A pounding caught his attention, and, swifter than Savage could currently move, Hayden walked to the door. He opened it, and Max and Ginger entered.
Savage hadn’t seen any of his pack members yet, and Max’s big grin softened something inside of him. They were okay. He’d believed they would be, but the last he’d heard of any of them had been when he’d been dying in the basement. The True Believers taunting him with remarks about their deaths. He had to go see Rose soon and tell her how bravely Archie had fought.
“My Alpha. I….” Max didn’t finish his statement, instead rushing forward to embrace Savage in a tight hug. Savage held the man. They touched as pack mates regularly needed to. If every member of his pack required a big embrace, they’d get one. “I knew the Moon loved us. I knew she’d send you.”
The Moon was funny in the ways she adored them. But Savage wasn’t going to get into all that. “You’re okay?”
“Well, the whole pack is lining the streets. I’ve hidden them as best I can. I don’t want the humans to notice. They all want a glance at you. I’ve let Ginger in because she has news.”
He turned to the tall woman who had once given him his one and only tattoo. He was happy to see her, but it was odd Max had chosen her to bring inside. “You’re okay, Ginger?”
She nodded as a tear slipped from her eye. “Better. Every second better. I know where your mate is. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Alpha Hayden. I wasn’t oathed to you yet, and the Alpha’s mate wanted to be alone. She had George with her, seemed safe. I….”
Savage limped to Ginger and put his hands on her shoulders, not letting his brother answer. “Whatever decisions you made, they were, I’m sure, the right ones. Tell me where my love has gone. I’ve come from the dead, but I don’t feel alive, and I won’t, until I can set eyes on her.”
“The beach. I didn’t know her location right off the bat, but she’s come in three times. I’m giving her a tattoo. The last time, George not so accidently let it slip where they were staying.”
That had to be George’s idea. He couldn’t imagine Sydney suggesting it. But it was perfect. The ocean would be soothing, even through grief.
“Give me the address.”
He was going to find her.
A thought dawned on him. He wasn’t going to bring Sydney home until everything was safe.
“Hayden, I was betrayed. My pack member, Alex, I’m ninety-eight percent sure he set us up with the True Believers. Two percent possibility he was a jackass and screwed up. Find him. Will you do me one last favor of figuring out which it was? Alexei, if it’s the former, will you take care of it for me?”
His brother shook his head. “It would be a gift to me to let me end the son of a bitch who got my brother killed.”
“You don’t do that anymore.”
He was still Hayden’s big brother. Death or no death, nothing in that department had changed.
****
Savage saw George first. He didn’t see or scent Sydney in the small hotel by the ocean. But he knew she wouldn’t be far. His pack mate had stayed with her, protected her, even beyond Savage’s death. And that was what pack meant to Savage. It was more than friendship, more than loyalty; it was the best kind of family. The kind that never let you down.
Walking toward George, he knew the second the other man scented him. George whirled around, and his mouth fell open. “How?”
With the sun setting and the Moon starting her ascent into the sky, Savage didn’t have to answer verbally. He pointed upwards.
George embraced him, hard. Savage hugged him, knowing he’d be much less stiff after he saw Sydney, held her, petted her, made love to her, and passed out for twenty hours.
“I can never say thank you enough.”
His friend stepped back. “I wish I could have done more.”
“You kept her safe.” It wasn’t a question. George wouldn’t be breathing air if he hadn’t; that was how seriously he knew him to take his responsibility.
“She wanted to do something bad. She was going to go after the True Believers herself. I stopped her. I…I hope that was the right thing to do. I can’t believe you’re here.”
George looked away, then down at his feet, anywhere but at Savage. The man’s emotions were not lost on him, and, like he had done with Hayden at the graveyard, he wasn’t going to bring them up. Although if he’d ever doubted how they felt about him, he wouldn’t anymore.
