by A. C. James
“Forever works for me.”
-Okay, show’s over. Let’s go.-
I smiled into Arie’s shoulder at Toren’s gruff telepathic demand, but I didn’t care when I noted that almost all the demons had planted their cards on the table and were watching us with shimmering onyx eyes. Forever worked for me just fine.
* * *
The four of us returned to the hotel to pack up our stuff. On the drive over, Toren had been edgier than ever. His arms were crossed and his body was rigid against mine when we crammed into the backseat of a cab. I didn’t understand it. He should be happy, but it seemed like Toren thrived when there was conflict. Maybe that was the only way he knew how to rise to the occasion.
I was glad to be out of the car and packing my duffle bag. Arie wanted to stop by Julian’s office to see if he had time to do lunch before we went to the airport. Rue reclined on the bed with a mountain of pillows behind her and flipped through the channels, absently surfing. Arie was reading a newspaper, and Toren—well, he was pacing and we were all trying really hard to ignore it.
Suddenly, a sharp echo pierced my mind. It was like someone shouting through a very thick wall. I couldn’t make out the words, but they sounded hurtful. I dropped the shirt I was holding, and when I turned around Toren was smirking at Arie who had the most stunned expression on his face. His mouth was gaping and his eyes darted to me.
“Well, it’s been fun, but I think it’s time for me to go,” Toren said.
Rue muted the sound on the TV, but it wouldn’t have mattered. Toren had our full and undivided attention.
“Stay,” I whispered.
“I can’t, darlin’, and I think you know that.”
He swung his bag onto his shoulder and turned toward the door.
“You don’t have to do this,” Arie said.
“I think I do.”
“Let him go,” Rue said, her voice soft and clear as a bell. “You’re not going to make him change his mind.”
“Besides, I think you and Holly have some things to discuss,” Toren said. His eyes were cold and hard.
I bit my lower lip, feeling anxious about the reverberation that had cut through my mind. I knew then that it had been a telepathic shout. Something spiteful that Toren had flung at Arie, one last jab before leaving us.
“I’ll see you around, darlin’.” Toren threw a wicked smile over his shoulder. His stride was purposeful as he tramped out of our hotel room. And just like that, he was gone.
Arie turned to me. “Toren’s right about one thing.”
“Oh?”
“We need to talk.”
“About what?”
“I think there’s some things that I need to explain, that maybe I should’ve told you a long time ago.”
Epilogue
8 Months Later
He pressed his lips into mine like he was still trying to make up for lost time. My body was pressed to his front, the firm muscles of his abdomen right up against my stomach. I’d thought he would roll back on top of me, take me again, but his lips were a gentle exploration. His tongue tasted and claimed what had been his since the first day he walked into the Coffee Grind, when he’d blown my whole world apart. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I loved how his tongue was persistent in its explorations, even when he knew every curve by memory—or so he’d told me at least a half a dozen times. If he told me a half a dozen more I might get used to hearing it.
“So what is Elizabeth like?” Arie asked as he ran his fingers through my hair.
I smiled. “Loving, but not gentle. She’s got a definite fierce and protective streak… So I’d watch out if I were you.”
I traced my finger along his arm. I was only half joking about how fiercely protective Elizabeth Ellis could be when it came to someone she loved.
“Is that so?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if we told her before we got there?”
“And get killed on sight? Oh, hell no.”
Arie laughed and then kissed my chin. “What do you think she’ll say?”
“It doesn’t matter what she says, but I hope she’ll be happy about it anyway. We’ve always been close, so I imagine she’d take one look at how happy we are and be happy for us.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Secretly, I wasn’t nearly as confident about our upcoming visit to meet my adoptive parents as I’d told him. I’d never missed a visit, but after everything that had happened Arie decided it was time to whisk me away and we both thought it might be better if we let them get used to the idea of someone new in my life in very small increments that would seem more reasonable. So I’d called Elizabeth from the airport in New York and told her that I’d met someone and that we were going away together. She’d been over-the-top excited, until I called a month later and told her that we’d moved in together. I’d worried my lower lip as she lectured me on the phone with quite a long list of very logical reasons why we should have waited until we’d been together longer.
