Page 49 of Awakening Storm

Aidan leaned in and whispered in her ear so only she could hear. “No matter what happens, I love you. You can do this. I know it.”

She pulled back and met his gaze with teary eyes. She simply kissed him and nodded.

Placing the ring on her hand, she touched it the way the sorceress had, running her index finger in a circle over the ring and then extending the scepter and repeating the same motion.

“Concentrate on our destination,” she told them all.

The dirt and soil swirled up in the air and turned over. A bubble-like capsule appearing, catching all four hundred of them and transporting them back to their world. When the bubble finally burst, the men and women fell to the earth, covering his entire front yard. As they stood, it reminded him of the rock concerts he’d seen in movies.

A boisterous round of whoops and whistles sounded.

“Look,” Rhianna said, her voice full of awe. “Color.”

Aidan tipped his head back, looking up at the blue, blue sky and the shades of green of the foliage around them. He smiled and rained hot kisses over her face and mouth.

As they both came up for air, he realized he had a little problem. He had four hundred people on his deserted island.

He turned to face Dillon. “I leave it up to you to get these people off my island.” He turned then and tromped into the forest, tugging Rhianna with him. They’d just made it beyond sight of the crowd when a dog’s bark floated through the trees.

“Takeshi!” Rhianna cried. The dog came bounding at them, jumping up and pawing at their legs. He went from Rhianna to Aidan and then back to Rhianna.

“Easy,” she said with a laugh. “You don’t have to get so excited. We’re home.”

A warm feeling skipped over him. Had she just called this home?