Weryn would never have let me do that back in the day. It wasn’t respectful. But Ryder would. Ryder has. Ryder is…
Grayson let out a wild laugh that was also a sob as he grasped the wolf’s body and thrust his face against that soft fur. He kissed and stroked that big form even as it shifted from fur to flesh.
“You could go a little lower,” Ryder’s voice was rough from the shift as Grayson kept kissing his belly now all soft skin and just a trail of tempting hair going to that lower place.
Grayson felt the brush of Ryder’s erect cock against his chin and chest. He looked up into Ryder’s beloved face and his heart twisted. Was this still a dream? Could this be real?
“Is it you?” Grayson rasped out.
Ryder blinked in what appeared to be confusion at first and Grayson’s heart plummeted into his feet. A dream then. A glorious, realistic dream that could only happen because of Balthazar’s mind control. But then Ryder smiled tenderly. He reached down and cupped Grayson’s face. His thumbs glided over Grayson’s cheeks. He brought Grayson up so that they were eye to eye. Grayson could feel Ryder’s breath gusting against his lips.
“It is,” Ryder promised him. “I’m… fully me.”
Grayson’s eyes widened, which allowed a few tears to fall that he had been holding back. “Fully?”
Another nod. “It took a moment. Or two. Or really… maybe more than that. But now it feels so foolish that I ever thought I was someone else. I’ve always been me. Then and now.”
Grayson grinned, his eyes slitting, and more tears falling. He was even beginning to snot. That was not romantic or sexy so this was not a dream. He flailed one arm over towards the nightstand to grab a tissue. He missed the box utterly, but Ryder stretched out and expertly pulled one from the top and handedit to him. Grayson blew his nose and wiped his eyes. More tears kept falling and he was going to need another tissue if this kept up.
He’d known that he was tense and upset by what had happened earlier, but not that he’d been coming apart. This reaction showed him that he’d not allowed himself to fully feel the truth of Ryder not knowing him and his helplessness to protect the other Immortal. Ryder might be the Soldier, but he was the General and he didn’t send his people into battle without him.
“Reallyyou? All of you?” Grayson asked, knowing Ryder meant that he was Weryn and Weryn was him and he was Ryder. But he needed to confirm, because this was so huge.
A nod.
“And you’re okay?” Grayson asked, even though he knew the answer to that too.
Or, at least, he thought he knew since Ryder looked so at peace and happy. There were no shadows in his eyes. Grayson hadn’t realized they had been there before, but he could see their absence now. Yet they were in bed together and so many things could be forgotten or overlooked when they were like this. It was how Kaly’s madness had escaped him the first time.
“I am,” Ryder said with another slower nod. “Roan–well,oneof the Roans–is dead and Legion and Shaela are in prison in Daemon’s palace. No Sect members can get in there. But Forsworn is… lost to us for now. It was a good trade though. It had to be done.”
Grayson’s mouth opened. There were so many questions to those simple yet profound statements. Roan–but only one–was dead? Legion and Shaela–who was she?--were imprisoned? Forsworn was lost? How and in what way? And why was it a good trade to lose an Ever Dark city? Such a thing could never be! Especially Weryn’s Forsworn! But though he had lost hisprime territory, Ryder seemed stillfine. At peace. Not accepting it as if he would never get it back, but as if he had made a strategic choice that had been worth it in the end.
So many questions.
Grayson admitted to himself then that he had half-believed that Roan and Legion would escape Ryder, but he shouldn’t have even considered that. Weryn had never truly lost a hunt. The prey might hide from him for a time, but even during the War, he had located every enemy in the end. Even Kaly or Roan. It just hadn’t ended well.
“You should have seen Elgar!” Ryder chuckled and stared up at the ceiling with an amazed look on his face. “He was terrifying. I remember him from the past, but he seemed so diminished here that I couldn’t put the two people together in my mind. But he’s not diminished.” Ryder looked at him then. “I think he’s stronger. Broken apart and put back together a little badly, but still. Though using his powers on them–”
“Wait! He used his powers on Roan and Legion? But what about the structures? They could have–”
“Dani checked them when we brought them back. She’s outside by the way. She’s been here since Fiona and Christian had to leave.”
“Why did they have to leave? I thought–no, it doesn’t matter–”
“It was the only way to save us really. But you weren’t left alone. They would never have done that–”
“No, I know. I’m not worried about me.”
“Which is the problem. One of them, Grayson,” Ryder said with a look that spoke so much more than his words did.
Grayson found himself squirming uncomfortably. “Yes, well, so Dani stayed with me until you came back and now she’s outside?”
“Unwillingly outside.” Ryder snorted. “Staring at the door, arms crossed–I can see the shadow of your boots, Dani!”
A voice slightly muffled by the door answered back, “I’m not trying to hide from you, Ryder. My presence is to remind you to not get any funny ideas!”
“Oh, I have loads of funny ideas!” Ryder laughed.
