“Wouldn’t happen,Cara, because nothing could keep me from you.” He’s not being cocky or saying it in jest. The conviction in his words settle somewhere deep inside me. Ares would always come for me, no matter what.
I close the distance between us again. Wrapping my arms around his torso and burying my head under his chin. I’ve never experienced the absolutecertaintyof knowing I have a home, and that’s what Ares is. He’s my home, they all are. It doesn’t matter if we had to live in my old camper, they would never leave me to fend for myself. I love him, I love all of them, for giving me that.
“I love you.” I look up into his face. Ares’s eyes widen for the briefest second before he tucks me back into his chest.
“Love you too,” he adds gruffly.
Chapter 11
“So, tell us what happened, did you find anything out?” Milo is leaning against the wall where a headboard would be.
I cuddle further into Dante’s embrace. Ollie didn’t have the same reservations about waking him upthatI did. He gives me a slight squeeze and lets out a long sigh.
“Nothing, it was a total waste of time,” Ares confesses, looking at the bed. Ollie has his head on my thigh, taking up almost the entire second king sized bed by lying sideways.
“Really, nothing?” Milo sounds skeptical.
“It wasn’t a complete waste of time, we figured out they’re hiding something, but we don’t know what,” Dante offers.
Finally taking a seat, Ares settles at the edge of the bed. “Yeah, but we’re no closer to figuring out what happened to Laura’s mom or Leon.”
I run my toe along Ares’s leg, getting his attention. “I’m happy you came home. I’d rather you be here, all together. We’ll figure it out.” He turns to look at me, but he doesn’t look convinced.
“She’s right, it’s better if we’re all together,” Milo adds, surprising me a little. “I think we should make the announcement, we’re not doing ourselves any good by hiding her, orthe factthatshe’s with us. Anyone interested in Laura would know what she is to us, and there’s no other explanation why she would stay with us if she wasn’t our Synergist.”
“You’re right. She’s been with us too long for there to be any other excuse.” Ares rolls his head on his shoulders. “We can say we were waiting for our parents so we could tell them before we announced our pairing.”
Ollie lets out a long sigh. “Good, that’s good.”
“We’ll have to have a ceremony. We can do it Saturday. That’ll giveMom, Carolyn, and Linda time to put something together,” Dante rumbles.
This is the first I’ve heard about any ceremony. “Yeah that should be plenty of time for them, they’ve probably all been planning it for years anyways,” Ollie adds, completely unaware of my thoughts.
“What kind of ceremony are we talking about?” I ask, pulling away from Dante so I can sit up.
Ollie’s head hits the bed when I move, “It’s just a party. A reason for everyone to get together,” he mutters dismissively.
I glance at the others. None of them are meeting my gaze so I’m immediately suspicious. “Really?” I cross my arms over my chest and let my doubt come through my tone.
“It’s not as bad as you’re thinking,Cara,” Ares caves. “Food and dancing.” His shoulders bunch up with a small shrug. I’m still not convinced and I glare at him.
“We area bit ofan anomaly though, so there will probably bea lot of people who will show up,” Milo amends.
“Not to mention Ares issomewhatof a celebrity,” Ollie adds.
“A what?” I gape.
“I’m more worried about how many people our families will invite.” Ares ignores my comment altogether.
“They have been waiting for a long time.” Dante reclines back on the bed, his arms behind his head,completelyrelaxed.
“You’re a celebrity?” I accuse.
Ares shakes his head in denial. “No,” he scoffs. “I’m just good at what I do,” he assures me, turning to climb up the bed to his usual spot.
“Seriously Ares?”
“I am being serious. He was exaggerating. I’m well known because I work for the council sometimes. We talked about this.”
