a place, but a state of being, an existence beyond the tangible constraints of our physical realm. It is akin to the air around us—invisible yet ever-present, a fabric interwoven with the very essence of life and death.”
I scoff. “Thanks for clearing that up.”
“Open your mind, Princess Hannah. In the ether, time and space converge and diverge in ways incomprehensible to the human mind. It is a plane where the past, present, and future meld into a single, infinite moment. In our physical world, we are bound by the linear progression of time, but in the ether, time is but a construct, as malleable as clay in the hands of a skilled sculptor.”
“So is the war over or not?” I press.
“War is never over. Peace is never over. Time, in this place, doesn’t exist.”
“Tell that to all the dead vampires above us,” I say petulantly.
“Life and death are two sides of the same coin,” she says.
I resist an eyeroll. Whoever the hell she is, she’s my key to getting out of here.
“I’m sorry for your lost love, princess,” she says.
“Please don’t call me princess. It only reminds me of him.”
“Then Hannah, if you prefer. You may call me Alara.”
“Very well. Can you get me out of here? I’m pregnant, as you well know, and I need to take care of my baby. See a doctor regularly. I can’t do that here.”
“How did you get here before?”
“Through a portal in Rogan’s penthouse. Or with Rogan, while he was in wolf form.”
“Yes,” she says. “That makes sense. Our kind, with our extended lifespans and depth of experience, are more attuned to the subtleties of the ether. We feel its ebbs and flows, the delicate balance of energies that governs it. It is a realm of pure energy, where thoughts and emotions can manifest with as much reality as the chair you sit upon.”
“So you’re saying I’m not really here?” I wave my hands around. “This war didn’t actually happen?”
“Oh, it happened. And it was brutal.”
I rub my forehead. She’s giving me a splitting headache.
“Just get me home. Please.”
“To access the ether, one must transcend the physical body, reaching a state of heightened consciousness. It is through meditation, reflection, and sometimes ancient rituals, that we can brush the edges of this otherworldly plane. The portal in your wolf’s home helped you reach this consciousness through magic.
Your wolf, being in his animal form, was able to get you here using his animal instinct. ”
“So you’re saying I have the power to get home? Click my heels together three times and say, ‘there’s no place like home?’”
She laughs then, and it’s a joyous sound. This is a person who’s at peace, despite the spoils of war dotting the ground over our heads.
“You’re not wrong,” she says. “But are you ready to leave?”
“The man I love just ran off with his fated mate, so yeah, I’m more than ready.”
She nods. “Look around before we go. The ether is not just a place of power, but also of wisdom. It holds the secrets of the universe, the mysteries of life and death, and the echoes of all that has ever been and will be. Approach it with reverence, and it will reveal wonders beyond your wildest dreams.”
I do as she bids me. I look around at the bunker. At the place I last made love with Rogan.
The next moment, I’m back in Chicago.
I’m home.