Honestly, I’m a bit impressed by her strength. She would have made a powerful opponent one on one.
Together, though, Eva and I are unstoppable.
“Should we do this together?” Eva leans over to ask me. Her eyes glow bright blue, so full of magic it’s like the very air moves around her and undulates with blue energy.
“Let’s,” I reply, raising my wand with her.
“Fuck love,” Jessetra says defiantly, raising her wand as it powers up.
Together, the blasts from our wands shoot out, effortlessly enveloping the dark energy from her wand. Then, as they meet, an explosion of magic sends a shockwave rolling past us, echoing off the walls of the basement in a nearly deafening roar. Beams of light fly past us, then slowly dwindle until the basement is quiet once more.
Only an inky black splotch on the ground remains.
“Good-bye, Dawn and Ray,” I exclaim, putting my wand behind me.
“Good riddance,” Eva says, doing the same and looking surprised when her wand just disappears.
“It’s inside your magic,” I say. “It’ll come again when you need it.”
“I did it. I’m a full fairy,” she says, looking up at me as her armor and wings slowly begin to retreat back into her human form.
“You. Are. Amazing,” I say, unable to resist pulling her into my arms and holding her close.
She nuzzles into my shoulder, and I place kisses on her forehead, her hair, her cheeks before she looks up at me.
My princess. My life. My soul bond.
My everything.
I lean in to kiss her just as the elevator dings again.
I raise my head just in time to see Ian, in human form, storming into the basement, looking around wildly, his wand in his hand.
Only Ian could have his wand out and no other signs of being a fairy.
He sighs in visible relief as he locks eyes with me and sees that Eva is in my arms.
Behind him, Flynn strides out, shaking his head with his hand on his forehead, looking utterly embarrassed.
“I told him you didn’t need backup,” Flynn says, giving us an apologetic smile.
“I felt your distress,” Ian says, his white hair standing on end in all directions, his handsome face confused. “Through our bond.”
“It was rough there for a moment, but luckily, my soul bond is an ice fae,” I say.
Eva steps out to wave at them shyly, and Ian stares at her for a minute before returning the wave, albeit awkwardly.
“Late again,” he says, slumping slightly as he puts his wand back. He walks over, extending a hand to Eva.
She shakes it, and he pulls her in for a hug.
“Thank you for helping my friend,” he says before quickly releasing her.
“Nice job, ice fae,” Flynn says, giving her a thumbs-up. “You saved the commander of darkness.”
“Brett is going to have a fit,” I say. “Her wings are bigger and—”
“Who is going to have a fit?”
My eyes go wide as Brett steps out of the elevator where he must have been leaning against the wall, biding his time while Ian panicked.
His arm is around Avery, though neither of them is in true form.
“This overprotective idiot here was worried,” Brett says, glancing to the side. He looks up at Eva suspiciously. “Are her wings really bigger?”
Avery lets out a laugh, throwing an arm around Brett’s waist. “All right, before we get into any measuring contests, let’s all just get the hell home.”
I look at Eva. “Do you think it’s okay to just leave the basement like this?” I glance around at the scorch marks everywhere, breathe in the lingering stench of chaos.
Eva frowns. “I mean, no one comes down here, so…”
“I got this,” Ian says, transforming into true form as he steps forward. Instantly, his long, blazing white hair flows over his shoulders, and he’s wearing glowing white robes. His wings shoot up as he raises his hands, looking ethereally beautiful.
“Close your eyes,” he says gently, and we all do as a bright flash fills the room like a noonday sun is shining, so bright I can almost see through my own eyelids.
“Done,” he says cheerfully, brushing off his hands as he turns back into his human form.
The basement is clean, no marks or stench. No sign of the fight or of bodies.
He just eradicated everything.
All of us stare at each other open-mouthed as Ian hums to himself, practically skipping his way back to the elevator.
“God, he’s scary,” Flynn says, looking over at me and Eva.
The rest of us just laugh and pile into the elevator.
I just can’t wait to be home, safe and sound, with my soul bond.
29
Eva
I’m a fairy.
I’m actually a powerful fairy, and when I needed my magic, it came through to help me save my soul bond.
Looking back over my time with Tanner, from that first moment in the bar to that night jogging to all the time at Qualtechnics, I can see how everything led up to this moment.
Sitting in my apartment, quietly holding Tanner.
The other fae went back to their place, but I just wanted to be alone with my man.
He’s leaning back, tired, running his hands through his short hair, which is still damp after the shower.
Though the fight didn’t leave us much time to talk, I know we’re okay now, that we both feel bad about our spat and are willing to be better.
When we were facing death together, any worries about jobs or anything other than watching out for each other sort of seemed insignificant.
And it still does now.
There are so many things in life we can’t control. How things go at the company we work at. What kind of parents we’re born to. What kind of world we live in.
But there are things we can choose, like who we want to be with, what we value over everything else…
And in coming back together, Tanner and I proved that we value love.
He looks over at me, and every time his eyes rest on mine, I can sense relief there that I’m still with him. “I really am sorry about the Bill thing.”
I shrug one shoulder. “He deserved it. But next time—”
“I promise. I’ll tell you.” He sighs. “I just… In talking to my mom, I realized I have a habit of doing everything on my own.” He glances over. “You told me that as well, I think, during the fight.”
“Yes,” I say. “But I had already forgiven you.”
He sits up slightly. “Why?”
“I guess because when we love them, we accept everything about them. You’re stubborn and a bit thoughtless when you’re in ‘justice warrior’ mode. But I wouldn’t change that about you because you’ve been there for me so many times.”
He lets out a relieved breath. “I’m glad, but I really will try to do better.”
I stand up, coming over to straddle his lap, stroking his cheek gently. “You’re perfect as you are. I’m sorry I was so angry and too blind to see that Qualtechnics shouldn’t be my first priority.”
“I understand.”
“No, it’s just I gave up on having connections. A family. But the truth is Qualtechnics is just a corporation like any other, and I can’t fix everything. And I have something real here, an actual family, waiting for me to just see them.”