He gave George a moment. “She’ll get her vengeance. In a big way. And you were right. Sydney wouldn’t be Sydney if that’s who she became. Where is she?”
George pointed toward the water. “Down by the beach. She sits at water’s edge every night at this time for two hours. I give her space, but I watch the whole time.”
“Thank you.” With the wind in the opposite direction, she’d not scent him until he was right on top of her. “Go home. I’ve got plenty of coverage here.”
Practically the entire pack had jammed in cars to follow him. If he sneezed in the wrong direction, he’d have a crowd on top of him.
“My Alpha.”
Savage squeezed his arm. “My brother.”
It took him so much longer than it should have to reach his mate. Frustration ate at him. He’d never had physical pain that lasted before. When he wanted to run, he couldn’t manage it. Of course, he could shift, but then he’d terrify the humans left on the beach, and he really didn’t need a scene like that.
When he got close enough that she should have smelled him, wind or no wind, he stopped moving. She was curled into a ball, sitting on the sand. He couldn’t see her face, just the back of her head while she stared at the sea. He let moments pass, and she didn’t react. Savage was so close, so able to reach out and touch her, and yet he felt glued to the ground. He’d been gone for ten days. He couldn’t imagine if he’d had to endure the kind of grief she experienced. If nothing else, he knew Sydney loved him as he did her.
He limped forward, stopping right next to her. Her eyes were cold, dead in a way he’d never seen before. Her face looked like wax, her usual porcelain complexion completely faded out. Her hair lay limp on her head. It was evident right away she’d lost weight. A lot of it, her clothes hung on her, even her yoga pants bulging at the waist.
It was hard to get down on the ground but for her he did it.
“Sydney.” When she didn’t look up or respond he reached out to touch her arm and gave her a slight shake. “Sydney.”
Life seemed to come into her eyes, although it was dull and not the vivacious gaze he was used to from his mate. She turned her head to look at him and then blinked slowly. “I wondered how long it would be until I lost my mind. Ten days. I actually made it longer than I would have guessed. It’ll be nice to have you around. Someone to talk to when George goes.” She sniffed the air. “You even smell like him.”
Savage couldn’t stand it. Not one more second of hearing her voice so…gone. He pulled her against him, his muscles straining while he did. She needed to feel him. He pressed his forehead to hers.
“I’m here, love. I’m not a ghost or a hallucination. I’m sorry it took ten days. I pushed hard to come. Every second I was away, I pleaded, negotiated, and begged to return to you. I’m real and I’m here. Feel me.”
His wolf surged inside of him, sending not just Alpha energy but mating love to her. She needed to feel him, deep in her soul, and he was going to make sure she did.
He felt when she believed. Her body quivered until it finally shook. “Savage? Are you real?”
“So real, love.” He kissed her cheeks. “I’m here. I’m sorry. I never would have left you.”
She jolted, taking his face in her hands. “I held your dead body. You were covered in bullet scars. Where are they?” Her hands roamed his face, his neck, his chest. He knew where she wanted to touch before she did it. He’d felt every one of those shots, including the last one, enter and then not exit his body.
“When the Moon sends you back, she fixes you.
”
“She sent you. Oh. Savage. I…it’s my fault she took so long. I yelled at her. I hated her. I called her a bitch.”
He shook his head. “The Moon loves you. Lily loves you. Whatever went on there, that’s on me. I’m here. Okay? I’m here. We have a big job to do. I can’t do it without you. My mate. My love. My heart.”
Savage wasn’t done talking, but he didn’t get to finish. She pulled his face to hers and kissed him through her tears, through her sobs, through her shaking body. He couldn’t make this better or ease her through the terrible transition. All he could do was kiss her, show her as much as he could how he loved her, how he’d missed her too.
When she stopped, she practically melted against him, her head hitting his chest. He wrapped his arms around her tightly. “I want to carry you out of here. I’m afraid I’m as weak as I can ever imagine being.”
