Chapter 56
GAELAN - ONE MONTH LATER
Ilook down at the ring in my hand and can’t help the grin on my face. I’ve been here many times before, each time hoping I will get to keep Ari forever, never knowing when she will be taken from me. This time, when I ask her, she will be mine forever.
She killed Macy one month ago. I can remember Ari shimmering back to the bedroom, covered in blood.
I was still half drugged, but that didn’t stop me from crawling off the bed and pulling her into my arms and holding her while she sobbed.
We stayed that way until she told me everything that had happened.
At that moment, I had never been so proud of Someone or felt so much happiness in my whole existence.
Now I want her to be my mate and my wife.
“Gaelan, have you seen my white bag?” I jump when I hear Ari coming into the bedroom.
She comes over to me, and I almost drop the ring while trying to hide it so she doesn’t see it.
A feeling of déjà vu courses over my body; I don’t mind that feeling this time.
As this will be the last time I feel it in this moment, I will cherish it.
I place the ring in my pocket quickly, so she doesn’t see it, and shake my head. “No,” I shout out.
She frowns at me. “Are you okay?” Stopping her search, she places her hand on my arm.
“I’m fine, my Rose, just excited,” I try to keep the nervous shake from my voice. Today is going to be big for so many reasons.
She leans up and kisses my lips. When she goes to pull back, I wrap my arm around her, holding her close to me.
I look down into her glowing gold eyes. Ever since she came back from killing Macy, her eyes are no longer amber.
They glow gold permanently. She is also covered in more markings and spells, all gold swirls and symbols over her face and body.
She was initially shy about how many she had, but her reaction from both Trelor and me changed that. She settled.
To me. They make her even more beautiful.
“I love you,” my voice full of awe at the stunning and brave daemon in my arms; she smiles softly.
“I love you too, and if you keep looking at me like that, we will never leave this bedroom,” she jokes, and shimmers from my arms to the bedside, where she lifts her white bag out of the little closet. I turn to face her and chuckle.
“I found it, okay, I’m ready to go.” The excitement in her voice warms my heart.
We planned a trip to Westrey at our little hut just to have some time away from realm duties, but I have a bigger surprise for her. I walk over to her, take her hand, and pull her close to me again.
“Close your eyes,” I said in a playful tone.
She rolls her eyes at me, “I know where we are going, Gaelan.”
“Do you?” I smirk at her as I shimmer a blind fold over her eyes. “If you take that off, I will punish you later,” I threaten.
“I’m more likely to take it on for punishment, Gaelan,” she teases, making me laugh. I lean down and whisper hotly in her ear. “Leave the blind fold on, and I will fuck you so hard later you will be screaming my name and begging me to stop.”
She shivers; the scent of her need hits my nose, making me growl.
I wrap both my arms around her and shimmer us to the woodlands of Illis.
“Gaelan, where are we?” Ari questions me, and I grin and push her up against the closet tree.
“Guess? What can you feel?” The playfulness in my voice makes her laugh.
“I could use a spell, Gaelan,” she pouts.
I lower my head and kiss her lips lightly before pulling back and nipping her lower lip.
“Guess,” I whisper against them. She takes a slow breath.
“I can smell trees, it’s that warm smell like I’m in a field on a warm spring day,” her voice full of wonder.
“We’re not in Westrey, that I’m now sure of; that would be more of an earthy herbal smell. ”
I chuckle and pull the blind fold off her eyes; she blinks up at me before turning her head to look around the tree-filled meadow, before they land on the log cabin that sits next to the lake.
“Gaelan, it’s.. stunning.” Her voice is filled with wonder as she steps around me and casts her eyes over the land.
I have spent the last few weeks coming here to rebuild it after the explosion.
This will always hold a special place in both of our hearts.
“I know we have our place in Westery,” I shrug. “I just thought we could also have our first home back,” she turns to me, and the smile on her face tells me that I did the right thing, that she loves it just as much as I do. I walk over to her and pull her so her back is against my chest.
