“We need your help,” I say and bow my head once before meeting her eyes. “And we will offer you a deal in repayment for an army, the deal that there will be peace between us all, forever, and if you need the vampires’ help in the future, we will come.”
Lexi looks back at her mates, who stand behind her. They talk quietly for a moment, and I glance at Ren, hoping I said everything right. He winks at me. “I chose the best queen. I knew the second I met you.”
“Sweet talker,” I whisper back, and he chuckles softly. Lexi takes her sweet time talking with her mates before turning back to the portal. At this point, I feel sorry for Warren, who must be freezing in that river.
“The angels have forever seen us as scum, and no doubt this would have been our war in the future. The demon army will rise, and we will fight at your side. We do not want the angels to be destroyed, but they need new leaders. They must change their ways and promise peace with every race,” Lexi says. “I am bound to hell, and I cannot leave, but some of my mates will lead the army, including my mate, Javier, who is a wolf shifter and will fight with the wolves alongside the alpha and your man, Myles.”
Glancing at Myles behind me, I see him grinning, and I turn back as Ren starts to talk.
“History will mark this day as one of unity,” he says, and the statement lingers in the air as we all take it in. Somehow he is right. All of us have our own stories that shaped who we are and led to this moment right now. This war that will forever be remembered as a war where the tales, demons and vampires fought side by side to stop the angels once and for all.
“Agreed,” Lexi replies.
“I hope it is a story we can tell our grandchildren,” Madi adds in.
“We will prepare for war, and in two days we will meet at the ruins of The Demon Academy. The area is still being rebuilt, and it will be a good place to fight,” Lexi suggests. “It’s not far from the angels.”
“Good luck to us all and may peace prevail,” I say. The words are repeated by every single person here until the portal disappears, and poor Warren can get out of the river. He looks grumpy as he stomps out of the water and tries to hug Madi, who runs from him with a laugh. Watching them be playful, how it effortlessly works between her and all her mates, is so sweet. They co-exist, and it gives me hope it could work for me somehow.
“Can I talk to you?” Myles asks, stepping in front of me, and I smile up at him.
“What about, wolf?” Ren asks before I can answer, his tone curt and forced into some degree of nice as he is still not quite on board the Myles train. Thallon and Henry seem to really get along with him, but Ren pretty much only likes Henry out of my guys. At some point, we all need to talk about how I’m mated with three of them, and I have feelings for Myles that won’t simply go away. Myles smiles at him, not remotely thrown by Ren’s hostility, or at least he doesn’t show it.
“I could do with some time away from the cabin and the vampires all staring at us,” I gently tell Ren. “Plus, this dimension is spectacular, and we have hardly looked around.”
Ren nods once, his eyes fixed on Myles, but before he lets me go, he steps right into Myles’s face.
“If you hurt my queen, I will rip you to pieces,” Ren warns him in a voice that scares me a little bit. I want to step in the middle of them, but it feels like it’s their moment and they need to sort whatever this is out. “If you allow anyone to hurt her, the same thing will happen to you that does to her. Being in Kaitlyn’s life, having her trust, is worth more than anything in any world. I am trusting you with my soul. With my everything. With Kaitlyn.”
They stare each other down, and I start to worry a little bit. I don’t think I could cope with seeing them rip each other apart.
“You hurt Katy once, and I should kill you for that, but clearly Kaitlyn is a better person than I am. I give you the same warning, but know I would never hurt her,” Myles replies. “I have looked for my mate my entire life and never expected to find her in the sky. I have a feeling we have that in common. We have searched a long time for Katy.”
They stare each other down for another long pause before Ren steps back and offers Myles his hand. Thank the gods. Myles takes his upper arm in a tight grip, and Ren does the same, both of them doing a strange handshake before letting go. Ren kisses the side of my head, the tension still thick in the air before he walks into the forest where Henry and Thallon wait for us. They watched, and I have no doubt they would have stepped in if it went bad. Waving them all goodbye, Myles takes my hand and links our fingers as we follow the river downstream.
“How are you?” Myles softly asks me when we are completely alone.
The question is simple enough, but the answer, not so much. “Angry. Happy...most of all, nervous of what is to come.”
“The angels are known for being incredible fighters, and we have no time to train. I thought maybe we should practice some basic combat moves together?” he asks me. “I always find working out takes your mind off the bigger picture.”
Knowing he is just trying to settle my mind, to help me find comfort wherever I can, I rest my head on his shoulder. I couldn’t imagine my life without Myles in it. He never demands anything, he just is there, at my side, being exactly who I need. I hope I am the same for him when this war is over. I hope we have a long future ahead of us as mates, because I don’t see a future for me without Myles in it.
“I know how to fight, the academy taught me, but training will help,” I eventually reply. “I know we haven’t talked about us mating, and I’m not sure if it is different for wolves, but I know that I’m in love with you, and I want us to have forever. I will fight for you, for Thallon, for Ren and Henry because you’re my mates. You’re the future I have longed for.”
Myles stops us and looks down, and I try to read the emotions in his eyes with no luck. Instead I’m just stuck in how beautiful they are. Lifting my hand, I brush his blond locks off his forehead and smile at the sheer beauty of him.
The gods crafted Myles for me, because there is no other way he can be so perfect.
“I love you too, Katy,” he whispers to me. “I love how brave you are. How even when you fear your own heart, you fight for what is right. Most of all, I love that when I look into your eyes, I see home. A home I never had, never knew I needed and never understood what it felt like. War, angels, supernaturals and whatever else we will face, I will be at your side through it all.”
Tears wet my cheeks as he kisses me, swallowing any reply that never could have matched up to the brutally honest words that tore my heart apart and sealed the gaps with him inside.
We will fight for forever.
And it will still never be enough for me and my mates.
Ripping at each other’s clothes, we soon lose all of them before he picks me up and lays me down on the cold grass by the river, covering my body with his. Kissing me senseless for a long time, our bodies brush against each other, turning me on more than I ever thought was possible. He moves down my body and grabs my thighs, parting them before pressing one soft kiss on the side of my knee.
“Myles,” I whisper, begging for more. We have waited so long for this, to be together. I don’t want to wait.
“Are you sure?” he asks me, brushing one more kiss on the inside of my thigh. “Because I think I’m going to die if I can’t be inside you soon. I will wait though. I will wait forever if that’s what you want, Katy.”