She raised her eyes to him, exhaustion showing in her every feature. “Maybe we could stay here all night. Just sit here like this. You not moving. Me not moving.”
“No. I want you home in our bed. Come on, we’ll hobble together, hold each other up, like we will some day when we’re old.”
She got to her knees before she pulled herself up. He did the same. Hand in hand he walked with her, slowly, to the waiting cars.
“I…I love you Savage. I’m sorry the last thing I ever said to you was about a butterfly tattoo.”
It took him a minute to process her words. “That was a great memory. Laughing at home. I hadn’t thought about it because I was so determined to come back. But, if that had to be the end, it actually would have been a good one.”
“No, trust me. It’s not.”
He leaned over and kissed her head. “If you start trying to sound profound every time we separate out of some fear of never speaking again, it’s going to be really strange.”
“I’m not dreaming, right? I haven’t fallen asleep on the beach, and George is not going to come wake me and bring me to the hotel room where I’ll spend the whole night sobbing in my pillow?”
She would come to believe. He would see to it.
“If you need to, I can take you to the cemetery where Alexei broke me out of the coffin.”
Sydney stopped abruptly, and they both nearly fell over. “No. I don’t want to see it. Not ever.”
“I love you.” It felt so good to say the words.
He made love to her in their bed. Slowly, each one of them ignoring the pain—his physical because the Moon hadn’t made it easy to come back—and hers stemming from how much she had broken in the last ten days. With each thrust he tried to show her how much he adored her, and, when she moaned, looking up at him with adoration in her eyes, he could tell she was starting to believe.
It was real. They were together again.
“Savage.” Her voice was low. “My scar’s almost gone. My bite mark. Where you claimed me.”
“Not for long.” He’d noticed. As soon as he had her alone in their bed, the lack of his scent on her body and his mark gone had driven home how long ten days really was.
She wrapped her legs tightly around him. “Need you.”
“Yes. So much.”
When he finally pushed to her release, it was soft. She didn’t scream or explode around him, instead a deep sigh left her lips turning into his name. Her body gently shuddered, and he held her, finding the strength to hold himself off until he bit down on her neck and came home, reclaiming his mate.
She wasn’t awake when he pulled out of her and eased her up against him. He’d keep her warm all night. Tomorrow would be soon enough for them to figure out what happened next.
****
With the morning light bathing her mate in its caress, Sydney almost didn’t believe what she saw was true. He had to be a figment, a beautiful dream she would be wrenched awake from. Except her neck ached where he re-marked her, her body buzzed from being loved the night before, and his leg, pushed over hers, kept her in place.
He was real. Returned from the dead. Returned for a purpose—a big job he’d said—and she didn’t know what it was yet. That was okay because, whatever his path, she’d get to walk it with him. She lay her head down on his chest and breathed him in.
Her wolf stopped prowling, the first time since his death, and settled where she belonged. Sydney gently pulled herself from his embrace. He muttered something and rolled over. The sheer pleasure of having him asleep and snoring next to her was a small gift she would not forget. Everything mattered, all the little moments she’d not paid enough attention to before.
Getting a look at herself in the mirror made her move faster to the bathroom. She’d never looked worse. After scrubbing ten days of hell off her body, she ran a comb through her hair, which took a tremendous amount of effort thanks to the knots which resisted giving up their residence on her head.
Finally, when she was done she took another look at herself. She’d gotten really skinny, almost skin and bones, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten anything. Had George forced soup down her throat a couple of days earlier? She owed George for the rest of her life. How was she to ever say thank you enough?
She looked up at the sky. Maybe it would be appropriate to thank the Moon for sending Savage. She’d called her enough names. Sydney wasn’t ready. It was still too new, too raw. “George is the kind of male who would really value a True Mate. If you have one waiting for him, send her along.”
The door to the bathroom opened, and Savage sauntered in. His sway was present, and, as with her, his night of sleep seemed to have made his injuries better.
