Chapter 20 - Zephyr
I knew something was wrong when I woke up, and the sheets were cold where Adalyn had been lying. My arms weren’t around her body, warm and tucked close to my chest, like when we’d fallen asleep.
Her scent was faint in the air, present but long gone.
My instincts kicked in, a rage barrelling through me, a need to find her.
“Adalyn!” I yelled, throwing myself from the bed. I didn’t waste time shifting. I could track her in human form. If she had gone to where I suspected—the place I thought I had convinced her away from—then I wanted my human form to talk to her without worrying about shifting back.
“Adalyn!” I shouted through the tunnels. That tether between us stretched and grew taut, constantly aware of her. After all, we had talked about—after I had finally voiced my thoughts of moving here for good—she had betrayed me and left. She had gone out there alone, where it might not be safe.
All because I hadn’t been brave enough to tell her why I wanted to keep her safe.
I hadn’t meant to belittle her. I had only wanted to protect her from jumping head-first into a dangerous situation. I needed to protect Adalyn—my mate. Adalyn, who carried my child.
The two mingled scents combined, and I went crazy, sprinting down the tunnel, my heart pounding. I let every bit of training hone in my mind. I followed Adalyn’s scent right out of the furthest tunnel entrance we could find. She had been clever, leading me away from the main entrance where I could have stopped her instantly. The magic in the air would have roused me from sleep from that near, but at a distance, using the furthest way out, I hadn’t detected a thing.
I cursed myself for believing her.
But that was the thing. She might not trust me, but I realized I had come to trust her.
My palms shook as I launched myself down the tunnels, eating at the distance until I saw the circular tunnel entrance up ahead. I flew through it, bursting out onto the Green Trail, which led down to the island's northern part.
I didn’t have backup reliably. I had no phone, my only instinct was to find my mate. I had once chased her through these woods, hunting her down to kill her. Now I hunted her to find her and protect her.
Nothing would keep me from protecting Adalyn and ensuring her safety.
Desperately, I scented her through the trees, momentarily distracted by the smell of the forest after the rain, the muddy, wet earth smell. Animals and people—all their scents mingled in a confusing haze until I picked hers back out.
I panted as I hurtled down the trail, leaping over fallen logs and slamming low-hanging branches out of my way. Leaves kicked up behind me as I slid and slipped down mudslides until I finally found her.
Adalyn had her back to me, her knees to her chest.
Her hands wove patterns in the air as she poured a line of liquid over the treeline.
“Adalyn?” I called out. She didn’t even flinch. I slowly walked up to her. That rage of trying to find her that had left me unsettled finally calmed down as soon as I approached her. No demons were in sight. I hadn’t even thought to protect myself from them on my way to her, my only thought being her.
But she was safe.
She was right here.
I heard a small sniffle and rushed to her side. In the distance, the lights of cottages and island homes lit up against the dark sky. It was cold, and I immediately wrapped my arm around her shoulders. To my own surprise, she let me. Adalyn slumped into me.
“Why won’t you let me do anything alone?” she whispered. It was an angry murmur. She didn’t look at me. I craved her, too. I was desperate for those deep, gorgeous eyes to look at me. “You still don’t believe in me.” She shook her head, angrily wiping away her tears. “After everything , Zephyr, you still don’t trust me.”
“I do,” I said, pleadingly. “Oh, Adalyn, I do. I do trust you. It’s the world I don’t trust. I don’t trust it not to harm you.”
“Yeah, well, news flash, I did a good job of it before you showed up.” Her voice was harsh, cutting through the dark night. She still held her shoulders rigidly, her hands placed on her stomach. Concern shot through me.
“Your stomach—”
“I felt a little sick again, is all,” she muttered. “Stop worrying . Stop hovering, Zephyr.”
“Don’t act like I’m overbearing,” I snapped. “You know just as well as me that whenever we’re apart, we’re struggling. We’re so tuned into one another. You move from me, and I feel it. I know you do, too.”
She fell silent. Then, she slowly nodded.
“I know,” she whispered. “And that’s what terrifies me. I don’t… I don’t understand any of it.”
“How scared are you?” I asked her.
“Very,” she said. “I’m scared of how much I feel. It’s overwhelming, Zephyr. It’s… It feels so much bigger than I was ever prepared for, meeting you. Lo— knowing you.”
My heart rose in hope at the word she almost said, but she swallowed it back, and I let her.
“But I can’t have my life restricted,” she said. “You can’t tell me I can’t do things I have always done. I’m not defenseless, and I’m not some damsel in distress. If I hurt myself, then it is only me who will b e hurt.”
“It isn’t,” I snapped. “There isn’t only you anymore to think about.”
The hint slipped out before I could stop it. Finally, she looked at me. Her eyes shined with tears. “What do you mean?”
“I can detect scents,” I whispered. “The sickness, the new feeling connecting us, my need to protect you and keep you out of harm’s way even more… I think you’re pregnant, Adalyn.”
The words hung between us, and I smiled, my eyes prickling. “I think you’re carrying our child.”
Her face paled, her lips parting. For a moment, she only blinked at me.
Then, her hand slid over her stomach, still flat.
“Zephyr…” Her voice was thick with emotion. Her eyes darted between me and back down to her stomach. “I’m… I’m—”
She broke off, one hand covering her mouth as she held her stomach. I reached out, placing my hand over hers, wishing I could feel a heartbeat within, but it was far too soon.
“But…” she whispered, shaking her head. “But you’ll leave the Cove. You have a home, a life, to go back to.”
“I already said I’d stay.”
But Adalyn shook her head. “No. No, Zephyr. I can’t keep you here. I can’t keep you from your life.”
