Page 146 of Alpha's Rejected Warrior
Gifts from the ceremony crowd the low table near the hearth. They’re encased in carved wooden boxes from noble houses whose names I’m still learning. Baskets of fruit from regular pack members, apparently supposed to boost fertility, are clusters of vibrant color among the dark wood. A jewel-encrusted dagger from Xander and Thea glints in the light. There’s a leather-bound journal embossed with the CrescentPack seal from Lady Gemma. All of it evidence of acceptance, stacked in velvet and ribbon.
But my gaze drifts past that.
The wardrobe is still open from this morning’s rush to dress. Inside it, my Truth Seer robes now hang beside Rhiannon’s Commander leathers. The dark fabrics rustle against each other. Like they’ve always been there.
On the windowsill, Thea’s spider plant catches the moonlight. It’s the same one I kept alive in her cramped apartment. One of the two Branson packed up the day they took me here. Thea gave it to me the day Rhiannon and I got engaged.
“You’re the one who took care of it,” she’d said. “It survived everything. Just like you.”
It’s thriving now. New shoots reach toward the glass.
My pen from Cid’s Diner sits on the desk beside Rhiannon’s tactical maps and the ancient tomes Mahal gave me to read.
I push myself off the door and cross over to her. My fingers find her waist before I’ve consciously decided to reach for her. She leans back against my chest, and we stand there together, watching the moonrise high over the fortress walls.
My lips brush her shiny dark hair. “I keep waiting.”
“For what?”
“For someone to tell me that none of this is real.”
She turns in my arms. Her palm presses flat against my chest, right over my heart. “Feel that?”
A nod is all I can manage.
“That’s mine now.” Her fingers tug my collar aside, revealing the mark. Warmth floods it instantly. “This is forever.”
Forever.In Creek Falls, forever was a word I’d ascribed to the same diner shifts, the same empty apartment, the same feeling of waiting for something that never came. It was endlessness without meaning. Here, forever means her. This room. This life I never imagined I could have.
“Rhiannon.”
She looks up. I take her hands in mine. The rough spots on her palms press against my fingers. A warrior’s hands. I hold them like they’re the most precious things I’ve ever touched, because they are.
“I spent my whole life believing I wasn’t enough.” I hold her gaze. “That I couldn’t protect anyone. That I’d never be useful to anybody.”
Her grip tightens, but she doesn’t interrupt.
“I thought that if I couldn’t be strong enough, powerful enough, or even smart enough, then I didn’t deserve to stay here.” I swallow. “Anywhere, really, but especially with you.”
Moonlight pools between us. Somewhere in the fortress, music is still playing. Laughter rises and falls like distant waves. The sounds of revelry carry on the breeze.
“But you changed that.” I lift her hands, press my lips to her knuckles. “Belonging isn’t something you can prepare yourself with, or an armor you can wear. It’s something you choose. It’s the outcome of the choices you make.”
She nods, her fingers closing around mine. Our rings shine in complement with each other.
“I choose you, Rhiannon. Not because I’m convinced that I’m worthy of you. Not because I can match your strength or protect you the way your guards can. I choose you because my heart has wanted to be yours since the day I met you. And, dammit, I’m done fighting it.”
An affectionate sound escapes her and she smiles.
“I belong here with you. . .”And I will never leave you.
Her bright warmth answers me back.
“Ethan.” Her forehead touches mine. “I believed for so long that needing someone made me weak. That vulnerability was a door I could never afford to open. That I alone must shoulder my burdens.”
She pulls my hands down but doesn’t release them. Instead, she presses them against her own heart.
“I want this. Not because the Moon Goddess intended you for me. Not because the bond compels it. Ichooseyou, Ethan, because you’reyou. I choose your stupid jokes and your reckless courage.”