He leaned against the counter, and, after a second, her cheeks heated from his gaze. “You’re looking at me funny.”
“I’m drinking you in.” He extended his hand. “Wish you had waited for me to shower. We could have done it together. I could have spent some time really looking at your tattoo. So close to mine but not exact.”
“I thought the recently risen from the dead should sleep a bit more.” She loved his smile. “What do you mean not exact?”
“She didn’t give you the red eyes on the wolf. They’re still blue. Like yours.”
She put her hands on her hips. “It was supposed to be yours.”
“I’m so glad she didn’t. You need to see the blood, as I do. But not all the time. I’ll see it constantly for both of us. I know that wolf on you can be fierce. Sydney….” She took his hand, and he pulled her against him. “I have to find the Alpha who is funding the True Believers before they kill us all. I understand from George you wanted vengeance. Do you want to help me? Finding and stopping whoever this is will put the assholes down once and for all.”
“Yes.” She didn’t hesitate. Her wolf howled with glory at the idea, and Savage’s eyes turned to his canine’s. He must have heard her wolf’s call.
A sultry grin crossed his face. “My bloodthirsty lady.”
“It was all I could think about for a while. I was ready to go in there myself and….”
He shook his head. “Don’t tell me; I’ll obsess. We’ll both be grateful for George. I’ll see to it he has whatever he wants for the rest of his life. It’ll never be enough.”
“Okay.” She kissed him.
“I want something.”
“Really?” She pulled away to look at him. He never told her anything he desired. He was so dedicated to making her happy and downright snippy if she tried to push. “What? Anything? I’ll get it.”
“The next time you go into heat, I want a baby. I do. I’m going to sometimes be a terrible father. But,I’ll learn. I want a baby.”
He held her gaze so intently she couldn’t help but smile. When Savage wanted something, it was a big something. “I’d love that. You’re going to be the best daddy. You’re going to the daddy that eliminates the asshole making our lives hard.”
“That’ll be Alexei. I’m going to be the daddy that finds him.”
“But we’ll get to kill a lot of True Believers in the pro
cess.”
He nipped the end of her nose, and she squealed. “Lots of dead ones. No one comes at us. Not anymore. Sometime, when we’re one hundred and fifty, we’ll go to bed holding hands and wake up together with the Moon.”
“I love you.” She was never letting him go.
“I came from the dead for you. Not even the end could really separate us.”
She reached up to kiss him. The world would have to wait. She had plans for her mate. They involved showing him all the ways she could love him forever.
****
Three months later….
With Sydney in heat, the last thing he wanted was to be looking across his desk at Barrett. The music pounded downstairs, and his mate wanted to have sex in a viewing room. They’d be doing the watching. A window would separate them from the couple getting it on. They knew they were being watched but not who did the watching. He chewed on his pen. She was waiting for him, and so help it he was putting a baby in her tonight.
Barrett pushed the picture in front of him. “I don’t dare email it. No one can be trusted. Outside of you and Alexei.”
When the other Alpha had stopped trying to be Alpha Prime, he’d turned into a damned good ally. The Moon talked to him all the time. Much more than to him and Alexei combined. Although who knew with the Alpha Prime? Alexei got so pissed every time anyone from the other side tried to contact him at all.
They were the three who’d returned; they were the only three Alpha who could be counted on as safe. The Moon wouldn’t have returned the Fallen. Although he, begrudgingly, trusted Cyrus and Beaux. They’d both had mates die and come back. And Savage would always have Barrett’s back in the changed world he’d woken up in.
He looked down at the picture. “He was meeting with Jesse?”
The True Believer looked toward something in the distance, but there was no doubt who stood to his side. Jesse. The Alpha from Seattle. One hundred years old and he’d betrayed them?
Savage’s otherworldly senses turned online. His head buzzed. What was true? What was fiction?
“That’s the best shot my guy could get.”