“And you won’t,” I said. “Alex is still here and on active duty, isn’t he? I can do both. But Adalyn, that life was grasped in the throes of anger and vengeance. It was a way to hone myself, to grow from an angry teenager into a calmer man who knows exactly who he is.” I met her gaze. “The sort of man you might see yourself building a future with.”
I took her hands in mine, pressing my lips to her knuckles. “I’m descended from the bloodline of the original shifter who came to Azure Cove. The shifter whose mate was a witch.”
I let the words linger and let her process the meaning in them.
“I think history is repeating itself, Adalyn, with us.”
Her eyes glistened, one tear falling, and I let go of her hand with one of my own to wipe it away carefully.
“We were always meant to reunite our bloodlines,” she whispered. A quiet laugh slipped free. “That’s what you told me in my dreams.”
“Maybe my dream self had some knowledge we didn’t know at the time.” I tried to make it a joking, light comment, but my voice was too cracked with emotion.
“Do you think it could be true?” I asked her. “That we might be here to reunite our bloodlines once again. To repair the rift between shifters and witches?”
“Through a baby?” she whispered.
“Through—” I almost said love . “Through this connection. Through… Through you being my mate.”
“Mate,” she echoed. Adalyn looked so lost, and I hated that I had caused it. I had said too much, but I still felt as though I hadn’t said enough, and I hadn’t even scratched the surface of what I wanted to tell her about my feelings.
“You don’t have to decide,” I said quickly. “But I know it in my heart. I know that’s what you are to me.”
She let out a sob, a laugh, a combination of the two. “Zephyr, you wanted me dead a few weeks ago.”
I mustered a smile as I held her. “We’re natural enemies,” I said. “Or were . What if we were the reason our respective kin realized that we don’t need to be anymore? Witch and shifter feuds have gone on for too long. We’re all taught to hate the other side, but… What if we don’t have to anymore?” I held her face, kissing her softly. “We could make a new story for Azure Cove. A new beginning. A combined force against the demons. You’re brave and strong, Adalyn. I do not think you’re weak. Your abilities are invaluable, and my only hesitation in having you alongside me in battle is driven by my fear of you getting hurt.”
Adalyn gazed at me. Together, we lay down right on the edge of her shield. It shimmered in the air.
“Once, shifter and witch came together to form a new bloodline. A coven and a pack uniting.” We both knew the story. “You think that can happen again?”
“I think it has already started to,” I told her honestly. “Look at you and I. Look at how at ease you were during the summer with the rest of the shifters. Look at Harper . She’s not a witch, but she accepted her shifter mate. We could be powerful, Adalyn. I will stop at nothing to protect you, but I also don’t want to hold you back.
“Our truce centuries ago turned sour, but we can make it better. We can set an example.”
Her response didn’t come in the form of words but a kiss. A deep, bruising kiss that held every inch of her yes in it. She kneeled up on the floor, straddling my hips. Her mouth was insistent and hot on mine. Her tongue swept into my mouth, her hands finding my wrists and playfully pinning them above my head.
“If we do this,” she murmured, her lips sucking lightly on the underside of my jaw. We both did this. When emotions got too much, we turned to physical intimacy to speak for us. That was common practice, but it was new. I didn’t try to take control from her. Not yet.
“If we do this, then you need to be okay with me taking over once in a while,” she purred. “I like my submission to you. I want it. But I also want you to know that I’m not someone who is happy to take the backseat constantly. Protect me, yes. Have my back, yes. But I want those things to come with your acceptance that we will be at each other’s side when we fight.”
Her teeth caught my lip, and bit it harshly. I groaned, nodding.
“We could be perfect,” she said softly. “You attack, me defending. Two sides of a coin.” Her nails scratched right down my chest, fondling at the waistband of my pants. “My wolf. My protector.”
The name sent a jolt of need through me, pleasure wringing through my body. I moaned when her hand slipped beyond the waistband, taking me in hand.
“Adalyn,” I groaned.
“It’s my turn to take care of you,” she whispered. “After all, I lied and snuck out. Don’t I deserve to make it up to you?”
Her eyes held such wicked delight and pleasure as she kissed her way down my chest, licking lazily at my trail of dark hair. Then she was tugging down my shorts, smiling when my length sprung up, already half hard.
“I’ve been bad.” Her lips moved against the tip of my length. “ So bad. Maybe you should teach me a lesson, Zephyr. Make sure I pay in severe punishment for my choices.”
“Yeah?” I asked, my voice shaking as I fell to her whims. My fingers slid into her hair. Oh, I would punish her. I’d use her throat until she was hoarse. I’d keep her choked on me until it was all she could think about. I would chase away uncertainty and tears with pleasure and make sure she thought only of me, of our future, of the fact that we could explore these darker sides of our desire in the future.
We had time spreading before us.
Endless. Hopeful.
Adalyn’s mouth sank down on my length, and I moaned, bucking up into the warm heat. I would lament her moaning, missing out on it by keeping her mouth full, but I would find new sounds for her to make that night.
And when I finished down her throat, I smirked at her before pulling her up my body. I had her pants and underwear slipped off her in seconds and lay back, smiling and spent.
“Come here,” I murmured, my hands sliding up her thighs. She settled over my face, smiling down at me. A blush rose on her cheeks as she sank down onto my waiting mouth, and I delved into her with my tongue, holding her thighs open over me.
And beneath the moon, I pleasured her, listening to her cries spill out into the night, and I knew that I would never, ever tire of hearing her. And I knew how lucky I was that this could be my future.
I would never part from Adalyn again.
A new future.
One we pledged to together.