The time to act was now.
Before more people died.
No one else seemed to be willing to call the Viking on his bullshit.
She responded to each of the messages with a brief update, plus a slightly longer one for both Arthur and Hande, whom she considered her closest allies. The Spartan Guard would hear through a less formal, but just as effective mode of communication—Dimitri’s husband, Mateo would call his former compatriots and fill them in.
When she was done, she stuck her phone back into her pocket and settled in to try to get some sleep. The fleet admiral had been hiding for long enough. Whether it took days or weeks, he’d hear about what she was doing, and he was going to come to her.
“I can see I’m going to have to learn German or forever be in the dark in the bedroom with you two,” Walt joked as he rolled to his side to look at his lovers. A small voice in the back of his head reminded him that there wasn’t a forever with them. There wouldn’t even be a next week.
He pushed the dark thoughts aside.
Annalise had curled up facing him, Jakob spooning her from behind. The only word to describe their faces was exhausted bliss. And yet, despite the whirlwind of the past few days, none of them seemed anxious to go to sleep.
Perhaps because they knew their time together was fleeting.
Annalise gave a breathy laugh. “Let’s see. I told you to hurry up and Jakob was calling someone a son of a bitch.” She sighed contentedly. “I can’t believe I’m still awake. I should be exhausted after that amazing sex combined with the past few days,” Annalise admitted, her thoughts mirroring his own.
“I was thinking the same thing,” Walt concurred. “It’s just…I don’t want to waste a second of this, you know?”
Jakob pushed up so that he could give Annalise, then Walt, quick kisses. “Maybe there’s a way…”
When his words drifted off, Walt knew there wasn’t an answer to this. There was no happy ending here. Not for the three of them.
Jakob and Annalise were members of the Masters’ Admiralty. That meant their spouses weren’t theirs to choose. And even if, by some stroke of amazing luck, the admiral of Germany put them together in a trinity, Walt wouldn’t be there with them.
“Why did Eric come to you in Libya?” Jakob asked Walt.
“As I said, our paths crossed when he was following a lead about Josephine’s killer. He walked into my clinic, covered in someone else’s blood. But that wasn’t the first time we’d met. We’d met once before. In America. He pissed off the Grand Master of the Trinity Masters by offering me and my siblings membership to the Masters’ Admiralty.”
Annalise shifted to her back, then sat up.
“The Grand Master?” Annalise asked. “That’s the leader of the American society, right?”
Walt winced. “Damn. Yeah. I’m sort of shit when it comes to keeping all this secret society stuff secret. That’s not something y’all knew?”
“Our knowledge of the American society is fairly limited. I suspect the admirals know a great deal more,” Annalise explained. “The Trinity Masters sort of falls in the same category as your American IRS. We know they exist, but because they don’t impact our lives, we don’t bother to learn much about them.”
“My brothers, Langston and Oscar, both recently joined the Trinity Masters, and I’ve made a promise to the leader—they call her the Grand Master, which is not as cool as fleet admiral if you ask me—that once Eric and I catch Josephine’s killer, I will return to join as well.” Walt hadn’t really considered that promise a hardship at the time. His brothers had joined and he’d intended to follow suit. Now, however… Now there was nothing he wanted to do less.
“You mentioned that before…so you’re really promised to join the Trinity Masters?” Annalise asked.
Walt sighed, swallowing heavily. He’d always made it his goal to live a good life, one where he could crawl into bed each night, close his eyes, and not have any regrets. And for the most part, he’d managed to do just that.
Until now.
He should never have made that promise to Juliette because returning to America and pledging his life to the Trinity Masters was something he would truly regret.
“I am,” he said at last.
“All of us knew, going into this,” Annalise said, her voice quiet and sad, “that it couldn’t last.” She looked at Jakob. “You and I…”
“The stalker is gone,” Jakob said.
“Which means your reason for being with me is gone.”
Jakob frowned and shook his head. “Annalise, I haven’t been assigned to protect you for a very long time. I wasn’t with you just because of Axel. I was with you because that was where I wanted to be. I love you.”
She smiled. “I love you too, but we can’t steer our destinies any more than Walt can. The admiral will put us in trinities that he chooses.”
Jakob didn’t respond to that, not at first. Walt didn’t believe it was the silent stoic returning as much as Jakob was weighing what he said next.
“Perhaps. But what if we talk to the admiral together? Plead our case.”
Annalise glanced at Walt. “We could, but…”
“But Walt wouldn’t be with us.” Jakob scrubbed his hand over his close-cropped hair in frustration. “He’s a part of us now. Mist! I can’t stand this. Can’t stand the thought of losing both of you. I’ve spent years dreaming of this moment with you, Annalise, never imagining we’d be together. And now that we’ve found Walt…I never knew love could feel like this. So intense. So right. So perfect.”
Though the sheer agony in Jakob’s tone cut deep, Walt was thrilled that Jakob no longer held back with them. “I feel the same way,” Walt admitted. “I’ve spent the last six months watching my brothers fall head over ass in love, wondering if something was missing inside me, some vital piece, because I’d never experienced anything even close to what they described feeling for their partners. Now? Well, now, I get it.”
Annalise turned to her back, taking their hands in hers. “Let’s not talk about the end tonight, please. I’ve spent the last four years fearing what may happen in the future. For right now, I want to live in the present. I’m happy here. It’s been so long, so damn long…”
“You’re right,” Walt said, squeezing her hand. “Now isn’t the time to worry about what’s to come. Let’s steal as much joy as we can during the time we have left together. Let’s make it all count.”
Jakob placed a soft kiss on the side of Annalise’s head. “Let’s make it count,” he repeated.
With that decision made, sleep came much easier and quickly.
Walt pushed away every other concern, focusing only on his happiness, a happiness so big, he was surprised he could hold it all.
When he closed his eyes, he drifted away with a smile on his face, his dreams the sweetest he’d ever had.
Nikolett rolled off the couch, unable to untangle herself from the blanket in time to make it graceful. She landed in a heap, struggled inelegantly, and finally unwrapped herself. Bouncing to her feet, she threw off the blanket. Panting, she looked around to make sure her office was empty and no one had seen her looking ridiculous. No one. Good.