“It’s the truth,” I hissed, but my lips betrayed me with a slight curve of amusement. “Well, it was only a moment ago.” A laugh left me as I shook my head.
The yard fell into complete darkness aside from the moonlight, and the boys made their way to us as we stood in its center.
“Are you ready for bed,husband?” I asked as I stretched my hand out to Jace.
“Yes, however, we won’t be staying in the main house this evening.”
My brows furrowed in confusion. “Where did you wish to stay?”
Gage cleared his throat before Jace could answer and put his arm around Avery’s shoulder, pulling her close to his body. “We’ll see you in the morning.”
He inclined his head to us as he turned her on her heels and guided her up the small hill that led to the estate’s back entrance.
“Wait, but where are they sleeping?” she asked curiously as she tried to look back at us, but he hushed her in response and kissed her forehead, silencing her.
I slowly pivoted to face my mate once more. “Wherearewe sleeping?” I asked with a laugh as I crossed my arms.
He spun me slowly, pulling my back against his chest as he wrapped his arms around me and placed his chin atop my head—facing his mother’s cottage that was set back in the corner of the estate’s land.
My eyes flared. We hadn’t even spoken of his mother’s home that Lynelle had offered to us. The pain in his eyes when we first arrived had been too great for me to ever force that on him, and we had been staying in the main house with the others ever since.
“We don’t need to stay there. If it’s privacy youwant—”
“Youare what I want, and I should have shown this to you on our first night here and every night since. It’s a part of me, and forever will be, just as you are,” he interjected.
His words continued in my mind as a whisper. “I felt your father’s presence with us today. I don’t know how I felt that it was him, but I just knew. The look on your face and what I sensed from you. It was very special.” His arms tightened around me.
Despite my initial fear of the mind-joining, I found it surprisingly easy and comforting to hear his voice as it echoed through the bond instead of just basing everything off of emotions felt.
I focused intently on answering him in the same manner—how he had already made it seem effortless was a mystery to me, but I could feel him there, constantly lingering in the background of my soul. It felt like another tether that my mind could travel over whenever I needed him.
I dove toward the bond, reaching for it, and spoke the words, willing them to float straight to him. “Your mother was there with us, too. She watches over you and us, just as my father.”
“Perhaps you’re right, my sweet Lia.” His voice was soft, gentle—one he only ever used with me.
Without warning, he swept down, scooping me up by cradling the middle of my back while his other arm lifted beneath my thighs. A roar of laughter escaped both of us as he pressed a quick kiss to my forehead and carried me all theway to the cottage's door.
Once at the entrance, my arm reached out and pushed the door open. The sound of its creaking echoed through the cool night air.
“Lynelle had it tidied up earlier this morning while everyone prepared for the wedding.”
I tilted my neck to face him as he held me in the doorway. “You planned this the entire time?”
A smirk formed. “I may have.”
He angled his body to walk through the doorway while I remained in his arms. Once inside, he kicked the door closed behind him. The only light provided was filtered in by the moon peeking through the windows.
My neck slowly pivoted as I peered around the room, my gaze lingering on the shadows from the furniture that was spread about the home he grew up in.
He gently placed me on my feet, and I picked up the front of my wedding gown and strolled about, my fingertips grazing over the décor as I passed by. The cottage was quaint and sweet, instantly portraying itself as a home made from love.
Jace watched me as I roamed curiously, his eyes moving with me, but down the bond, beneath his feeling of admiration, a sense of heartache lingered.
My steps halted as I came across a portrait that hung on the wall. My fingers lifted and brushed over the painting of a mother with her young son. Hazel eyes that matched my mate’s stared back at me in two beautiful stares. Her arms were wrapped around him as if holding her little boy in place while the portrait was painted.
Footsteps sounded behind me and I felt his warm presence at my back.
“This is her?” I breathed.
