Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Joy. Peace. Relief.
All of it explodes from the smile that breaks across Weston’s face, and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
Pressure in my chest explodes as I stare into the playful eyes of this gruff and grumpy man who can finally just be, letting go of all the responsibilities and stresses that were settled on his shoulders for years.
The island gave us this gift, this light in the darkness, right when we needed it. The sunshine and freedom that accompany the trust of those we once called friends make the eternity that glimmers ahead of us seem so much brighter.
A peal of laughter rips from my throat as Weston drops down in front of me, his corded arms wrapping around my waist before he throws me over his shoulder.
“Weston!” I scream. “What are you doing?”
“Taking you to shore.”
“I didn’t mean that way!” I bounce up and down as he jogs down the steps then strides swiftly down the gangway.
“Hey!” I yell, my cry full of laughter as he hitches me up higher, making me feel like he is about to let me fall, so I have to wrap my arms around his torso and cling tightly.
“Stop complaining. Your captain is taking you to shore, as requested.”
“I could have walked!”
His boots barely hit the reef before he’s swinging me backward and sliding the front of my body down his until my feet are planted firmly on the ground.
“Where’s the fun in that?” His eyes sparkle as he brushes my hair off my face before weaving his fingers through it at my nape.
Tilting my head gently, he leans down, stilling me with the press of a scorching kiss.
His lips part mine, and I match his movements, taking every deep stroke of his tongue.
I can feel his smile, and the absolute bliss of the moment makes me forget about everything except the press of his body against mine and the taste of him on my lips.
When his other hand finds the small of my back and pulls me in closer, I oblige, and fist his vest in both my hands.
The loud clearing of a throat nearby breaks my focus, and seemingly his as well, as both of us stop moving and he pulls away with a grumble. My eyes flutter open in time to watch him raise an eyebrow as his head turns only enough so he can speak just past my lips.
“Yes?”
“Is someone going to explain to me what the fuck is going on?” Mara says.
With all the excitement of watching the crew leave the ship and frolic on the beach, I completely forgot she was standing there, and I can only imagine what is running through her mind now.
“No,” he growls, and turns back toward me, his lips pressing firmly into mine again before I break away. Flattening my palms on his chest, I push him back slightly, and shoot him a look.
“Yes,” I say.
He sighs and straightens, then wraps his hand around mine before striding across the jagged reef. He pauses just before Mara, tugging me to his side as he looks her over. He looks more annoyed at her interruption than his typical captain glare, and I bite the inside of my lip to hide my smile.
She doesn’t waver. Her head swivels between the two of us, then down at our joined hands before her gaze tracks up to Weston again. “Well?”
“The ship has been here as long as I have,” Weston explains.
“No, you couldn’t see it. Yes, we all could.
You can only see it now because the island must trust you.
” She opens her mouth to ask something new, but he doesn’t let her get a word in.
“Any other questions will be answered later. Right now, I’m going to spend the day with my crew.
They’ve waited long enough to be on that beach. They deserve it.”
Weston starts off toward the shore, leaving Mara staring after us.
“Wait!” she yells, and I hear her footsteps pound as she chases after us. “Why does it need to trust us?”
“Later,” he commands over his shoulder as our boots hit the sand.
The beach is chaos as everyone revels in the freedom from the walls of the ship.
Sig and Jorn must have swum to shore through the cove and now are traipsing through the waves, letting them crash over their bodies.
You would never believe Roley feared the Castaways just days ago as he and Fin still run around the beach, weaving through everyone and laughing boisterously.
Stassia still lies in the sand with Auralie beside her, smiling up at the sky.
Weston’s grin hasn’t faltered as we stand taking in the scene, witnessing the way everyone seems so carefree.
It’s the complete opposite of the palpable tension every time they left the ship during the daylight hours.
The sight is gratifying, especially with as much suffering that I’ve had to endure over these past days.
But instead of watching each of them, I turn and watch him.
I don’t want to miss seeing him realize he doesn’t have to protect them anymore.
That he can just be.
A call rings out over the commotion, and both of our heads snap toward it.
“Hey Cap!”
Weston’s smile fades as the captain’s stern protectiveness is in control again, and his eyes move in the direction that Fern points.
Standing on the edge of the cliff, watching everything from above, are the rest of the Voyagers.
They peer over the edge, and the beach falls silent, until all that’s left is the crash of the waves.
“Mara, you kept your word, correct?” Weston calls. My eyes stay locked on the cliff, despite the sound of what I assume is Mara shuffling through the sand.
“I wouldn’t be standing here if I didn’t,” she says as she tromps toward the stone staircase. “It’s alright! Everything is fine!”
It feels like I am back in the training ring, the standoff between the Voyagers and the Castaways so strained that each is waiting for the other to move first. I watch as some of them break, turning to the side and murmuring to each other.
Gauge lifts his arm and points across the beach toward the cove, where the ship that they’ve now also spotted sits empty.
“The island trusts them too,” I breathe, letting out a sigh of relief.
“He must really be gone,” Weston says. “Now there’s no doubt he was the one Dawnlin was protecting us from.”
The sinking realization that Weston is right makes my stomach churn.
The island was protecting us, and it was from the Guardian.
The man manipulated and coerced every one of us, all to get what he wanted.
He violated his position as the Guardian, the person who was supposed to protect the healing waters from someone like himself.
But a flicker of hope lights in me knowing that despite all Dane did, every single person here was still trusted.
He didn’t destroy the good in us permanently.
The silence is thick as the Voyagers glance between us and the ship, piecing together that we were right under their noses the entire time.
Eirlick is the first to break the tension. “You coming down, or what?”
No one moves, as if they’re still trying to reconcile how their beliefs don’t match up with what is right before their eyes.
