Niamh rested her head against his shoulder as he drove, a renewed excitement for their future binding them together as they made their way into their next adventure.
North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
As the driver pulled into the driveway of the last house on the cul-de-sac, Echo had to squash the urge to jump out. The large family home backed onto the Baden Powell Trail. It was a quiet street with congenial neighbors and it wasn’t so isolated that Nancy and Odette didn’t have a community around them.
A hand curled around hers, and she turned to look at Elijah. He gave her a sexy smile. “You can run on in with excitement if you want,” he teased.
Echo quirked an eyebrow. “When have I ever run with excitement?”
Her mate chuckled at her dry tone just as the driver opened the back passenger door for them. “Mr. Webb, Mrs. Webb.”
Echo got out, nodding her thanks before stepping away from the vehicle to stare up the long driveway. The afternoon sun was warm on her face, a sensation she’d finally gotten used to again. In fact, the last five years of being able to walk around in daylight had healed her just as much as Elijah had.
A few years ago, Elijah had asked her to marry him. Obviously marrying her mate because she loved him was the number one reason she said yes. But being able to shed William’s surname was a nice little bonus.
Odette had adopted the Webb name too.
But only because Nancy had adopted Odette.
It hadn’t been an easy decision.
After the battle five years ago, Echo, despite the grief it would cause her, was determined to return Odette to her birth parents. Odette had turned thirteen a few days after the battle. She didn’t want to return to her birth parents. She wanted to stay with Echo, Nancy, and Elijah. Nancy, in her grief over losing Bill, seemed just as desperate to hold on to Odette.
Eventually, she got Odette to agree to at least find out more about her birth parents. So they looked into them. Even surveilled them. They had two kids. Odette had a brother and sister. They seemed like good people.
However, ultimately Odette wished to stay with Nancy, and Echo couldn’t bear to put her sister through any more trauma. If, when she was older, she wanted to reach out to her birth parents, she would.
So, they fudged a lot of legal stuff to allow Nancy to become Odette’s guardian and for them to move to this quiet suburb of North Vancouver.
Now Odette was a student at University of British Columbia and was home for the summer.
Just like Echo and Elijah.
They’d finished the last leg of a long two-year tour with the Strix.
As Echo had hoped all those years ago when she’d tried to reassure Elijah, his bandmates bought his story about disappearing because Bill was terminally ill and then had passed away. It was a story mixed with some truth. Phil and Jamal welcomed him back with open arms, sorry for their friend’s loss. Adam, who had been terrified of losing the band when Elijah disappeared, had been a little less welcoming and a lot caustic.Echo didn’t like the selfish prick then, and she didn’t like him now.
Of course, many stories were spread online and in the news about Elijah. The one most people believed was that he’d gone to rehab for alcohol and drug addiction. Ultimately, Elijah chose to let people believe what they wanted to, as long as he still got to play in the band—and bring Echo along with him. The guys also bought that Elijah had met Echo and she’d helped him through his family’s loss.
So, for five years, Elijah continued to play music and do what he loved. Echo enjoyed the touring life. She was never bored, she loved their music, and because she was a natural boss, she kind of accidentally took over their management, and the band hit a new level of fame. After that, Adam came around. But Echo still didn’t like the whiny asshole.
And now she wouldn’t have to deal with him ever again.
This past year, the band had started cracking jokes about how Elijah hadn’t aged a day. How Echo hadn’t either. They’d almost been caught a couple of times on tour when Echo drank from her mate to satiate her vampiric hunger.
It was time. All too quickly, it was time to leave the band and disappear until they faded from human memory. Maybe then they could start over as something new.
Of course, the band hadn’t been happy, but Echo found them a new lead singer who was amazing, if not quite as amazing as her mate, and she found them a new manager she thought was a solid, capable guy. The saddest part was having to cut ties with Phil and Jamal and their families. They didn’t know it yet, but they’d never see Echo and Elijah again. It was too risky.
Elijah stepped up beside her after helping Darrell with their luggage.
In her excitement to see Odette and Nancy, Echo had stopped worrying about her mate. But those few minutes were over, and concern washed through her as she studied him.
“I could feel you,” Elijah murmured as their driver left. He stared up at the house and Echo sensed a pang of grief.
He missed his dad.
She reached out and took his hand. “I can feel you too.”
