Their healing energy returned to me and I knew the balance remained okay.
"I know what you need," Jessa whispered, her head jerked up. "We haven't done this in so long, but we all need it right now."
Everyone turned to her with slightly confused expressions, except Braxton, who was in her head. "We need to go back to the house," she said in a rush.
Everyone started to move except me. "I'll be there in a few minutes," I told her. "Gotta finish repairing the forest first."
"Perfect!" she exclaimed, jumping up and smacking a kiss on my cheek. "We'll see you soon."
Their energy lingered for many minutes after they were gone—powerful assholes. It was probably a miracle that we hadn’t turned into tyrannical fucks like the American president. Pretty sure it was Jessa keeping us in line all of these years. Not to mention the new members of our packs, the mates who were all strong and capable, smart and sassy, just like our Jess.
All of them making sure we stayed grounded.
Focusing on the trees, I made sure to use only positive energy to repair the damage I'd caused, the melody that I sang one of rejuvenation. When I was satisfied that I’d done everything I could, I made my way back to the house.
I felt wrung out. My chest fucking hurt and I knew what was causing it: Justice. I'd just spent a month solid with her, every single day, and now she was gone. In my soul I knew that not going after her was a mistake, but another part of me heard what Jessa said. I didn’t want to push or crowd Justice … take away from her chance to learn about who she was.
She already mistrusted men who hadn't respected her wishes and boundaries—men I was going to destroy when I found out their names. At least if I couldn’t be with her right now, I could do something productive with my time. Starting tomorrow, I was dealing with Justice's past, and hopefully by the time she was done learning about who she was, I would have cleaned up the rest of the shit holding us back.
Then we could decide once and for all what we wanted.
The true mate bond was always going to push us together, that was inevitable, but we had free will, and we got to make the final decision.
When I reached the house, it was oddly quiet. In a place this size with as many families living here as we had now, it was rarely silent. I felt the energy of them though, and I followed that through the main level and up the stairs. When I reached the room they were gathered in, my soul felt lighter.
The door silently opened and I moved into the semi-dark room. The bed in here had been custom made so that ten to twelve people could fit on it. Right now there were four adults and three toddlers, all cuddled together, sleeping.
Fuck.
My chest tightened and I didn't even realize how badly I needed this until I crawled in on the side and snuggled Lily into me.
"Uncwle Jakey," she said sleepily. The kids loved a good nap and could almost sleep on command now. Nice change from when they were babies—not gonna lie, for a short time there, their need to cry all night had me strongly considering just being the cool uncle forever.
"Sleep, my baby girl," I told her, breathing in deeply, letting this energy relax me. I loved that they hadn't brought their mates in. Not today. It was just the way it used to be, plus our babies, and that was what I needed right now.
Even if there was a spot right beside me that felt a little empty.
14
Justice Winter
Connecting to my land was easy now; my power knew its home and wanted to be there. This time, though, there was a sense of heartache as I stepped away from Earth to Faerie. On Faerie I would be missing a person who had become a fundamental part of my life.
But I wasn't going to dwell on it. I'd made a promise to embrace who I was, learn my powers and my past, and then be able to move forward into the future. If Jacob was part of that future, I'd find out when the timing was right. If there was one thing I'd learned, it was that I couldn't push things to happen before their time. No matter how much I wanted them.
When the rainbows of my magic portal—how much cooler didmagic portalsound thanstep-through?—faded away, I found myself standing in the center point between the four lands. I always ended up here when I returned home, like this was the welcoming plot of land where all new travelers must cross.
As they had the few other times, my parents sensed me the second I stepped into their land, and appeared quickly. Thanks to magic. I hoped that one day soon, I’d have that same skill to travel on ruby light.
"Justice!" they exclaimed when they saw me. Always side by side, always perfect, Queen Deloria and King Jepati of the ruby lands. My mother's hair was the exact same as mine had been before my powers were released: white-blond, long, and thick, with just enough wave to keep it interesting. My father's was more of a honey blond, shoulder length, worn back at the nape of his neck. Both of them had green eyes, in differing shades, and my mother's skin was pale, while my father's was dark. Like a midnight sky without a single star. They were a mess of contrasting colors and patterns, but they were both incredibly beautiful. Like mythical creatures—which I guess is exactly what they were.
"Hi, guys," I said softly. They stood before me, a little taller than I was, making it very clear where my interesting mix of ethnicities came from. No one could argue we weren't related. It was just sad that no physical similarities were going to fix the gaping hole that existed between us.
I didn't know them. They didn't know me.
But that could be changed, and so far all that had been holding us back was me.
"I'm sorry it’s been so long since I visited, and that last time I barely stayed a few days," I said.
