Darien sighed and looked up with a tear-stained face. He gave a dry chuckle. “I feel like I’m at the end of the third Lord of the Rings movie when Frodo is leaving and he’s standing there all stoic and Sam is blubbering like an idiot.” He laughed again and wiped at his eyes, shrugging helplessly. “Always thought of myself as the strong hero, not the trusty sidekick.”
Logan smiled and he put his hands on Darien’s shoulders, his heart filling with tremendous affection. “Darien, don’t you know? Frodo may have been the hero by default, but Sam was the strength. Frodo wouldn’t have been jack without Sam.” He gave his shoulders a squeeze for emphasis.
Darien met his eyes and his brows drew together inquisitively. “You…finished watching it?”
Logan grinned and gave a lazy shrug. “Had to see how it ended.” He heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Guess I’m just a freaky loser like you now.”
Darien laughed and threw his arms around Logan, holding on. “I am so proud to know you,” he murmured.
Logan squeezed his eyes shut and clutched Darien to him for a long moment. “You are the best of our family.” He held on for a fraction of a second longer, then pulled away and pushed Darien lightly back towards his friends. “Take care of each other,” he instructed. He’d hoped they would remain standing there, crying in silence, but they didn’t. Of course they didn’t. He’d come to realize that this entire situation was going to test him right beyond his breaking point. All of the kids surrounded him and encompassed him in a desperate hug.
He squeezed his eyes shut and hugged them all back. “I am so glad I met all of you,” he whispered. They pulled away almost as quickly as they’d invaded and he was left standing in front of Willow. His heart twisted, cracked and shattered. He grabbed her wrist, pulled her out of Tiyenen’s arms and into his own. He held her fiercely, then delivered a savage, intense kiss. She grasped onto him and dug her fingers into his shoulders, matching his desperation with her own. He pulled back and forced himself to look into her eyes. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done. “Willow,” he rasped, cupping her cheek and running his thumb along her bottom lip. “I love you… You need to know that.” He meant the words. He meant them all the way into his soul. He had to say it, or he would regret it for eternity.
She gasped and her eyes blurred with tears. She stared up at him for a long moment before letting out a shuddering breath. “I love you too, Logan,” she cried.
What was left of his heart disintegrated. He ran his trembling fingers over her beautiful face one more time, fixed the vision of her in his mind, then drew in a deep breath and turned away. If it was possible to feel your heart physically rip out of your body, that was the way he felt as he walked away from Willow and toward Fangborn.
Fangborn regarded him silently for a long moment before something strange came to life in his eyes. He cocked his head slightly to one side. “I have never seen a leader of a pack so well loved,” he remarked.
Logan swallowed as a dull ache settled into his chest. “I’m not the leader of a pack,” he said. “I’m just a man.”
Fangborn stared at him for another silent second. “You will be a great asset to the Kaleydia.”
Yes, yes. Get on with it. Just get me out of here. This is plain evil.
A small smirk formed around Fangborn’s lips and he yanked something off of his belt. “Give me your arm,” he commanded.
Logan obeyed and Fangborn tied a thick strip of leather with intricate beadwork around his wrist.
“This symbolizes your allegiance to my people,” he stated. “It marks you as our property. Everyone in the realm will recognize you as such.”
Logan nodded wearily.
“I expect you to uphold your vow.”
Logan met Fangborn’s eyes. “I will.”
He gave a curt nod. “It is done then…Listen for the howls.”
Logan blinked, not comprehending what he meant. He frowned.
Fangborn’s lips curled into his sinister smile. “The stench of human makes me sick,” he stated. “When we need you, we will call.”
He jerked his head in the direction of the Avari and all Logan could do was blink up at him like he’d been slapped. Had he? Did he just? No friggin’ way…
He looked down at the leather around his wrist, then up at Fangborn who looked very pleased with himself. Slowly, feeling shocked and numb, he turned back to his friends, his family… His whole world. It was too much to hope for that he would be granted everything. He didn’t deserve everything. It was more than he could bear. He fell to his knees and hung his head, giving way to tears of overwhelming joy. Laughter mingled with his tears, and as a wave of unbridled happiness surged through him, he raised his arms and his face to the sky, screaming his elation to the clouds.
