[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

[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

[Madison] I hadn’t realized how much energy would be needed for me to fully wake up. Reanimating a body and, I suppose, turning a body from earth to true flesh, took a lot. The positive of the body was that I wouldn’t be able to get pregnant for a while. It meant I wouldn’t have to be careful, that was good considering just how much feeding I’d needed over the last six hours.The bed moved, but my body stayed warm. It had to be Jeremiah. He was getting up for some reason.“Ford, I’m going to go run a bath for Aria. She needs her bath and sun time. Will you be okay without us for a couple hours?” He asked.“Yeah. She didn’t need as much last time. I should be more than enough for her.” Ford answered.“I don’t want my bath and sun time. I want to stay here until she wakes up properly.” Aria pouted.“No, angel. You need your bath and sun or you&rsq

The room had a heavy feeling to it. I needed to explain everything. They had to understand that I didn’t do it on purpose, that I was stuck and unable to be my true self for so long.If I could have, I would have told them as soon as I arrived home yesterday morning. It was a lot of information. There was so much to tell them all now. I just wanted to go back down to the apartment and be with my mates again. This had to happen though.“Reggie had no memory of the past because of more than just the attack. She was born without it. Maeve Regina is her real name and she wasn’t a concubus, she was… is fae. A High Fae Queen. Reika is also a queen. She is a Ylva… she is the reason Annie called me that. Reika was my wolf. She was trapped in me like Caliban was trapped in Rafe. Like Reggie was also trapped in me. I could use their abilities, but I couldn’t hear them, change into them, or even realize they were there. I felt so alone for so

[Ford] After lunch Rao wanted to do an announcement. I put my foot down. That wasn’t happening until tomorrow. Madison was mine. She could belong to everyone else tomorrow.He tried to challenge me, but he was just an alpha and, in the end, a king will beat an alpha every time in a challenge of wills. There was too much I wanted to do. I couldn’t let her go yet. Plus, she needed to mark Aria.Anders had told me how much marking mates helped demons. I’d seen it when Poppy took some of Anders’ pain while he was fighting last year. I knew that I wanted Madison to have that strength, too. She was never gonna leave me again.I couldn’t stop her from going after the vampire, but I could ensure she was as strong as possible. Like me, Aria was happy to have Madison back. She would want to be marked. I wanted that for her.Watching her over the last year, broke my heart. When I’d had the marking dream, I&rsq