Chapter 466: The Calm before the storm 1
FIA
The Ogas moved around . One worked through my hair with careful hands, sectioning and styling, while another held up dress options against the natural light streaming through the window. Steam rose from the garnt stear in soft clouds that slled faintly of lavender.
I sat still and let them work. My body felt looser than it had been for a hot minute, the hot shower having done more for my muscles than I wanted to admit. Every part of
had been scrubbed clean until my skin felt new.
"This one, Luna?" The Oga, holding a deep blue dress, looked at
with hopeful eyes.
I nodded. "That’s perfect."
She smiled and moved to prepare it while the one working on my hair pinned another section into place. The rhythm of it all felt soothing. Normal. Like I was just a woman getting ready to go sowhere nice with her mate instead of soone who had killed a warlock rely hours ago.
The door opened without warning.
Morrigan stepped inside. She moved with a particular grace that would have made anyone forget she had been thrown through a window recently. Luckily, she had no cast or bandages, and all I really saw when I stared was a slight hitch in her gait that she probably thought nobody noticed.
"Grand Luna." The Ogas bowed in unison.
She waved them off. "Continue what you’re doing. I just ca to see how my daughter was faring."
The words still made sothing warm bloom in my chest. Daughter... She said it so easily, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Morrigan settled into the chair near the vanity. Her eyes tracked the Ogas’ movents for a mont before landing on .
"Moonhaven is beautiful this ti of year," she said. "You two will have a wonderful ti."
"I hope so."
"Well, I can assure you. I was there once. Do make sure you tie Cian down if his beast starts getting aggressive." Her tone stayed light, but her eyes were serious. "Don’t take chances just because you’re a healer or because you believe he won’t hurt you. Heat season makes everyone unpredictable. Again, I would know. Being mates will already be intoxicating enough."
I t her gaze in the mirror. "I promise I’ll be safe."
She nodded, seemingly satisfied with that answer. Then I noticed it again. That slight shift of weight when she adjusted her position. The way her hand moved to her hip for just a second before she caught herself.
"Are you not fully healed?"
Morrigan’s expression softened into sothing almost amused. "I’m fine, Fia. Almost completely healed."
"I could help. It wouldn’t take much—"
"No." The word ca gently but firmly. "The pain is a mortal thing. It makes everyone feel grounded. Reminds us we’re alive."
I wanted to argue. Wanted to point out that she didn’t need to suffer just to feel... mortal. But sothing in her expression stopped . This was her choice, and I had to respect it.
The Oga finished with my hair. She stepped back to admire her work, and I caught my reflection properly for the first ti. My hair fell in soft waves that frad my face, and my skin looked healthier than it had any right to after everything.
Morrigan was still watching . Her eyes held sothing that looked like fondness.
"I still rember the first ti we t."
The mory surfaced easily. That day at the dinner table when I had been so terrified of making a bad impression. When everything had felt new, scary, overwhelming and impossible.
"Right." I smiled. "You were quite nice to ."
She laughed. The sound filled the room and made even the Ogas smile.
"You were my daughter-in-law. What was I supposed to be if not nice?" She leaned forward slightly. "I’m just glad you ca into our lives. Into this family."
My throat tightened. "Likewise. This family healed
too. Revealed things about myself and my own family I might have never known."
I thought about my mother. About Athena. About everything that had been hidden and buried and lost until I ca here and those threads started pulling at .
A laugh bubbled up before I could stop it. "I guess I have my half-sister to thank for that." I paused. "Well, she’s my first cousin too, so there’s that."
Morrigan’s smile turned knowing. "I did hear a few things and all I can say to that is family is complicated."
"I just didn’t think this would be my life, you know." The words ca out quieter than I intended. "I imagined sothing a lot smaller. I never imagined being Luna to a pack this grand. Having another actual mother figure. Not making myself small to be palatable."
Morrigan stood and crossed to where I sat. She placed her hand on my shoulder, warm and steady.
"I believe you were always destined for sothing big."
The certainty in her voice made
believe it even more. It made
think that maybe this was the exact mont that my mother had seen when she looked into my future. Maybe she had known I would end up here, in this mont, loved and safe and fucking whole.
"Yeah." I smiled up at her. "It does feel nice."
The door opened again.
Cian stood in the doorway. His eyes found mine imdiately, and sothing shifted in his expression. Softened.
"Are you ready?"
"It’ll take a minute."
He nodded and turned to the sentinels waiting in the hall. "Her bags are ready. Take them to the car."
They moved past him into the room and gathered the luggage with brute strength. I watched them work while the Ogas helped
into the blue dress. The fabric settled against my skin like water.
I stepped toward Cian. He t
halfway and pressed a quick kiss to my lips.
"You are beautiful."
Heat crept up my neck. "You always say that."
"Because it’s always true."
Morrigan made a soft sound behind us. "You two should have fun."
I turned back to her. "What about you?"
She opened her mouth, then closed it. Sothing flickered across her face before she smoothed it away.
"Soone needs to be here to steer things." She made a shooing motion with her hands. "Go. Have fun."
