Confusion spread over his face when he pulled back to look at me.
Sighing, I lifted myself, resting my temple on the heel of my hand.
“Dante’s tattoo has the power to bring me comfort, it lets his energy connect with mine, making us feel safe. I think it helped Natasha welcome him into her life and eventually fall in love with him. He felt like home to her from the start; she couldn’t resist it. It was also a gift for him since he’d spent so long wishing for his mate, waiting for her, his soul couldn’t wait any longer.”
Hannes’s confusion deepened, but it also began to transform into bewilderment, like he and the guys never even thought about it like that.
“Come on, you guys knew,” I pressed. “André’s tattoo gives him the power to feel every emotion I go through,” I continued, dragging my fingertips over the beautiful illustration on his bicep. “It’s how he could tell when Natasha was in distress or needed him. His gift is to always be there for us when we need him without us having to call for him. I believe the bond gave each of you a gift through the tattoo. So, what does yours do?”
His silence was the only answer I needed. He had no idea. It was likely I was the only one who had realized this so far.
“Good evening, this is your captain speaking,” the voice came softly through the speakers, calling our attention. “Wehave arrived home, and I will begin our descent into the ReinheitWölfe Airport. Please return to your seats and secure your seatbelts. We’ll land in only a few minutes.”
“Home…”Star sounded hopeful.
“You have to see this.” Hannes held me against him and rolled us over to the window until I was facing it, his body pressed against my back.
“But the captain said to sit down?—”
“Don’t worry about him. I got you,” he whispered in my ear, pulling up the blind.
I mean, I wasn’t going to complain. Even if I’d wanted to, the second the horizon came into view, I lost all will to speak.
The sight stretching before me was the painting of a kingdom filled with golden twinkling lights, peaked red roofs, and snow-covered towns that seemed to glow a purplish-bluehueunder the midnight sky. The most impressive structure sat above it all, on the mountain.
“Now,that’sa castle.” Hannes’s breath fanned my ear with a hint of gloating, but I was too mesmerized to mock him.
“It’s your tattoo…” I whispered, taken aback. “The kingdom on your arm.”
I glanced back at him to find him smiling. This time, the emotion that fueled it wasn’t amusement or naughtiness, it was pride and unadulterated love for his home.
Damn, he was beautiful in a rugged kind of way.
The castle disappeared too fast for me to be able to describe it, and we touched down at the airport just as the door of the suite opened.
“Hello, naughty lovebirds.” Dante wiggled his eyebrows knowingly when he saw our position on the bed. “Good choice. I like it from behind too, and I would gladly join you, but we have to go.”
“Shut up.”
Dante’s smirk returned as I reached for his offered hand, stealing a kiss from my lips when he helped me stand. Shadows poked at my mind in that moment, it was his subtle way of asking if I would let him back in, but he groaned when I arched a dubious brow at him.
As if.
I liked my privacy, thank you very much. It was enough to have a very vocal, very horny Wolf Shifter, and a dormant human in my mind, I didn’t need three dominant mates there too.
The ride from the small, private airport to the castle was one I’ll never forget. It wasn’t long by any means, maybe an hour, but the scenery was absolutely breathtaking. I’d never seen anything like these Alps, and I was trying my best to take in every detail even in the darkness of midnight.
Once far and fairytale-like, the imposing castle became more intimidating and real the closer we got to it. It was set at the very top of the mountain, so high that a cluster of fluffy clouds surrounded it, making it seem like it floated in the vast sky.
Even as we ascended the mountain, the vintage limousines carrying our group drove through the clouds engulfing it, giving the experience an extra air of fantasy.
From what I could see through the window, the main building was easily twice the size of Anastasia’s home, its towers far taller. It also had two more buildings at either side of it, and a large structure at the front.
The details of its construction were so impressive that I spent the last half of the drive up, trying to decipher whether the figures of royal knights on top of some of the towers were statues or real men.
I still wasn’t certain.
Before I knew it, the driver stopped in front of the large structure at the entrance, its ancient wooden gate overwhelmingly tall as it opened for us, and the limos carefully rode over the old stone road into the structure.
