We make it to Marmora’s Point by early afternoon. Hundreds of years ago, Pack Marmora and the other mages fleeing persecution back in Britain first landed on Deer Island at the southernmost point of the island, on a jutting rocky shore forever memorialized for the saint who first set foot on it.
We park along the road’s gravel shoulder, Marcus pull up behind us in the SUV, and I race Luca to the waves that lap at the shore. I tug off my boots and socks, roll up my jeans and dance out into the shallow, swirling surf. I let out a shriek at just how cold the water is, but with the late summer sun still high overhead and the warmth in my heart, I barely feel the chill.
We spend hours walking along the shore, darting in and out of the water, picking up pretty rocks, snapping pictures of the beach and each other. Luca holds my hand and keeps me steady as water rushes around my calves, then recedes, leaving my toes sinking into the wet, rocky sand.
With the island at our back and the ocean stretching out in front of us, it feels like we’re on the very edge of the world, just the two of us. Luca takes every opportunity he can to pull me into his arms, kissing me in a way that warms me more than the September sun ever could.
We watch the sun dip low in the sky, sitting in the grass at the edge of the shore until my phone chimes in the pocket of my jeans.
“Pack dinner?” Luca asks, resting his chin on my shoulder and tightening his hold on me.
I slip my phone out and see a text from Cassian and nod. “Yeah, but it can wait just another minute.”
Luca holds me until the sun is no more than a sliver of copper along the distant horizon before we finally head back up the shore to his bike.
We pick up the Chinese food Cassian ordered on the way back, loading the veritable feast it takes to feed a pack of alphas into the cargo area of the SUV, and then head back to the pack house on his bike, the Deer Island countryside flicking by us, dressed in late summer dusk.
* * *
We pullinto the garage of the pack house and Marcus and Luca grab the bags of food from the SUV, refusing to let me help. It leaves me free to be pulled into a kiss by Ian the moment I emerge at the top of the stairs in the townhouse’s kitchen. He kisses me soundly before passing me off to Simon, who dips me in a dramatic kiss before spinning me around and right into Cassian’s arms.
I stumble dizzily toward him and throw up my hands to brace myself. He catches my hands in his, pulling me closer in his attempt to steady me, and stares down at me in wonder, his lips parted. I watch as he swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat.
My own lips part, and he dips his head. I’m sure he’s going to kiss me, that our kiss will be as consuming as our kiss beneath the bell tower at the end of last term.
But he doesn’t press his lips to mine. He gazes down at me, something soft and full of wonder in his dark brown eyes. “It’s good to see you so happy,” he finally says. “It looks like you got a bit of sun today.”
I crinkle my nose and, sure enough, I feel the slight sting of a sunburn across my cheeks. I duck away from Cassian’s intense gaze because he gave me this, a safe place to come home to after a day spent at the beach with one of my other alphas. My heart squeezes, and I nearly push up on my toes to kiss him.
He lets me go just as I’m working up the courage.
Simon grabs my hand and draws me over to the table, sneaking me a cheeky wink, which makes my cheeks heat beneath my sunburn.
I sit beside Marcus while the others bustle around the kitchen, Ian and Cassian setting the table as Luca breaks open the bags of food. It’s so normal, so domestic and so perfectlypackthat my heart swells, beating out a quick rhythm in my throat. Luca slides in beside me on the long bench at the table and presses a kiss to my cheek.
Despite my protests that I can do it myself, he serves me up a bit of everything and then passes me a pair of wooden chopsticks.
Marcus nudges my shoulder lightly and then passes a few cobs of baby corn onto my plate. With a grin, I pick through my food, pulling out all the water chestnuts and slipping them onto his plate.
“You two are too fucking cute,” Simon mutters around a mouthful of noodles.
Can two people who are biologically incompatible possibly be cute? After spending a year with Marcus at my side, I think nothing of swapping food between our two plates. We’ve shared so many meals together at this point. Saints, am I that obvious in my longing for my honor guard that my other men have picked up on it? If they have, surely Marcus has too.
I duck my head and bite my lower lip, pushing my food around my plate.
“I think we should talk about the elephant in the room,” Ian says quietly, and I fear for a moment that he’s going to bring up my helpless crush on Marcus, but he says, “Juniper and I have been talking about the resistance.”
Cassian freezes, noodles slipping from his chopsticks. “You’rethe one who told her?”
“I didn’t have to. She overheard with her affinity when I was discussing her joining with Alan.”
“I’ve been passing along everything Juniper has learned to the resistance,” Cassian hedges.
“I still think she has value for the resistance. Juniper can do things no other mage can.”
“I’m not putting her at risk because she can read minds,” Cassian growls.
Ian stares him down, his ice blue eyes glinting with menace. “She’s the only omega ever known to escape from an omega trap, and a talented mage besides. Her value to the resistance is far greater than her affinity. And there’s her unique position,” he says with a grimace. “No one else has been able to get close to Radcliffe since we lost Jaime Brentwood.”