“It’s bigger than the last one?” Her voice was curious.
I nod my head, then take her hand and lead her toward the cabin. “I thought we might need more bedrooms one day,” my voice holds a level of hope.
“For children?”
I nod, wanting to fill our home with children. I let go of her hand and just watch as she walks up the steps.
“I would love that, Gaelan.” The happiness in her voice is a sound I will never want to stop hearing, and I’m going to spend forever making sure of that. Although she might cry when she sees what I have named our new log cabin.
I stand back, my eyes never leaving her. She pauses in front of the sign by the front door, her hand reaching out to run her fingers over the words' May-lou.'
“Gaelan?” I can hear the sorrow in her voice just before her head snaps to look at me, her eyes full of tears, but she is smiling.
“Do you like it?” I ask her, a little worried that I did the wrong thing, and she nods, then lowers her head into her hands and sobs. I shimmer from where I am standing to wrap her in my arms and hold her tight to me.
“I wish you could have met Aunt May,” she cries into her hands, then lifts her tear-stained face to look at me. “She would have loved you so much,” she then laughs sadly. “She would have questioned the hell out of you, but she would have loved you.”
I lower and kiss her lips lightly before I lift my hand and wipe the tears from her cheeks.
“I would have been my charming self; she would have no choice but to love me,” amusement lacing my voice.
She smiles, and I swear I lose my breath for a moment.
Trelor growls low in my head. He has been wrapped around Lexus in a kind of mind-melting spell my Rose cast on us; she was fed up just as much as I was of our daemon mates always wanting out just to fuck.
Hence, they now have a place to share in our minds.
“Thank you, Gaelan, you don’t know how much this means to me.
” Her voice is so soft that it makes me forget she can bring the world to its feet if she chooses to.
I just smile. “I do, My Rose,” I say with a light tone, and I push the door open, ushering her inside.
“There is more” I hint and watch as her eyes go wide when she walks through the door, the living room is already filled with furniture, some from her aunt’s house, things she told me she loved and missed when I asked her, others are parts the villagers have sent us as gifts and tokens to welcome their new Lady of Illis.
The walls are filled with photos of her family and friends, as well as pictures of her and Mekhi laughing, wrapped in each other’s arms, and wearing some very questionable outfits.
“We just need to add a few photos of you and Lucy, and it will be complete,” I muse, walking over to the wall and frowning. “And us,” I turn to look at her. She is still crying, but I can see the joyful smile that graces her lips.
“Thank you, Gaelan, this is…” shock laces her voice, she spins around, taking it all in.
“perfect,” she shakes her head lightly, then walks over to me and wraps her arms around my neck.
Ari leans up and kisses my lips as she melts into me.
I pull her tight to my body and lift her up; she wraps her legs around my waist, and I carry her over to the kitchen island and sit her on top of it.
Her fingers find my hair; she tugs me closer, deepening the kiss.
I want to fuck her right here on the island, but that can wait until later. I have one more surprise for her.
I break the kiss and rest my forehead on hers. “You need to get ready for dinner, My Rose,” I quirk my eyebrow and then step back. “Our bedroom is upstairs and the last door at the end of the hall.”
“Gaelan, are you cooking?” she bites her lips to stop from laughing. I narrow my eyes at her.
“What if I am?”
“Grilled cheese?” she groans, not in pleasure.
I raise an eyebrow. “You said you loved my grilled cheese, did you not?” My question, laced with fake anger. She laughs and jumps off the counter.
“Yes, and I can’t wait.” Her amusement makes me growl and spank her ass when she walks past me. I hear her running up the stairs to get ready.
Pulling my jacket off, I shimmer on my apron and a cookbook to the island. Not only did I build this, but I also took some cooking lessons.
My Rose is going to be so happy after tonight; she is going to fuck me so good. My cock twitches at the thought as I walk into the kitchen to start cooking.