[Aria]
I was following the wisp for a while when it ducked into a doorway. It was a pretty wooden door with a siren and the ocean carved into it. I was about to enter, when I heard voices nearby.
One of them was Maddie! I wanted to go see her and tracked it to a small clearing. Making sure to stay hidden, I peeked around the trees I was behind.
Maddie was talking to another woman. She was tall, blonde, and trying to clasp a small gold belt around a dress that seemed to be a ‘Y’- shaped piece of cloth which the belt was supposed to hol
[Madison]I led Aria into the place I had set up. It was a clearing with a canopy bed. The wooden spires leading to the canopy were entwined with vines and flowers. Soft sunlight dappled the ground. The place was beautiful and everything I imagined.“You’re really planning to mark me?” Aria whispered. “Yes. I’ve been looking forward to this since the moment I found out. You have no idea how much I missed you, my sweet angel. I barely had time to know you. I learned so much about you in the brief bits I saw while walk
[Madison]I was taking a walk around the in-between when I heard a scream. It sounded like Indie and it wasn’t the type of scream I remembered hearing when she was having a good time. What else could possibly go wrong?A wisp appeared and guided me to the place Indie was standing. The door looked like the front door of Dennis’ old studio apartment. I remembered going there a few times to hang out with them. Indie always took us along on things that Dennis intended as dates so she wouldn’t be tempted by him.Jogging over, I stopped in front of her. There were tears in her eyes and she looked panicked and angry all at the same time. I wondered what could have my calm, cool, big sister so upset. Indie could always handle anything.
[Ford]The wisp thing disappeared in front of an arch with vines hanging down. I paused for a moment. I needed to collect myself. I hadn’t actually held Madison in so long, I was nervous. I couldn’t wait to hold her again. I missed her so much.I stepped through the arch and into a clearing. Trees grew around the edge and reached up to create a dome like roof, softening the light of the sun. Madison stood near a tree stump.She was as beautiful as I remembered. Her dark red hair was down. She was wearing the green dress from our date at The Frozen Fringe, but no shoes. Madison smiled and her face lit up. She was perfect again.Conric was going insane in my head. It was really her. I could smell her sweet scent. We wanted to touch her, though, hold her. She ran to me and threw herself into my arms. I gripped her tightly and kissed her soft lips.Burying my nose in the curve of her neck, I inhaled. She wrapped her legs around my waist and
[Reggie]Once I finished playing with and making love to Ford, it was time to get moving. I needed to save those humans, say goodbye, and come back to the in-between to claim my true self and finally go home. I couldn’t wait.I made my way back to the items I had the fae guarding and changed into my clothes. I was all settled when the first person made their way back to me. I knew that Aria, Ford, and Dennis would completely forget that I was coming back as soon as they exited their rooms.When Aria arrived, she looked sad. I wanted to hug her so badly. Serena arrived shortly after and saw Aria’s expression. She wrapped her arms around my mate and held her tightly.“What happened?” She whispered.“I… I got mad at her for leaving me. I don’t know why I got so mad. I thought I was over it. She said I didn’t trust her enough to be her anchor.
[Ford]We were working hard to put together a farewell dinner for Reggie. Everyone was dragging a little. We’d grown to really love her. I had to admit, I felt more than a little friendship for her.I hadn’t tried falling for her, but the closer it got to her leaving, the more it felt like watching Madison fade from my life. In the short time Reggie had been with us, she’d healed me. I hated that we had to lose her.Anders’ words from the other day echoed in my head. He hoped Reggie would be my second chance. In a way, she was. Reggie gave me the connection to my Maddie that I’d been missing. She gave Conric the chance to have a wolf mate all his own.If nothing else, Reggie gave us the ability and motivation to keep moving forward. To do more than just survive. I’d miss the hell out of her, but I had some solace in knowing she’d be happy after.Serena told us we shouldn’t think of this
[Serena]I woke up before my alarm and reached over to turn it off before it had a chance to sound. Rao pulled me back against him with a little growl. I sighed.Last night, his sadness about losing Reggie seemed to stop at the bedroom door. He was more animalistic than he’d been in a while. Not since the very first time we were together.Every time he finished he made me bring him back, over and over, well into the night. I could barely move when he was finally finished claiming me. The way he kept murmuring ‘mine’ into my ear was thrilling. I missed Indie, but at least I had Rao to remind me I wasn’t alone.Now, I didn’t really want to get out of bed. One of the downsides to all the training and stuff we do, is there’s not many days off. No matter how much I want to spend the morning in bed with my mate, I had to go start breakfast.Pushing away, I reached again for my phone and got ahold of it be
[Ford]I couldn’t believe Madison was right in front of me. She was exactly as I remembered her. Exactly as she had been in the pictures I had of her. The ones I looked at every day since she had turned to dust. She was as perfect as she’d been in the in-between.Staring at my mate, I took in every inch of her body. There was a small smile playing on her lips. She looked so innocently unaware, like she was sleeping and having a happy dream.“Get them out of there!” Serena commanded.Looking up, I realized everyone else was stunned as well. They’d all frozen and stared at the girls like I had. The spell of seeing them for the first time was broken and we worked to remove the lid.Was this what Reggie had been working on? She gave up her life to give me back my mate. To give us back our queen.I reached in to pull my Maddie out of the coffin while Rao did the same with Indie. Serena was at his side a
[Ford]I awakened to the feeling of a small hand caressing my cheek. I opened my eyes and saw Madison’s beautiful honey brown eyes gazing at me gently. I kissed her with all the love and joy I had in me. She was really there. It wasn’t a dream.Madison gripped my hair and held me tightly against her lips. The hunger in her kiss was doing things to me that I shouldn’t have been comfortable with in bed with another man. It didn’t matter who was there, though. My happiness wouldn’t let it matter.Her hand slipped between us and down my chest. Her fingers trailed over the muscles, taking her time on the journey south to explore everything she could. When she reached her goal, she squeezed and stroked me firmly. I managed to suppress the groan that tried to crawl from my chest.“Maddie?” Aria gasped.Madison left a last, soft kiss on my lips before turning to Aria and capturing her lips. Her hand k