I turned and waved at everyone, tears blurring my vision. Xander grabbed my hand, and we both moved to step through the portal.
EPILOGUE
LILA
Two Months Later (Human Realm Time)
Fingers snapped in front of my face, and I shook my head. I had been daydreaming and had not seen Billie even walk into my shop.
She gave me sympathetic eyes. “I’m telling you about my stress of being mentally bonded to guys with traumatic pasts, and you don’t care. Still thinking of them again?”
Yes, I had been. It was all a dream. At least, that’s what I would have thought if not for Xander. His regular presence, except when he had to go on missions to take out their enemies, was a regular reminder that I had gone to the fae realm. Sadly, it didn’t help me remember the faces I’d met. I knew of my claiming by Yosef and Luca, but their faces were fuzzy now in my mind. Crap, why hadn’t I taken a picture of them when I was there? Did they have anything like a camera? I couldn’t recall seeing pictures on Yosef’s wall, but it didn’t mean they didn’t exist. Also, crappy memory.
The fae weren’t playing around. They did not want people remembering their world when they left. Luckily for me, Xander was fae and would remember. However, would they remember me? That would break my heart if we forgot each other. How long was two human months in the fae realm?
It turned out that I had only been gone two weeks in the human realm when I was there. I calculated that could mean that two human months could be eight months in the fae realm. I was in agony after just two months, how would they feel after almost a year? Would they even care anymore? Yosef could have found an actual omega to bond with and gotten over the random half-human beta he met that time long ago.
Just the thought of that broke me. Not to mention Luca. He was so excited to meet another dragon. Now, I’ve come to realize that I really was dragon on my father’s side. I’d focused this time on learning more about them and had even found a tiny online group with those who were part dragon. Maybe one day, I’d even find my father’s family. Until then, it was nice to encounter half dragons like me. None of them connected to me like Luca. Not even the other half ice dragons I’d met online. I needed my fire-breathing giant.
“I’m sorry, chica. What did you say?”
Billie patted my hand. “We’ll talk about it later. As for you, you’ll see them again. I know it. Everything happens for a reason. Having Xander here has been a huge help. And Xander is a freaking beast. He’s relentless in his fighting. I’m hearing about the Nodoorians and their allies he’s finding and getting to talk, to gain information. I mean, we still don’t know who the traitor is, but we’ve caught others at different levels of our coven who were working against us. We’re in a better place because of you and Xander. And now we have fae allies too! There’s no way they won’t open that portal soon. Every threat we take out here that was an ally to the Nodoorians, is a threat the Prinathians don’t have to deal with.”
She was right. There was no doubt. It did give a tiny bit of comfort to know that we were making a difference. I blew out a breath, moving to get the chocolate cake I’d baked for her to give to one of her guys for his birthday celebration in a few hours.
I gave her the cake, already boxed, I’d pulled from the counter behind me. “Tell Ty happy birthday.”
She took the cake and shook her head. “Nope, you tell him tonight when you see him. Bye, lady. Dress is casual since it’ll be at the house.”
She waved and left. She was practically levitating. The happiness glowed all around her. Despite my pain, I was still happy for her.
I shook the bad vibes off me and began to hum to the pop song blaring through my speakers as I walked to the back doors toward my kitchen. I paused, a grainy memory of me buried in quicksand, humming this song. Whoever said music was medicine was right. It had helped me focus my mind and free myself.
I moved again and continued on. There were a few people sitting at the small circular tables in the space, eating, and my right-hand employee, Daria, was ringing up a customer. Despite my two-week absence, she had kept the place running, albeit, in a constant state of panic. Needless to say, I gave her a big raise and paid time off.
Xander met me at the store around 6 p.m., and I left Daria to close in a couple of hours. He stood outside that warm evening, leaning against the back of a bench, arms folded over his black T-shirt-covered chest. Two women slow-walked past him, doing a poor job of pretending not to be ogling him. He did look good in his black leather pants and sunglasses perched at the end of his nose. Even those stark silver eyes didn’t take away from his handsome features to a normal person.
Living with him these past two months had been hella fun. I was nervous now that we were back in the mundane human world that he might change, but he wasn’t any different than back in the fae realm. Even though we didn’t have a cleaner or a cook, he kept things neat and helped me cook. He was horrible at both. He didn’t have a job, but he came with items that were worth a nice amount of money, so he contributed financially to the household. And his mission kept him pretty busy so I didn’t see him as much as I expected.
I walked over to him, and he leaned forward, kissing me on my neck. I shivered against the light touch tickling my skin, and he smirked, knowing how his contact affected me. I wasn’t sure I could ever get tired of this man.
“Ready to go home, my love?” he asked, grabbing my hand as we walked to my car.
Sometimes I had to remind myself that although Xander was a little wild and unorthodox, he was a romantic at heart. He loved the pain, but he also loved, well, love.
I squeezed his hand, starting to feel the glowy happiness I’d witnessed on Billie seep into me. “Yup. Remember, we have the party at 8.”
He moaned. “Do we have to be there on time? I haven’t seen you in days.”
I definitely was on his same vibration. Whenever he was gone, I instantly wanted to jump his bones upon his return. “I mean, we don’t have to be on time.”
I’d been nervous about how Xander would get along with Billie’s guys. He was a bit unhinged. Turns out, he got along well with them for the most part. Actually, Kai, Billie’s incubus, and he were bad influences on each other. They’d become instant friends, and I was close to banning their bromance.
When we parked the car in front of my place, the lights were already on inside. “Did you leave the lights on? Do I have to remind you that electricity isn’t free here like in the fae realm?”
Xander chuckled. “You don’t have to, but you chose to, and I didn’t turn those lights on.”
I paused opening the car door. Had I left them on? No. I was good about that sort of thing. Crap, who the hell was in my house?