Oh, if she only knew the truth.
I couldn’t help feeling a little guilty that I’d been with Arie for quite some time now and hadn’t told her, but with the prospect of our world being exposed by Katarina, a territory squabble with the faerie folk, and a half-demon stealing Arie’s memories, I figured we had a pretty good excuse. It was a shame I couldn’t explain any of that to Elizabeth.
I smiled at the irony of our situation, and Arie rolled the pad of his thumb across my lower lip. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking I’d like to stay here, and that of all the places we’ve been this is my favorite.”
Arie arched an eyebrow at me. “You mean to tell me that this tops the hotel in Italy with the balcony that overlooked the canal?”
“Yup.”
We had rented a one-room cabin out in the middle of nowhere, in the dead of winter, in Maine. The place didn’t even have a TV. What it did have was a large king-size sleigh bed and a heart-shaped Jacuzzi tub that seemed very out of place. Its shape was even more awkward when attempting aquatic love making, but we’d laughed it off. It was definitely cute, but non-oblong shaped tubes were overrated as far as I was concerned. Yet it didn’t stop us. Arie had rolled me into a towel, suds and all, and then carried me to the bed, dumping me on its quilted spread where I’d sprawled quite ungracefully. We’d never smiled or laughed so much together. Although it was kind of hard when our lives were always in danger.
“And why is this your favorite?”
“Because it’s the first place we’ve made love…”
I bit my lower lip when I trailed off.
“As husband and wife.” He finished my sentence.
I nodded. If I said anything I was sure my voice would’ve croaked out. That’s how choked up I was every time I thought of the vows he’d spoken despite our no muss, no fuss ceremony. And that was why I wasn’t sure how Elizabeth would feel about him. We hadn’t stopped to consider family when we’d gone down to the court house, got ourselves a license, and then waited the perquisite amount of time before having a civil service. I didn’t think that Tessa would really care, but Luna might, and Rue would definitely be pissed about not getting to see us get hitched. Yes, it was selfish, but our relationship had withstood so much and I didn’t want to wait. Knowing my luck the next calamity would strike right while I was walking down the aisle. Besides, I couldn’t imagine me in one of those big puffy white gowns, although Arie would have looked stunning in a tux. Drool-worthy in fact.
“I like the sound of that,” I murmured.
“The sound of what?”
“Wife.”
“Then I’ll say it again…wife.”
This time he ran his thumb across my cheekbone and my voice came out all wobbly. “Don’t…you’ll make me all weepy.”
And then I’d be a bloody mess with red streaks running down my cheeks.
“Don’t cry, Holly. It’s just you and me from here on out.”
<
br /> He’d been reassuring me that I was the only one for him ever since I’d admitted the vision I’d seen of him, Toren, and Katarina. His half-brother had let it slip telepathically right before he left town. Actually he hadn’t let it slip; it had been out of spite. Toren seemed angry at the world for his own bad luck. Really, you make your own luck and the world doesn’t owe you jack shit, but he had a chip on his shoulder because Arie had saved him and an even bigger chip since Katarina had chosen Arie over him. That was my perspective, but I couldn’t help feeling a little bit sorry for him even though he’d done it to himself. Arie had questioned me about it and told me he had nothing to hide. He’d planned on telling me, but when was the right time? After I’d vanquished Katarina and was feeling guilty as hell over it, or when we were trying to save our species from being served poisoned Puncture? Honestly, I was just glad to have him back. I didn’t care about whatever happened in the past. It was long before I entered the picture, and it would be the same as him blaming me for whoever I’d been with before we were together. Even though that’s the way I saw it, I could tell Arie was worried that I might feel differently about him now.
“If I do it’s only because you make me so incredibly happy.”
“I’ll spend an eternity trying to make you happy if that’s what it takes. You’re my whole world, Holly.”
“Do you think we’ll ever see your brother again?” I asked as I shifted in his arms on top the bed.
Arie shrugged. “I hope so. If we don’t, I know who will.”
“Tessa?”
Arie nodded. “I don’t know what happened between the two of them. I really don’t. I’ve never seen two people try so hard to pretend that they don’t mean anything to one another.”