He was enveloped by warm embraces and he closed his eyes, basking in the bliss that surrounded him. He looked down to see Willow holding on for dear life and all of the kids doing much the same. He tangled one hand in Willow’s hair and tousled Darien’s with the other. The heaviness that had been weighing down his heart lifted and he felt like he had won the biggest battle of his entire life. He looked back at Fangborn, who gave a deep, respectful bow, turned and led his pack out of the Avari village. Logan delighted in seeing two Kaleydia hauling a gagged, bound Cyrcinus after them.
“It’s over,” Lucy whispered. “It’s all finally over… It really is like you see in the movies and read in the books.”
Logan grinned at her, grateful beyond belief that he had received his happy ending. He looked around at all of them and the deepest kind of satisfaction filled him. He’d been searching his entire life for something to fill the void within him. This was the answer. All of these eccentric kids. All of these mythical creatures that shouldn’t be possible. Willow… They were his family. They were his life. They were the best of him.
There was nothing he wouldn’t sacrifice, no battle he wouldn’t fight, to protect that.
“You amaze me, Logan Savage,” Willow’s soft voice came. She reached up and took his face in her hands.
He grinned. “I don’t know how not to fight. Even when I try to surrender, it seems I fight without meaning to.”
“It’s a good thing too!” Colt cried. “’Cause you won, man! We all won!” He jumped up and stabbed his arms up into the air, shouting a “woo hoo” like he’d just made a touchdown.
Logan dissolved into laughter and shook his head. Maybe he was, technically, a Kaleydia slave. It didn’t matter. Never in his life had he ever felt so free.
Chapter Thirty-One
One Year Later
“All right, maggots!” Logan bellowed as he paced back and forth in front of his group of campers. “Let’s get a few things straight here! My name is Counselor Logan. I am not your average, run of the mill, walk all over me counselor. I don’t tolerate crying. I don’t tolerate whining and I don’t tolerate kids whacking me in the head with things!” He pointed to the top of his head and gave Aki a purposeful look. She giggled while all of the other kids he didn’t recognize looked slightly concerned. He forced himself not to laugh. “Now, I also do not tolerate any kids thinking that they can just loaf around and watch movies all summer. This is fantasy camp, people! We train warriors here! Anyone remember Darien Rivers?”
A few of the kid raised their hands.
Logan nodded. “He went on to be a warrior after he left here. Actually, last year several of us went on an insane adventure and fought an epic battle!” The new kids’ eyes widened in fascination. Logan stabbed his finger towards Willow’s cabin. “Miss Willow, she’s actually a fairy. I am a legendary dragon warrior!” He held up his wrist. “And I got made into a slave by a bunch of shape-shifting wolves!” He stopped pacing and stared straight at all of the kids. “Now, if that’s all a little too intense for you, suck it up! Because this camp isn’t for babies! Got it?”
Everyone nodded vigorously.
He gave them all a slow grin. “Good,” he said, his voice softening.
“Go find a bunk. Sleep wherever you like.”
The group moved out, all whispering and murmuring amongst themselves. Colt, Doug, Aki and Lucy held back.
Logan chuckled as they approached him. “Like me welcome speech?” he asked.
Colt laughed. “It’s better than last year’s.”
“It sucks that this is our last year here,” Aki said.
Logan shrugged. “It’s all right. You can come back whenever you like. You have special clearance.” He gave her a wink.
She grinned.
“Hey Logan,” Lucy said with a sly smile. She bit her bottom lip and held up her left hand, which had a ring with a tiny diamond in it on her third finger.
Logan gasped. “What the—? No way! He didn’t even tell me! You’re still in high school!”
Lucy giggled. “I went to see him in the Avari village right after school got out. You know we’ve been dating all year anyway.”