Veck calls out next. “Rylan, get your ass down here!”
It’s as if a dam breaks the moment the Voyagers realize the beach is full of people they know, friends they haven’t seen in years. People they were tricked into hating because of Dane’s manipulations.
Rylan takes off down the steps, and watching one of their own decide to take a leap of faith was the only sign the rest needed. The other Voyagers take off behind him, jogging down the steps until they’re all in the dark, wet sand below.
Tears prick my eyes as I watch everything unfold.
My fears and worries about how the Voyagers and the Castaways would fare sharing the island all but disappear.
Embraces, tears, laughter, playful pushing and shoving.
It’s as if no time has passed as friends and chosen family reunite.
There’s no need for bitterness, distrust, or fear.
There’s no need to be hunted or to do the hunting.
We’re all the same, trapped here through no choice of our own.
Stassia and Auralie walk up to Lilly, no doubt introducing themselves the same way they did with me.
Veck has his arm slung around Mara’s shoulders, and she looks relieved, and if I can believe it, comfortable.
Echoes of ‘Is that really where you lived?’ and ‘Can we see the ship’ flitter through the air from some groups of younger boys, and I can imagine home will be quite crowded this evening.
Sig is beside us in the next moment, throwing her arms around Weston with a huge smile on her face.
“It’s over, Cap,” she says into his chest. “We made it.”
“Couldn’t have done it without you, Signee,” he grumbles into her hair. His arms wrap around her, squeezing her in a tight hug as she swipes at her face with one hand.
“Thanks for not stabbing me and finishing the job in the last twenty years,” he says with a smirk, and Sig barks out a laugh before pushing him away.
“Shut up, asshole. If you only knew how many times I thought about it.”
“And I probably deserved all of them.” His smile widens as his hands settle on his hips.
“You did!” she calls over her shoulder as she saunters back across the beach to Jorn.
No one could have predicted how everything turned out, but it would not have been this way if it weren’t for Sig and Weston.
If they hadn’t held strong, if they hadn’t done what needed to be done to protect the healing waters, Dane could have had them years ago.
My life wouldn’t be the same, untouched by every one of these people on the beach.
My crew. My family.
My loneliness would have been unchanged without them.
With Sig gone, Weston turns his attention back to me, and the playful happiness fades from his face, and my stomach flips with unease.
“What?” I ask warily as his eyes darken.
“You.” He takes a predatory step toward me.
“Me?” I take a step backward to match his. “What did I do?”
“You started all of this,” he says with another step, which I match again, when I see the gleam in his eye.
The corner of his lips lifts as he prowls toward me, and I stumble backward through the sand.
I have no clue what is running through his mind until his eyes flicker over my shoulder to the crashing waves behind me.
I throw my arms up in mock surrender. “You can’t blame me! I did nothing wrong. I can’t help it if I was a pawn in his plan!”
He chuckles and reaches over his head, pulling his shirt off and exposing the array of rippling muscles that I have become intimately familiar with.
“Weston…” My tone is a warning, but he ignores it, tossing his shirt to the ground before stepping out of his boots. His eyes stay locked on me, his predatory smirk in full force, no doubt trying to use his body to distract me from his plan.
I turn to run, but I’m not fast enough. He darts forward, and I shriek loudly as he scoops me into his arms, fully clothed and boots still on. He barrels down the beach and crashes into the waves, the water instantly soaking me through.
I gasp and splutter as we surface, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling my body flush against his bare skin.
“You asshole!” I yell, swiping my hair away from my face, but the sound of his laughter makes my irritation melt away, accompanied by the grin spread across his face. We’re past the breaking point of the waves, and he wraps my legs around his waist before wading farther into the cove.
He leans in, pressing a firm kiss to my lips, and I sink into him a little deeper, tightening my arms around his neck.
“Look at all of them,” he murmurs against my lips, and we turn toward the beach where no one has stopped their celebration.
I take them all in again, these people I care so much about and get to spend eternity with, and watch them enjoying their first real day of freedom since calling the Guardian.
“This wouldn’t have happened without you.
If you hadn’t left Blackwood to come here, if you hadn’t put yourself at risk to get the dust, we’d all still be confined to that ship. ”
My chin wobbles, but his fingers still it, grasping it between his thumb and pointer and turning my face back toward him.
Deep pools of teal scan between my eyes as his grip pulls me closer.
“Even with the way it all turned out, knowing we’re spending eternity here, you still gave them something they didn’t have before.
That’s bravery and sacrifice befitting a queen. ”
I settle my forehead on his, and my eyes fall closed as the current of the water rocks us gently, clutching each other beneath the rays of the suns.
“They deserve it. You deserve it. I couldn’t see it any other way.”
The corded muscles of his arms tighten around me as he clutches me to him. We stand there unmoving as peals of laughter and shouts echo on the beach over the crash of the waves, and I can’t help but feel content.
Completely content.
Despite all the heartache and subsequent joy at once again altered circumstances on Dawnlin, I am not alone.
I’m in the arms of a man who would give up everything for me, who has seen me more than anyone in my life.
I never thought I would have that, and if going through all of this was the only way to get it, then I would gladly deal with Dane and losing my future over and over again.
His lips find my skin, peppering it with kisses as he slowly moves along my jaw, nipping below my ear and causing my body to arch into his. His chest grumbles as I press into him. Even fully clothed and submerged in the cool water, I can already feel the heat building between my thighs.
“So,” I say, lifting my chin to give him better access as his kisses continue down my neck and across my collarbone, his hand reaching up only to brush my wet hair aside. “We have all this newfound freedom. What do you want to do today?”
He pulls away, leaning back so he can look me in the eye, and smiles softly.
“Live.”