Shaking myself out of those emotions, I vow to look for them after. Much after.
“Elise and her kin all need to die first.”
Striding to the furniture, I smile to myself when I find the half-opened drawer with a small leather pouch inside. It’s familiar to me. The same one I used to carry the earrings my real mother gave to me a few months before her death.
I pick it up with a shaky hand and open it before pouring the content into my hand.
My ring is inside. The same one from when we said I do with the large ruby stone in the middle of a gold band surrounded by black diamonds.
The heart that no longer beats inside my chest gives a hard thump, almost restarting again as I slip it on my ring finger where it’ll never leave again. I also catch the light of the charm he placed there, and the date engraved holding a special meaning; the day we wed. He was always trying to make me remember. He truly never gave up. Tears brim my eyes but don’t fall, my chest expands on a shuddering breath that I don’t release as so many emotions hit me at once.
I died.
I suffered.
But he brought me back. He’s always been there. Here.
And I’ve never felt more loved in my life as I do now.
Rushing down the stairs, I pause next to Diana and snap her neck, not giving a single fuck about her. Her wants or what she has to say hold no bearing on me. She’s as insignificant as her mother, more so as a human who’s been fed bullshit all her life and bought into a reality that was never part of her destiny.
Her hate for me was clear back at Theo’s warehouse. Nothing had changed from now to then.
Their plan failed, and I’m here with my King and that’s all that matters to me.
“That was your meal.”
“I know.” Placing my hand wearing his gift over his chest, I grip his shirt and pull him down. Those amber eyes I love darken at seeing his ring there. “But first, I need a kiss.”
“Just one. You need to eat.”
“No.”
“No?”
“I have time to drain her, but nothing will ever come before my need for you.” And then he’s kissing me, groaning into my mouth while destroying my clothes that lay in tatters on the floor while my legs are wrapped around his waist.
Our feet cross into the Alaskan wilderness twenty-four hours later after my first feeding. Her daughter wasn’t fulfilling in the least, and Theo procured a donation from the hospital to satiate his thirst and mine.
But now we’re in the territory where my brother-in-law reigns as Alpha of Alphas with Tero, Meera, and Marcia, who’s back to normal. For years she suffered because I couldn’t finish the words needed to bind her spirit to her human form, leaving the animal as her only choice of survival. A whisper, my hand over her chest, and Marcia walked on two legs again.
“Ready?” I ask Marcia, my knees on the ground beside her body. We’re in my backyard and everyone is ready to leave, but I refuse to do so without doing something a century too late. “Give me a nod, and I’ll say the words.” The movement is subtle, a small tear spilling from her eyes as I place my hand on her body and mouth against hers. “I’m sorry it took so long, sweet friend. Ligatus ad vescendum carnes.”
At once, her form slightly trembles as she retakes her human form. There are hisses from her that turn into screams, her shiny scales receding into human flesh while she gives into the pain. I know it hurts. Bounding her and then freeing her soul took a lot from me, too, but I continue to feed her my energy until I look into a set of eyes I haven’t seen since my death.
“Gabby,” she whispers, voice rough from disuse while I simply hug her. Cover her slim body with a blanket I’d brought out with me. “Please tell me my lessons are done?”
At that, I laugh, head thrown back as my frame shakes. I’ve missed her sass. “In my opinion, you’ve graduated and surpassed Tero, Marcia. I’m proud of you.”
“And I’ve missed you, My Queen.”
Cupping her cheek with my hand, I place my forehead to hers. “Not queen, Marcia. We’re sisters.”
“Are you ready?” Theo asks from beside me.
“I am.” He knows I’m a bit sad, but I also understand. They’re not here—my sister and her mate—having left to deal with a problem on the East Coast with a pack, but he left his Beta, Cain, to help us.
At one time, werewolves and vampires didn’t mix; hurting your mate is a sin, something you don’t do at any costs, and both races understand that. I’m a Queen. My sister is the Luna Supreme.
Two women whose destiny changed the supernatural world.
“Beta Cain,” I say, extending a hand out in greeting, which he takes. He’s gawking at me a bit, not in lust but surprise, and beside me Theo growls. “Stop it.”
“He’s staring.”
“You look so much alike. Not identical, but the resemblance is shocking when—”
“I know.” And I did. My death hurt more than Theodore and those of our kingdom, but my sister and brother—the races they oversee. “But it’ll wear off the more you see of me. I miss my sister.”
“And she’s lived in hell without you,” a soft voice calls from behind the Beta, and the warriors standing behind him move out of the way, letting the owner pass. At my first sight of her, a sob gets caught in my throat, tears that don’t fall gathering at my eyes before her warm body slams into mine. Isabella is stronger than before, the mark on her neck altering her slightly.
“Sister,” is all I can manage to choke out, holding her to me while she cries into my neck, hugging me back just as tight. “How? I thought—”
Pulling back, her