I understood then. This was about her mate. About whatever complicated grief still lived between her and his ghost even after all those years. I didn’t press.
"Thank you."
Cian’s hand found mine, and we headed toward the stairs. My phone buzzed in my pocket halfway down. I pulled it out and the na on the screen made
stop walking.
Hazel.
Cian saw it too. His expression hardened imdiately.
I declined the call and slipped the phone back into my pocket.
"I would have expected you to block her by now," he said.
"I did. For a while." I started walking again, and he fell into step beside . "I don’t know. I feel like sothing is about to happen soon. I can just almost taste it."
His hand tightened around mine. "A premonition?"
I smiled at that. "Not quite."
We reached the ground floor and headed toward the main entrance. The morning sun cut through the windows in golden slants that made everything look softer than it was.
Soone waited outside.
I caught the motorcycle helt first. Then the leather jacket and the way he stood with his weight shifted to one side like he was already halfway to leaving.
It was Alpha Gabriel.
He saw us coming and smiled. That genuine expression that looked so different from the haunted thing that had lived on his face when Aldric still controlled him.
"I guess this is it." Cian’s voice carried sothing heavy. "Your final goodbye."
The words hit
wrong. Final goodbye?
I looked at Gabriel properly then. Really looked. Took in the way he held himself, the freedom written across his features, the motorcycle behind him that promised distance and escape.
He was leaving.
He had only just gotten his life back, and he was leaving.
Then I understood. If I had been in his place, if I had spent months or years trapped in a cell like an animal, and then had my body taken from , used like a puppet by my own brother to try and destroy everything I cared about, I would probably have made the sa choice.
It made logical sense to start over sowhere new. Sowhere where nobody would know my na or my history or what had been done to .
"This is not a final goodbye." Gabriel’s voice ca firm. "I’ll always be there when you need ."
He sighed, and his shoulders dropped slightly.
"I just need this for ."
Cian nodded. "I know and it still hurts but I understand. I do."
Gabriel then turned his full attention to . His eyes held sothing that looked like awe.
"It’s fascinating to see a healer from the age of legend reborn. And one at that has saved my life multiple tis."
He bowed. It was a deep, formal and completely unexpected thing to see him do.
"I owe you my life, and I swear I will be in your service and that of your children if I am ever needed." His voice carried the weight of ceremony. "It’s an oath I hope gets to the ears of the goddess so I never break it."
My throat felt tight.
"You don’t have to..." I said softly, my voice almost catching as I tried to et his gaze, then faltered. My fingers twisted together in front of , restless, unsure. "I an, I didn’t do it for that."
I swallowed, forcing a small, uncertain breath. "I’m glad you’re alive. That’s enough for . That is enough for anybody."
He shook his head, slow and certain. "It may be enough for you," he said, his tone steady, unyielding, "but it is not enough for . A life like mine does not go unbound after being given back. I choose this."
I shifted my weight, glancing down for a mont before looking back at him. "You cannot owe
forever," I murmured, quieter now, almost pleading. "Just... live well. That would be enough."
"It is because I intend to live well that I make this oath," he replied. "Let it stand. If the day ever cos, I or those after
will answer."
There was sothing in his expression that told
arguing further would only circle us back to the sa place. I let out a small breath, my shoulders easing just a little.
"Alright," I said, not quite eting his eyes this ti, a faint, uncertain smile tugging at my lips. "Then... I’ll hold you to it."
A brief pause lingered between us and I broke it by saying to him, "Have a lovely journey."
He straightened and smiled again. "If you’ve said it, I probably will."
He pulled the helt on and swung his leg over the motorcycle. The engine roared to life, loud enough to make my ears ring. He raised one hand in farewell, then twisted the throttle and pulled away.
We stood there and watched until he disappeared around the bend in the drive. Until the sound of the engine faded into nothing.
Cian’s hand squeezed mine once before letting go. "Co on."
The car waited where the sentinels had left it. Packed and ready. I slid into the passenger seat while Cian rounded to the driver’s side. The leather was warm from sitting in the sun, and the interior slled like new car and faintly like him.
He settled behind the wheel and started the engine. It purred to life, quieter than Gabriel’s motorcycle but just as ready to carry us sowhere new.
"Ready?" he asked.
I looked at him. At the man who had beco my entire world in such a short ti. At the future we were building together despite everything that had tried to tear us apart.
"Yes."
He pulled out of the drive and onto the main road. Trees lined both sides, their branches creating a canopy overhead that filtered the sunlight into dancing patterns across the windshield.
I leaned back in my seat and let myself relax, letting the tension bleed out of my shoulders, letting the knowledge that we were leaving everything behind, even if just for a little while, settle into my bones.
Moonhaven waited ahead. Safety, isolation and a chance to just be together without the weight of more pack politics, other vile supernatural threats or family secrets pressing down on us.
I reached across the center console and found Cian’s hand. He laced our fingers together without looking away from the road.
The bond humd between us. Content, as it was steady. I could get used to this.
Reviews
All reviews (0)