“We’ll wake soon,” Aiden said, his tone low.
“I can’t wait to hug you for real,” Derek said, his tone a tad higher and eager.
Aiden chuckled, “Me neither.”
“And to kiss Nolen for real again.” Derek snickered.
“You could kiss me now, you know,” I hinted.
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Aiden grinned, moving his body and claiming my lips with his. This was the first time we’d kissed since we met, and it was wonderful. His lips were soft, his tongue caressing mine in a way that felt both possessive and playful all at once. I felt claimed by that one kiss. To my utter joy, Derek’s lips took over after, leaving me claimed by both and so damn happy my smile was almost bright enough to light up the darkness surrounding us.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Aiden
Three years later.
Tingles. That was all I could feel. My whole body was tingling. I could feel it everywhere, but my eyes were closed, my ears slowly tuning into the sounds around me. Beeping machines, whispered words I couldn’t make out. I moved where I lay, feeling my body protest, my muscles aching.
Finally, my eyes shot open, my hand flying to my chest, or I tried to reach my chest quickly to check that my heart was still beating, but I was too weak so it sort of flopped in place.
Movement from my side caught my attention, and there he was, my Nolen,my mate.
“Aiden?” he croaked, his voice gruff from misuse.
“Nolen,” I breathed, feeling my eyes tear up seeing him out of our dreams. This was real. We’d done it!
A loud groan came from behind Nolen, and there was my twin. Derek let out another groan of protest. “Why?” he croaked, moving slowly to sit up and look around the room. His gaze landed on me and instantly, we both turned into blubbering messes. Tears fell from both our eyes and our words were jumbled and even I couldn’t understand what we were saying.
A loud sniffing sound came from farther left. We all turned to the sound and found a woman wiping her eyes.
“Mindy,” Nolen said, his voice still pure gravel.
“Oh, Nolen. How are you all feeling? I’ve been so worried! But then I figured your bodies kept showing signs of progress, and you’d said to keep going until Aiden and Derek were all healed, so I kept going.” Her words were a quick mess as she continued to talk seemingly without needing to stop and breathe. “And then Juno demanded to come and see you and that was a whole other mess. I swear, even Alec had to come and intervene, lying his ass off that Derek could die if he entered.”
“Mindy,” I begged. “Please slow down, I’m having the worst headache.”
“Oh,” she hurried over to me. “I do apologize! It’s just that it’s been three years and—”
“Three years?!” We exclaimed at the same time.
Mindy’s eyes widened as realization dawned on her that maybe we should’ve been eased into this new information.
“I um,” she stammered. Her head was bowed in apology. “This wasn’t at all how I practiced you waking up. I am so very sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Nolen said after a few beats of silence. “This couldn’t have been easy for you either.”
She scoffed. “Can you believe how much backlash I got from other healers? They think what I was doing was unethical, that I should give up my healing license and use my skills on plants instead.”
“You got into trouble because of us?” Derek inquired.
“Some,” she admitted with another sigh. “But I knew in my heart that this was the key to saving you both. Call it instinct or whatever, I just knew.”
“And,” I began, my voice unsure. “Did it work?”
Her smile was instant and bright. “It did!”
Three relieved breaths fell from our mouths, and then we shared a smile between us.
