Unable to help himself, Hardwicke leaned forward, sweeping her into an embrace. He understood what she was saying – and he knew that in her position, he would have done the same thing. He could feel the sobbing hitch of her breath against his shoulder, and he pulled her tightly against him, stroking his hand through her hair.
“It’s okay,” he murmured. “I understand – you don’t have to justify yourself to me. I know why you did what you did.”
“Thank you,” Celeste sniffled, pulling back, her cheeks damp with tears. “I just… I’ve always thought about it. Whether it was the right thing to do. And you know… I never really got over you. Just in case that wasn’t completely obvious. And Ihatelying, even if it’s just lying by omission.”
Hardwicke smiled a little, raising his hand to wipe the tears from her face. “But at least you were able to be honest with the townsfolk about all those steamy erotic novels you were writing, weren’t you?”
“Hey!” She slapped playfully at his thigh and turned so that she was looking up at him, her eyes twinkling. “They weremysterynovels. And no, I haven’t written any.”
“That’s a shame,” he said, and he found that he meant it. “I’m sure anything you turned your hand to would be wonderful.”
She shook her head, her expression fond. “Youwouldsay that. Thank you, though. I appreciate the thought.”
“I meant it.” He sighed, running his fingers through her hair, admiring the silver streaks that only enhanced its beauty. “I guess we need to get to the bottom of this… this kraken issue. Is it what’s causing the tremors?”
She grimaced. “I have to assume so – I can’t think of anything else it would be. My ancestors built this lighthouse centuries ago. Originally it served as an actual lighthouse, protecting ships from the rocks while also keeping the kraken at bay. These days there aren’t any ships passing by anymore, so I’m just here maintaining the wards.”
“The wards?” He knew a little bit about wards, in a very general sense, but he didn’t know any details. He’d never known any magic users… or so he’d thought, anyway.
“Yes.” Celeste pushed herself up suddenly and turned to face him. “You know what – as much as I don’t want to get off this sofa, I think it’s just easier if I show you.”
Hardwicke nodded. “That sounds like a good idea.” He had no idea what to expect, really, and he wasn’t sure an explanation would really do it justice. Better to just go straight to the source.
Celeste pulled herself up from the sofa, dropping the blanket to finish getting dressed, and he took a moment to appreciate the view. Knowing that he got to be with the woman he loved – whom he had loved for so long – was something that he knew he would never take for granted.
Reluctantly he watched as she pulled on her clothes, and – well. Some things that weren’therclothes at all.
“I think it looks better on you than me,” he said, and meant it.
“Do you think so?” Celeste asked, looking down at the hideous reindeer sweater that was now stretching out in new ways to accommodate her curves.
“I know so.”
“I don’t know – I thought it was cute on you,” she said, tossing his jeans at him. “Come on, get your lazy ass up.”
No one had ever said anything had lookedcuteon him before, let alone called him lazy – and if anyone had ever tried, his brain would have probably rebooted itself in sheer confusion before he gave the offender one of his icier stares and delivered a suitably unpleasant punishment. When Celeste said it though, it was… nice. Not that he was about to say as much, but he found that it didn’t bother him at all.
Our mate may do as she pleases as far as we are concerned,his pegasus said, sounding content – and also just a little bit smug.
But then, he supposed, it had earned the right to it – perhaps if he’d listened to it sooner things might not have gone the way they had.
Pulling on his jeans, he followed her up the winding stairs toward the top of the lighthouse. The sound of waves crashing on rocks carried faintly through the thick walls, and he realized once more what a different, desolate life Celeste had been living for the past twenty years. But the dull roar of the ocean was… soothing, almost, and he found himself wondering for a moment if he was feeling pity for her, or for himself. On the one hand, there was the thundering of the waves, the cozy, curved walls of the lighthouse, the pitch-black night sky studded with dazzling stars; on the other, there was his daily commute, the constant low-level electronic buzz of his fluorescent-lit office, his deliberately impersonal apartment.
Not that he didn’t sincerely love his job, or his team. Of course he did. But everything in his life that he had carefully constructed in order to keep thoughts of Celeste at bay was now being shown up as pale and lifeless, compared with how he felt now that, at last, he was with the person he’d always been meant to be with – the person who was made for him. He knew that he was going to have to think about all of this, and soon. Over the past few days, his life had been turned completely upside-down, and possibilities he had never allowed himself to think about were opening up before him, like the sun rising over the horizon…
Later, though,he told himself firmly.For now, you have to focus on helping your mate and protecting the people of the town. We have a job to do.
His whirling thoughts were broken by the strange, pink glow that crept down from the top of the spiral staircase above him. Curious, he quickened his pace, emerging out into the room at the top.
Oh, wow.
Hardwicke knew that he wasn’t easily impressed. He’d seen a lot of things in his line of work, after all, many of which even the average shifter would find difficult to comprehend.
But this… this was new.
The entire room shimmered in an ever-changing array of colors, a blanket of gently pulsating light that seemed to wrap itself all the way around the insides of the blacked-out windows. It was almost like being entirely enveloped within a warm, glowing ball.
“It’s amazing,” he murmured, staring around the room. He pulled his eyes away from the display, bringing them instead toward Celeste, who looked almost ethereal as the light shifted from purple to a delicate blue. “You – you did all this?”
