Page 65 of Ever Dark Academy: Volume 6

“Never alone. Never parted. Pack.” Ryder pressed a hand over his heart and then over Grayson’s.

“Pack. Family. Bloodline.”

Tears slid down his cheeks, but he was smiling. Grinning so hard his face hurt. He’d never felt so connected. The General had to be apart, watching his people from a distance, a far star. But no longer. That would no longer be true. It would both make his role harder and better.

“I can feel you,” Grayson said.

“Yes.” Ryder nodded. “I was wounded. Now I am healed. You are here and all that I lost is returned and more.”

Both of them had been powerful alone. Both of them had been singular. But no longer. They were together. And this was miraculous. When he’d told Eyros about the connection and love between Balthazar and Caemorn, he had seen it and known it, but this… this was something more than knowing. He’d expressed only a fraction of the joy that must be between them. Neither of them would ever splinter apart.

“The War started here,” Grayson said. His hand lifted to Ryder’s face. He pressed it against that handsome cheek. Ryder kissed his palm. “But it ends here, too, as well. It can never happen again. Not between us.”

“I would not survive without you,” Ryder admitted. “We will never be apart.”

Death is yours to control, Ashyr, Kaly’s words whispered through his mind.

“We truly will never be apart,” Grayson said with a meaning he could only half grasp.

Fiona had tears in her eyes, too. She was wiping her face and, like him and Ryder, both laughing and crying. “Beautiful. So beautiful. And you’ve okay. You’re okay. Oh, gods, you’re okay.”

Grayson nodded. “Getting there.”

He tried to sit up, but he almost immediately fell down. Ryder had him though and immediately swept him up in his arms.

“Hold on there, Grayson. You need a minute,” Ryder cautioned. “I know that Julian supposedly got right up and went about his business, but I think most of us need a day or two.”

“I wouldn’t mind a day or two together. Just us. I wanted you, Ryder. I’ve always wanted you. I should have told you that there was never going to be anyone else for me,” Grayson said.

Ryder kissed his forehead. It was like a benediction. “You honor me, the Immortal Ashyr. I feel it. Pack. Family.”

“Blood,” Grayson finished what was now something very special between them. Something he wanted to share with the other Immortals. A feeling. An understanding. It wasn’t just because Ryder had brought him back to the night, it was a deeper connection between all of the Immortals that they had simply never known about.

“About that day or so, ah, we may not have a minute,” Charlie said in Artemis’ voice. “We need to go. Now.”

Grayson blinked. He had forgotten where they were. He looked around him in confusion. That Dire Wolf had not been in his imagination. It was looking at him happily. Tongue lolling out. Head tilted. Ears pricked. He reached out a hand for it and the great beast came right to him. His fingers sifted through the sinfully soft fur.

“Khos,” he said.

“You can hear Khos’ thoughts?” Ryder asked, amazed and thrilled.

Grayson nodded. “I can. Oh, I can!”

Khos licked his fingers and nuzzled his hands for more pets.

“We’re not alone,” Fiona said suddenly.

Her head had turned not to the front door, but to the back. It was clear that there were people out front. Grayson’s vampiric hearing kicked in for a minute and he heard countless heartbeats. For a moment, he thought he saw them. Not as their bodies, but as glowing spirits.

Their souls, Grayson realized.

But the sense fell away and his hearing flickered out again. He needed to feed more. But this was not the time nor place.

Ryder and Fiona rose to their feet. Grayson slid his arms around Ryder’s neck and rested his head against his chest. Ryder’s heartbeat was in his ear and reverberated through his body. His own heart still kept up that same pace. Ryder was strong. So strong. He felt the turning winding through his body. He knew it would take a while before his limbs were fully his own. To turn an Immortal took time. Time they didn’t have.

“We need to get to Destiny’s gate. Hopefully, Eyros won’t regret agreeing to help us,” Fiona said as they started moving swiftly out of the room, not through the front door but through the back rooms.

“Didn’t you say there were people back here?” Grayson asked.