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“Really.” My lips hook into a smirk as I stop a few feet in front of him, treading water. “That was a real offer, right? Not just lip service?”
“Absolutely real,” he says. “I just didn’t expect you to take me up on it.”
“I’m not always stubborn and determined to do everything all by myself,” I say.
“No, not always, just on days that end in Y,” Ford shoots back, making Catherine laugh from her perch on top of the diving rock.
“Yes, let him hold you while you float, J,” she says. “And I’ll send joyful vibes down to the pool while I meditate.”
Layla lets out a soft bear roar.
“And Layla’s going to nap in relaxation solidarity,” Catherine says. “I think that’s what she said, anyway. My bear is a little rusty.”
Layla lets out another groan that sounds almost like a laugh as she sags onto the rocks at the edge of the pool and closes her eyes.
“All right, let’s do it. Lie back, I’ve got you.” Ford eases off the ledge, coming to stand in the shallow water at the edge. But even the shallow water rises nearly to his shoulders. The pool is deep and the ocean cool. If I catch fire, I’ll be put out long before I can hurt anyone.
The thought gives me comfort as I stretch out onto my back and open my arms, so my palms face the rocks overhead. I stare at the nearly perfect circle of sunset orange and purple sky as Ford’s hand settles under my shoulders. A beat later, his other hand comes to cradle my ass, making my pink glow flare a little brighter.
“Just relax,” he says, his voice muffled by the water in my ears and the smug grin curving his lips. “I won’t let you sink. You can let go of everything and just melt.”
Melt…
It would be so easy to melt for Ford, for his kind eyes and smartass grin and the possessive, but reverent way he touches me. He makes me feel beautiful and special in a way no one else ever has.
I’m also pretty sure that he loves me. Or that he thinks he does, anyway.
I don’t have much experience with love. My father didn’t love me; he took pride in ownership of a clever daughter until a better option came along. My grandmother loved me, but she wasn’t around much, and obviously my mother couldn’t give a shit. She’s still in Montreal and hasn’t sent so much as a “good luck in the trials” text or email my way. (I got my Lost Moon University student cell phone on day two, and I’m sure she has the number.)
My friends are the ones who taught me what love was, but even my closest, dearest friendships don’t feel like this.
As I relax into Ford’s hands and close my eyes, I sense how deep we could go if I gave in and stopped fighting. We’re in a big empty room right now, with nothing but possibilities inside, but we could fill the space with memories and pleasure and devotion. And then we could lay together atop of our love like dragons guarding a treasure we know can never be stolen, not as long as we keep the promises we’ve made.
And maybe, eventually, it wouldn’t matter that it all started with a chemical reaction or a dash of stardust or whatever it is that puts the fate in fated mates.
Right now, with my heart light from playing with my friends and my blood rushing from how good it feels to have Ford’s hands on me again, it doesn’t seem quite as impossible as it did before. It probably will again tomorrow, in the cold light of day, and tomorrow night, on my last sleep before the trials, but right now…
Right now, I let myself imagine how good it could be to believe.
To hope.
To melt into this man who holds me like I’m the most precious thing he’s ever touched.
And then it happens, as easy as plucking a daisy from a field of wildflowers. I shiver into a thousand dazzling pieces and come back together different than I was before.
fifteen
FORD
My palms warmand then in a shimmer of pink and gold, the woman in my arms is replaced by a giant bird with feathers every color of the sunset, gold fur on her breast, and Juliet’s same, piercing blue eyes.
A grin bursts across my face, but I do my best to tamp down my excitement, not wanting to spook her with any sudden moves. “Hey, there, you. You did it.”
Juliet blinks and cocks her head from side to side, glancing down the length of her body while Catherine squeals softly in celebration and Layla lets out a victory groan.
“You’re not scrawny at all,” I assure her, pressing my hands lightly into her warm feathers. “A little lighter than human Juliet, but longer and those claws could definitely tear up a wolf if they needed to.”
She lifts one talon, spreading her claws with an approving warbling sound.
