They are safe, Gideon. You are safe. Thank you for protecting them and for loving them. Be happy, and know that no matter what challenges life brings, you are loved in return.
The simple words echo in his mind, unlocking a rush of joy in the place where the Goddess has always dwelled.
It is strange, almost disorienting, to feel the absence of fear and constant vigilance.
Gideon realizes now that those emotions hadn’t been born when Nix found them. No—their roots had stretched deep, woven into his very being for as long as he could remember.
The absence of that weight now is startling, like discovering a piece of himself he hadn’t known was missing. With Carnell gone for good, the shadows he’d carried for a lifetime had finally lifted.
For the first time, Gideon lets himself feel what it means to truly be free.
“Gideon?”
A soft whiff of vanilla-bread scent heralds Nix’s arrival before he slips his hand into Gideon’s. “Are you okay?”
It is a simple question, but for the first time in a long time, Gideon can say with 100% certainty that he is okay.
“More than, Kitten. You?”
“Hmm,” he answers.
They watch as Jay tries to persuade Rowan to give up his Wolf’s scenting and sniffing, preferably before it escalates into territory marking, and get into the car.
“Was weird for a bit.”
Understatement.
Not a single one of them had dared to mention what they’d seen on the rampart—that Nix had, without a shred of doubt in Gideon’s mind, become a vessel for the divine Goddess.
Beyond the nagging worry over whether his mate was physically okay—both from channeling that raw power andfighting Withers, Gideon can’t help but wonder if Nix felt even a fraction of the relief now coursing through him.
Nix’s lips quirk into a smile as Rowan begins dodging Jay with playful precision, dropping into a dramatic play bow.
“Did it look weird to you?” he asks, tilting his head as if genuinely curious.
Weird?No. Not even close. If anything, it had felt right—soright; in fact, seeing Nix consumed by the Goddess’s power hadn’t been strange at all.
It was as though things had finally aligned—as though this moment had always been waiting for them.
Shaking his head, Gideon reaches out and pulls his mate into his arms, inhaling deeply, grounding himself in Nix’s comforting heat.
“It was beautiful. You were beautiful—arebeautiful. Fuck, you know what I mean.”
It isn’t quite what he wants to say, but Nix seems to understand all the same—his quiet smile enough to ease the words stuck in Gideon’s chest.
“Mmm. Was a lot for a bit, being both of Us, but it felt right…being Their vessel, or whatever.” He shakes his head and kisses Gideon’s chin. “It’s hard to explain.”
“No. I get it,” Gideon says.
Nix nods before running his hand over Gideon’s throat, scenting him without conscious thought.
“But…promise you won’t say anything to the others?”
“About what?” Gideon feels his stomach drop. “You’re freaking me out here, Phoenix Rhodes.”
He hurries to reassure Gideon with a smile. “No, it’s not bad—or I don’t think it is, at least. But I don’t think They’re gone.”
Whoa.
