Page 209 of Claim Me
The whole encounter feels strange, because my very distressed uncle Lake explains that they’ve been waiting for days to get a chance to speak with Jacob, who keepsrefusingto see them.
Then he turns to Blue and asks for help arranging a meeting, because he believes that Sariel and Winter are actually… alive!
Listening to that, I can barely process it, as he insists they survived the crash and are stranded on some uninhabited island somewhere in the Kuril Archipelago.
The claim is so shocking I honestly don’t know how to make sense of it, but to my surprise, Blue reacts immediately.
Not only does he arrange for them to meet with Jacob, he also promises to cover half the cost of a rescue operation, saying that if there’s even a small chance, it’s worth taking.
I stand there off to the side, listening, still stunned, and it hits me again that Blue doesn’t hesitate for a second to use his money to help people who might need it.
When my uncles leave and I finally get a moment alone with him in the elevator, I take his hand and press a kiss to it.
"Thank you… for giving them a chance. Even Sariel’s own father was skeptical, but you… you believed them."
Blue shrugs lightly. "Sariel was a good kid, and I want to do everything in my power to help. He’s always been my favorite nephew. Ever since he was little, he used to come to me with everything…"
I hesitate, but decide to say it. "There’s one more funny fact. I had a dream about the airplane crash. Like I was Winter, and a powerful gust of wind carried me and landed me on a volcanic island."
Blue observes me for a few seconds.
"Your family has a strong intuition when it comes to sensing things, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume there’s still a chance to find them alive," he says in that same matter-of-fact tone he uses when he keeps his emotions in check, but for the rest of the elevator ride he lets me hold his hand, and I gently squeeze it, brushing my fingers over the back of it.
Even though he’s trying to hide it, his expression tells me he doesn’t mind that form of closeness at all.
???
Two days later, the rescue operation begins, with a specialized vessel hired by Blue and Jacob, equipped to handle helicopter landings, setting out toward the Kuril Islands.
Blue and I wait for updates, and the tension eats at me all day, I can’t settle, my thoughts drifting again and again to childhood memories, to summers spent at Uncle Lake and Aiden’s house, and I find myself hoping with everything I have that they’ll get their son back.
That evening, when Blue and I end up in bed, we only make love once, slow and careful, without the usual urgency that builds between us during the day, the weight of everything hanging over us, making it hard to fully let go.
But limiting our closeness leaves me with this restless edge, so I keep telling myself we’ll hear good news.
The next morning starts normally.
Blue is in his office with Simon, going over the day’s schedule, shifting meetings around, when suddenly his phone goes off.
I’m trying to focus on my assembler programming assignment, but it’s not going well, my thoughts keep drifting back to Blue, that constant hunger for my fated mate sitting under my skin, my attention pulled again and again to him, to the way he moves, his scent, his lips, his hole, my mind generating images of us tangled together, rolling across the bed, his hands on me, touching my face, his breath hot, his soft moans…
Yup, as I said, I’m completely gone for him.
Then Blue looks at his screen and freezes, and I immediately lock onto him, and a second later he lifts his gaze to me, eyes wide.
"Gabriel! They’re alive! Both of them, Winter and Sariel!"
I’m on my feet instantly.
"What? Holy shit!"
He stands too, and for a moment we just look at each other, both of us breaking into the same stunned grin.
Then, without thinking, even with Simon right there, he steps forward and pulls me into a tight embrace.
I can feel how much it means to him that his nephew made it, and I feel it too, the relief that Winter gets another chance.
Simon watches us with a raised brow, and Blue clears his throat and steps back.