Logan nodded. After the summer had ended, Logan had moved his stuff from Medford to his new permanent location at Willow’s camp. Darien had moved in as well, and had finished his senior year at a different school. After graduation, he’d decided to relocate to the fairy realm. No college for Darien. He preferred swords, bows and arrows, and life amongst his own people.
“We’re obviously going to wait until after graduation,” Lucy continued. She shrugged and blushed.
Logan chuckled and caught her in an embrace. “That’s great, Luce. You’ll make a fantastic sister-in-law. And you ended up with your Alveda d’Kai husband after all.”
She laughed.
He nudged her and the others towards their bunk. “Go on, guys. Get settled. Orientation’s in a few hours.”
They nodded, waved, and headed on their way. Logan sighed as he watched them go, then glanced down at the leather around his wrist. Sure, it made a great back-to-camp story to excite the kids, but no one would ever really know what they’d all gone through. It was a secret that bonded only a select group together. A group that would remain friends no matter where life took them.
“What are you thinking?”
He smiled as arms came around his waist from behind and he sighed, placing his hand over his wife’s. “Just remembering.”
She circled around so that she was facing him and she reached up to push back a rebellious strand of his hair. “Regrets?”
He frowned. “Are you out of your mind, woman?” Her giggle sent shivers down his spine and warmth into his heart. She brought him such joy. She was everything to him.
She sighed and clasped her hands behind his back. “So,” she raised an eyebrow, “did you scare the crap out of the kids this year?”
He grinned. “I think they’re sufficiently impressed. Maybe this group won’t attack me.”
She laughed.
He grimaced. “And please, please don’t tell me that some other heinous villain is out to get me this year. I can’t take a trilogy. I’m a one-story guy.”
She laughed harder and pulled him close, snuggling against his chest. “I love you, Logan,” she murmured. She looked up at him playfully. “Even if you are a deviant, and a criminal…”
He heaved an exaggerated sigh. “And a fantastic lover.”
Her eyes sparkled with mirth. “Don’t get too cocky,” she teased. “You’re not that great.”
He snorted. “Right, the way your face was glittering like a son of a gun last night would suggest otherwise.”
She gasped and scowled, then reached down and squeezed his sides, causing him to jump.
He laughed and shackled her wrists with his hands. He raised an eyebrow and sidled up closer to her. “So tell me,” he purred, “what are some of your fantasies?”
She grinned and adopted an expression as if she was thinking very hard. “Well, I’ve always been partial to irritating, overbearing, arrogant men who like to make kids cry and think they’re God’s gift to women.”
He smirked and pulled her up against him. “Sorry,” he murmured. “That guy’s extinct. All that’s left now is an enslaved Alveda d’Kai warrior.”
She heaved an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. “Well… All right. I guess he’ll have to do.”
He grinned and met her halfway for a kiss that shook the very core of him. She always had that effect on him. Even now.
He was a slave, but not to the Kaleydia. He was the slave of the fiery woman in his arms. He had been since the moment he’d stepped into her life. She’d always held power over him and always would. She quieted his soul, brought him peace, brought him infernal passion, and held his heart right in the palm of her hand. The heart she had helped create.
Willow Avaris, the queen of a mythical race…
The queen of his heart.
About the Author
If someone were to ask me what I am, it could be summed up in one, simple word: Dreamer. Ever since I was a small child my imagination has run wild. I have been telling stories for as long as I can remember, creating grand worlds in my head and going on adventures that were invisible to others around me. Am I eccentric? Yes. Am I proud of that? Absolutely.
I write about the things that inspire me, both in this world and in realms only seen with the imagination. My heroines are sassy and strong. My heroes are sometimes shy. I have an obsession with music (and musicians) and a fascination with wings. I believe true love does exist, and sometimes it is found in the strangest, most unexpected places. I also believe that family and close friends are the glue that hold people together.
Above all things, I believe in being true to yourself and seizing the day. Life is an amazing gift. Make your experience as beautiful as you possibly can.
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