Her eyes widen slightly as I bolt toward her like an overeager puppy, begging for treats and I marvel at how damn gorgeous she is, even though she’s disheveled and dirty. She gives a small smile to each of us. “They’re going to keep Wren here for a few days. Cam has said she’s going to stay with her, so I’m going to take Jet back and then head straight back and take you all home.”
Home.
26
Echo
After the day I’ve had, I’m maybe not as careful with my words to Jet as I normally would be when I drop her back at her apartment. I want to go home and have a shower and a cuddle, in that order. I really do not need Jet to argue with me about what I’m about to say.
She perches on the kitchen island and I hover nearby, noticing that the place looks a bit of a tip since I was last here. There are alotof booze bottles and takeout containers cluttering the surfaces.
“I’m just going to lay it out there. Madame owes me a favor, so if you don’t want to be a weaver anymore, this is your chance for a clean break.” I lick my lips and struggle to swallow past my dry throat.
Jet raises an eyebrow dismissively. “Let me guess, though. She has stipulations. It involves a memory wipe, right?”
“No no no.” I hold my hands up, wincing. “More like a power wipe.”
She blinks a few times and then scowls suspiciously. “They’re not going to clear you from my brain and me from yours?”
“Nope.” I shake my head and smile brightly, but I guess I’m a little overenthusiastic with it as she shoots me a look loaded with suspicion.
“What then?”
“It’s just… it’ll be a bit more tricky for me to see you. I’ve wrangled it so we’ll be able to take a few additional trips out of the garden every year. But mostly I’ll be there so, er, we won’t be able to see each other so much.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m staying in the garden. With Soren and Finn and Brogan. I’m their destiny weaver and their mate, and I want to stay with them.” I figure that getting the words out quickly will be better, but it doesn’t save me from Jet’s furious glare.
“So, after all that we’ve been through, you’re going to be their puppet. You’re going to do exactly what they want you to. Fuck, Echo, I thought you were better than that.”
“I’m not a puppet,” I say. “Or maybe I am.” I let the tension melt away from my shoulders. “The thing is, Jet, I don’t care. I don’t care if it’s fated and decided by a higher power. I don’t care about any of that, not really. I’ve gotten to know all three of my mates and I’d choose them all in a heartbeat. Ilikethe garden. The feeling of delivering a soul makes me happy. I enjoy feeling like I’ve found a place where I belong.”
I kind of knew all of that before today. But nothing cements your true feelings than being locked in a cage and told you’re going to be drained of power and then murdered.
Or seeing your mate lying vulnerable and knowing you haven’t fully accepted them. If things had gone differently today, I could have died, but I could also have lost Soren.
It’s not like I’ve been consciously holding back from bonding with Soren and Brogan, but I haven’t fully embraced my future with them, either.
Until now.
That’s why my skin feels kind of itchy and I can barely stand still as I stand in Jet’s kitchen with her, judging me for falling in love.
I don’t care if it’s kind of fast. I don’t care if I only feel this way because the mate bond is manipulating me, tugging me toward them. Or if Andrew somehow manipulated Wren’s powers to orchestrate our entire meeting as a distraction.
All I know is that my future includes them. And if Jet won’t be happy for me, I don’t need to stand here and hear her negativity. It wasn’t like I was expecting her to be happy about the news, but I’m seriously too tired to deal with it right now.
“I’m going to go. I’ll be back in a few days to take you to Madame.”
“So she can drain my power.”
“And then I could take you anywhere you want to go. Somewhere you can start your new life as a non-weaver.” I smile at her, but she doesn’t smile back and instead turns her attention away to grab another bottle of booze and slump onto the sofa, effectively dismissing me.
“Thank you for today,” I whisper. I might not feel close to my sister right about now, but at least she still came through when I needed her.
Back at the academy, I find two very antsy mates and one who looks in desperate need of a nap. Brogan pulls me into his arms as soon as I appear in front of him. He embraces me like he was afraid he’d never see me again.
“Sorry that took longer than I expected,” I say into his shoulder, snuggling close and enjoying the feeling of him against me. I can feel that his heart is pounding, so I put my hand over it and pull back slightly so that I can look into his eyes.
