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“May I?”
I nod, waiting to see what he is presenting to me. He takes the metal and wraps it around my neck, creating a torque at the ends. “I won’t make it permanent,” he says. His eyes are serious, and I believe him. “I just want you to feel this first before deciding.” Then he wraps his other piece of metal around his neck.
The constant humming that I have been hearing quiets, and instead, I’m flooded with feelings and thoughts that are not my own.
I rock back on my feet, not expecting it, and feeling a little overwhelmed, like they take my breath away. It’s as if I walked into a room and walked into the middle of a concert, listening to multiple voices at the same time. When I hear Lucky’s voice telling me to breathe and just to focus on his voice, that lets everything quiet back into the background. All I feel is an overwhelming joy and love that takes my breath away.
“So much pain,” I say.
Lucky immediately goes to take off his torque, and I stop him. “No, I don’t feel pain myself, but I can’t imagine all that you’ve gone through. I would like to understand, though.”
The sensitive relief on his face allows him to look young again.
“If it makes you feel better, the pain has been going away little by little since I first laid eyes on you.”
“And when was that?”
“When you were taking selfies with Jonah before going into Avalon Vale.”
“I see. What does this mean? Why did you want me to experience this?”
He takes a deep breath. “When I tell you that you are my soulmate, I want you to believe me.”
Soulmate. That’s what this was, this ease. This feeling of belonging. As he says it, I believe him. That last bit of tightness and irritation finally melts away from me.
“Normally, among Firebirds, the male would make you one of these, make his mate one of these, and it signifies that we are in harmony in our relationship. There will be no secrets between us, and our love will grow from here.”
“Love? Don’t you think that’s too fast?”
“What does speed have to do with love? Is that a human concept?”
“I guess it’s not as crazy after all to believe that love can happen this quickly. If it helps to know, I will spend every day for the rest of your life, showing you how much I love you, the depth of my commitment.”
“Starting with today.” He takes me to another level of his area, and this was his work area. And in the middle was a sculpture that looks like a cross between him and me. We were one in this work of art, and the emotion that it evokes within me made me cry. Tears streamed down my face.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you’ll stay with me.”
I couldn’t speak for the tears, but I nod. He already has me in his embrace and hugs me until I can breathe steadily and say, “I’ll stay.”
“Oh! I almost forgot. Come, I wanted to show you something that you probably didn’t see the last time you were here.” In his den, there was a little closet, or what I thought was a closet. When it opens up, it becomes a portal.
It shows the skyline of New York City.
“Where is this?”
“I think this portal takes us to a place called Central Park?”
I laugh. “You’re joking? Really?” I shake my head in disbelief. “This is one of those sci-fi things I keep talking about. It’s like a little magic here, a bit of space tech there.”
“I suppose,” he says. His little smile is shy and boyish, smoothing away the years of pain etched into his face. “At any rate, we can travel there as often as you need. It will literally be footsteps away.”
I throw my arms around his neck, slanting my mouth over his. “Thank you for knowing what I need,” I whisper against his lips.
“You need anything else?” he asks. Hope, heat, and love in every beat of his heart.
My hand travels down his body. “Now that you mention it…”
