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“Do you know how hot you look when you smile?” I countered.
“You pointed that out already,” he chuckled.
“Doesn’t hurt to say it again,” I voiced with a wink and smirk. “Why are you stalling?”
“Who said I was stalling?” he countered.
“I did,” I voiced and proceeded to hug him. Looking up and pressing my chin against his chest, I waited for his eyes to meet mine before I whispered, “You stopped time, didn’t you?”
“How did you notice?”
“The atmosphere is too quiet,” I voiced. “Stillness in this newly awakened land proves time has stopped.”
“Always so observant,” he stated with a tone of praise before he leaned down to kiss the top of my head. “I want to show you one more thing before we venture off to witness Baker’s empire go crashing down.”
“Will stopping time here affect the other side?” I inquired out of curiosity.
“It slows it down tremendously,” he revealed. “No one would notice in the real world. It’s something I rarely do because it’s energy-draining, but the awakening of the valley has given me an excessive amount of power that I would rather expel here than on the surface where I would rather give my fiancé the honors of demonstrating her lethal power to those who need to be reminded of how dangerous a Monarch is in our world.”
“You enjoy making me look like a badass, huh?” I offered and watched him shrug before he had my hand in his and was encouraging me to follow him.
“It’s long overdue for the world of Hollow City to witness the true power our Luna carries effortlessly in the shadows,” he reasoned as he squeezed my hand. “Frankly, I’m more excited to see you kick some ass.”
“And why would I be kicking ass?” I inquired in amusement.
“To simply put it, some of my mafia men don’t believe I’m in a relationship,” he admitted. “They think you’re an imaginary princess who probably can’t hurt a fly and needs a bodyguard to protect her from the wrath of Hollow City’s streets.”
The way I laughed had us stopping briefly because my joyous expression made the wind pick up and bring us waves of flower petals that rained down upon us while butterflies of purple and blue fluttered from the nearby trees.
“So only Romeo had hope in me,” I dramatically gasped in horror.
“He actually thought you weren’t very powerful until you almost stabbed me with your knife during the last car ride.”
“Oh ya.” I’d forgotten about that. “Oops.”
“If you’d actually stabbed me, I feel like you wouldn’t have regretted it.”
“Probably not.” I held no remorse, which made him chuckle and shake his head.
“At least you’re honest.”
“It feels nice to be able to truthfully speak to you without having to act naive,” I admitted as we now reached the cliff from before.
Instead of thick clouds of black mist, our surroundings were crystal clear. Below us was a beautiful stream of water that flowed at a tranquil pace.
“We can love one another in peace now,” he whispered as he ended up pressing his lips onto my left temple.
“What if there’s a bit of backlash from above?” I pondered because I wasn’t sure how things would go in that department. My whole life had been sheltered from the shifter society and their common practices, so I didn’t know what to expect now that I was returning to a world where shifters were pretty judgemental, to begin with.
“I don’t care what anyone else says,” he voiced with confidence as his striking red wings eased out of his back and stretched. “The valley itself has accepted you as its queen and the pack genuinely loves you, despite their initial opposition.”
“Wait. You were able to see that?”
I called for my wings, feeling a bit giddy about finally using so many of the skills and abilities I carried as a hybrid but couldn’t share due to my circumstances.
“Mhmm,” he replied and used a single flap of his wings to lift him slightly off the ground. He was clearly waiting for me, which was why he didn’t take a dramatic lift-off — especially when we were still holding hands.
It took me a moment, but I managed to lift off the ground with a flap of my own wings. The two of us to continued holding hands as Malifer led the way until we were not only on the other side of the cliff, but had gone through a magical wall that was clearly set to be there for a reason.
