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He looks bewildered. “I don’t understand.”
I’m not sure I do either, but I think I need to acknowledge them, feel them, love them, before Vanessa can emerge.
He looks hopeful. “Some part of them was preserved?”
I dip my head. Yes, we are all one, and with each reincarnation, part of them was preserved. I don’t think they could emerge until now, until we were gifted with immortality.
“How do you know?”
I just do. As I think it, I feel a shifting inside as each of my reincarnations works together to thrust Vanessa to the surface.
My bird legs turn to human legs and my feathered wings pop out of existence, leaving behind human arms. I launch myself at Keenan, clinging to his neck and peppering him with kisses. “I thought I lost you.”
His arms wrap around me in a bone crushing hug. “That’s my line.” His voice is harsh, and I feel wetness where he’s buried his face in my hair.
Lifting his face, I kiss the tears away. “I’m here, Keenan. I’m alive and so are the others.”
“You died in my arms.” Agony leaks through his voice.
I kiss him, holding him as tight as I can. “I’m alive.” I grip his hand where it rests on my waist. “Feel me, Keenan. Take me. Prove to both of us that I’m not dead.”
His lips crush mine and he takes me to the forest floor, shoving his leg between mine before thrusting into me. With no preparation it hurts, but I savour the bite of pain, another reminder that I’m alive.
I dig my nails into his back, urging him on as he thrusts into me, each one more aggressive than the last as he takes me with a raw, ruthless need. I lift my hips, meeting him thrust for thrust, throwing my head back and screaming into the night. It feels good, releasing my animal.
“Vanessa!” he shouts, the sound inhuman, before he sinks his teeth into the flesh at the base of my neck, biting me.
The pain hits at the same time as my orgasm, and adrenalin rushes through me. I scream and scream, telling the world I’m alive.
When I close my eyes, I see his wolf in my mind, blue and smoky as it wraps itself around my fiery phoenix spirit, cradling me to him. I wrap my essence around his, protecting him with my fiery wings. The world shifts, and we merge as one.
Chapter 39
Some Kind of Wonderful
VANESSA
6 MONTHS LATER
“So then, I did what my manager, Laz, told me to do,” I explain to my rapt audience. “I asked for more money and equal pay for all supporting cast, man or woman, shifter or human. It’s only fair.”
The seagull dips its head in acknowledgment.
“Well, of course I landed the role,” I assure my new friend. “I’m an excellent actor, and I have all those awards now. I was a bit worried the Oscar curse would get me, but Laz says the offers are pouring in. I start filming next week, after Keenan and I finish our honeymoon.”
Keenan sits beside me on my lounge chair, holding up a bottle of sunscreen. “What’s an Oscar curse?”
I roll onto my stomach and he squirts sunscreen on my back. “It’s where an actor gets the award and struggles to find work after.”
“Superstition,” he says dismissively, rubbing the lotion in.
Looking over my shoulder, I narrow my eyes at him. “The curse is real. Just because it wasn’t cast by a witch doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”
The seagull let’s out a caw.
“See, my friend agrees with me.”
Keenan eyes the bird. “You know it’s not a shifter, right?”