I laughed.
I’d seen it firsthand, and he was right when he said those two fought to deny their feelings. It was always easier to pretend you didn’t care than to walk into something that could tear your heart out. Those two were like a set of magnets that had been flipped over—they just couldn’t connect even though they were drawn to one another.
Arie’s brow creased and I could tell that he was thinking of him. He’d made Victoria and he’d lost her, and then just when Toren came back into his life, he’d left after helping save his brother. Because that was Toren’s MO. Easier that way, but it was lonelier too.
“But he means something to you. He’s your brother. It’s okay to not agree with him and still love him.”
“He’s never forgiven me, and maybe he never will, but I did what I thought was right. He may be older than me by a couple of years, but he’s never acted that way.”
I nodded. I wouldn’t argue with Arie and tell him that Toren had stepped up when it came to saving him, because I knew deep down that Arie already knew that. He just couldn’t admit it because it was just easier to be angry that Toren had left. So I leaned forward pressing my lips to one cheek and cupping the other with my hand.
“It’s just you and me. Always. And I think that he’ll come around eventually.”
Arie leaned into my hand and then took it, kissing my fingertips. “You’re everything to me, and if the world stopped spinning around us and you and I were all that was left, it wouldn’t matter as long as I had you in my arms.”
I’d never been with anyone that could make me blush all the way down to my toes. I pulled the quilt up a little more. The cabin was a bit damp, but Arie had promised that he’d restart the fire, which had gone out while we were sleeping.
“I love you too,” I said, grinning from ear to ear.
He was always more eloquent with words than me. That strange accent and semi-formal speech had always turned me on, especially when he went from formal to demanding and modern.
-I didn’t think I ever could.-
-Could what?-
-Love again.-
His eyes were a warm gray right then and a curl had fallen into his eyes. God, he was so sexy. He still looked good to me regardless of the early morning hour or how disheveled he was lying next to me on the bed, our eyes locked, and faces only inches apart.
“I can be pretty persuasive,” I purred.
“You do realize that we have a flight to catch.”
I laughed. “Not until this afternoon.”
“Hmmm…what shall we do until then?”
“I can think of a few things.”
We’d stayed up talking into the wee hours of the morning and then made love. I don’t think either of us had slept for more than three hours, but I felt more awake than I’d ever felt in my life. My world was more vibrant with Arie, who turned a dry existence into an experience that made me face my deepest desires and the darkest places in my soul. And then shattered all the beliefs, all the doubts that had kept me from admitting what I really wanted.
“Then show me,” he whispered against my mouth.
His hand trailed to one of my breasts, still naked from our late-night loving, and tweaked one of my nipples.
“Yes…”
I climbed on top of him and realized in that perfect moment that there was nowhere else I’d rather be. He placed his hands on my shoulders and I closed my eyes to savor the moment. I wanted to record it in my mind and tuck it away with all the other times he’d shown me what it meant to be loved, to be consumed, and to be devoured. I’d finally found my place in the world. It was in Arie’s strong arms that I’d found my own strength and power—everything I’d always wanted, and more than I’d ever imagined.
-The End-
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Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading, Beyond Ever After! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it! It would mean a lot to me if you could leave a review, even if it’s just a line or two. Reviews help readers find the books that they’ll like. I appreciate all reviews, whether positive or negative.
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Please read on because I’ve included places where you can connect with me and teasers from upcoming releases. I’m always hanging out on Facebook—it’s my favorite place to connect with readers. I really hope you’ll stop by and say, “Hi!” or Like my Fan Page.
So is the end of the Ever After Series?
I don’t know what the future holds for Arie and Holly, but Toren definitely intrigues me. One of these days I do believe his story with Tessa deserves to be told in a spinoff.
In the meantime Julian Frost and Rayna Ward will be featured in a new series—Arranged Mates. Their story will be told in book one, Pack Law. Its release will be announced via my newsletter.
Keep in touch! If it weren’t for my readers, I wouldn’t have a writing career and I feel incredibly blessed that I’m able to share these stories with you.
Until next time...
Happy Reading,
A.C. James
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