“It’s overwhelming.” Out of the corner of his eye, Nico saw Teilo nod. “Overwhelming, exciting, a bit scary, but not a fear type of scary.”
Nico understood what Teilo meant. “Anticipation,” he agreed. “Not knowing what the next day will bring but looking forward to it because we’re all together.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. Was any one anticipating ice cream?” Ben appeared on Nico’s other side, holding up a tub and three spoons. “How about we watch the sunset and enjoy the quiet before thinking about dinner.” He sat his butt on the sand, and Nico and Teilo were quick to do the same.
“Do you think we’ll ever forget? Will what we’ve been through, Teilo and me, will it ever go away?” Nico asked after a long moment of savoring the chocolate flavor that coated his gums and tongue.
“No, not completely. In a way, the memories will keep you safe from it ever happening again.” Ben licked his spoon. “The painful thoughts you have will get dimmer over time as you replace them with new ones. Happy memories of love and fun times.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“And this time, when the bad memories hit you like they will sometimes,” Teilo chimed in, “There’ll be two sets of arms to hold you, grounding you, and reminding you you’re loved and cherished. Just like there was for me on the plane coming here.”
Nico nudged Teilo’s shoulder with his own, showing silent support. The tears Teilo shed on the plane over taking lives weren’t as bad as they had been in the past. For the first time, Nico could hold his mate until the tremors passed, and Ben was there to hold them both.
There was silence for a while as the men dug into the tub of ice cream and the sun started casting pinks and purple shades through the wispy clouds and across the white caps. It was half obscured by the horizon line when Nico said, “I love you, Teilo. I love you, Ben. I know you’ll both understand that while today was our last ever job, I will fight to the death to keep you and this life we can share.”
“I love you, too, but I’m going to fight you in a minute,” Ben said, sounding peeved, but his humor was shining through their bond. “You’ve just taken the last scoop of ice cream.”
Nico looked down at the lump of melting goodness on his spoon and then at Ben, whose spoon was empty. “Hey,” he said as Teilo swooped across, and he saw his spoon disappear in Teilo’s mouth.
Sitting back up, Teilo chomped and swallowed the icy sweetness, a huge grin on his face. “Love you, too. We need more ice cream, and you know what the great thing about our new life is? We’ve got twenty more tubs of it in that big freezer Ben ordered for us. Life is go-o-o-o-o-d.”
They were still laughing as the sun disappeared from view.
Epilogue
Duron
Duron sat on the couch and stared at Ajani like he’d lost his mind. “Let’s just recap! You want me and Wyatt to go to Paraguay on some fucking wild goose chase for a shadow that people are too terrified to even mention the dude’s name and so call him the Devil?”
Wyatt, who was standing with his back to Duron, looking out the open window, didn’t exhibit any of what he thought about the situation. They’d arrived back from a trip an hour ago from what was supposed to be a simple job: get in, do the kill, get out. Only it wasn’t.
The council, though they weren’t pulling their strings like they had previously, was still meager with details of the jobs they gave them. This time those lack of details had nearly cost Wyatt an eye and Duron continued to feel the ache where the vampire had chewed on his leg, desperate to feed after his owner thought starving him would make him more compliant.
The target, the owner of an enormous mansion, had several pets, as he referred to them. He’d chemically chained them and abused them repeatedly. Wyatt and he agreed it was only right to let those who’d suffered kill the fucker. Slowly. So they’d had to wait for days for the drugs to wear off and then feed them to get back their strength.
Duron didn’t want to think too hard about the bloodbath that ensued after the guys’ captives had given him a taste of what he’d done to them. In Duron’s mind, it was nothing less than he deserved, irrespective of how much it twisted his guts into painful knots. He preferred to make the kill as clean as possible.
Marvin came into the room… blooming.
Duron blinked, then rubbed his tired eyes. His heart throbbed in his chest, and he had to look away from what his heart yearned for. It wasn’t for him. Marvin was Ajani’s. Fate had decided, and there was nothing Duron could do about that.
“Duron, are you okay?” Marvin came to him and sat next to him, rubbing a gentle hand up over his arm much like he’d done all the years he visited him when no one was looking.
“I’m fine,” he replied gruffly, creeping his arm away from Marvin’s touch as not to upset him.
Marvin’s head quirked to the side. “You don’t look it.”
Ajani came closer, and Duron couldn’t take it and rose to give himself some distance between the pair who loved each other. It shone from them when they looked at each other as they were now.
Paraguay right now looks like a good option.His bear was smitten with Marvin, though his bear had always told him Marvin wasn’t meant for them. Duron hadn’t listened.
“What do you think?” Duron asked Wyatt, going to him, and looking at his expression to see what his thoughts were. They hadn’t had any downtime in two weeks, and Wyatt had to be as tired as Duron.
“I’ve never been to Paraguay.” Wyatt gave him a slap on the shoulder, his eyes showing sympathy. “I’ll come with you to sort the Devil out. I’m sure we’ll be getting the VIP treatment of the Thalassa private jet.”
Ajani ignored Wyatt. “Are you sure you want to go, Duron? I could ask Conrad or Ekon?”
One look at the couple on the couch, and the answer was easy. “Yeah, I’ll go. I was planning a holiday. Paraguay might be a good place to get lost in for a little while after the job is done.”
