Chapter 122

Things go easier after that. I conjure up a big breakfast spread for all of us and take a little time with everyone. Rafe spends a great deal of time with Anton in a corner, lecturing him a great deal, but I ignore it once I sense that the threat of violence has faded from my stupid Alpha brother.

Instead, I spend most of the morning seated on the bed with Ariel, Jackson and Marigold. Laila joins us with squirrel-Blythe perched on her shoulder.

“Damn, Mark sure would go nuts for that one,” Ariel murmurs, leaning close to me as Laila and Jackson chat, him asking her stories about her Selkie kingdom.

“I know, right!?” I gasp, laughing and smacking Ariel playfully on the arm.

She grins at me and shakes her head. Then she lifts her hand, tucking a strand of my dark hair back behind my ear. “I’m proud of you, Junie,” she says softly, making my heart squeeze tight. “But I’m still worried about you. Are you…good here? Or do you want us to come intercede?”

“No, I don’t want that,” I say quietly, looking over at the window and the world of darkness beyond. “I…feel like I have important things to do here.”

“And you’re safe?” Her voice is soft, trying hard not to let me hear how scared she is for me. “Because one word and dad will be here, tearing everyone to pieces –“

I laugh a little and shift my eyes back to her. “Nah…I want to do this on my own. And I’ve got my friends,” I say, looking at Laila laughing with Jacks, and then Orion chatting happily with Midnight and Jesse out on the balcony.

“And your boyfriend,” Ariel says, grinning and bumping her shoulder into mine.

I blush and laugh, looking down. “You’d better not piss me off,” I grumble. “I’m crazy powerful. I’ll just…make you cease to exist. Or turn you into a cricket.”

“Oh, I can take you, Junie,” Ariel says, smiling broadly and holding out a flat palm, making a little flame burst into action there. Marigold instantly whips her head towards Ari, humming softly with delight.

“Oh, can you?” I ask, quirking an eyebrow and doing the same thing. “Guess Tony didn’t have time to tell you about the time I make a whole piano burst into flames.”

“What!?” Jackson gasps, turning his head back to us. His eyes go wide when he sees fire in both of our hands. “Oh geeze – you two…you two stop that…” He cuddles Marigold closer, keeping her little hands from grabbing at the pretty fire.

Ariel tilts her head back at my story, ignoring her mate as she laughs. But then she picks her head back up, her grin widening. “But can you do…this?” She glances at her flame as it turns blue.

I have to admit, my eyes go wide for a second. But then I roll them, making my own fire turn blue. “What, like it’s hard?”

“Oh, you rat!” Ariel spits out, laughing and smacking her flaming palm against mine, both of our fires flickering out. “It took me months to learn that and I had to get three mate marks to do it – and you learned it in a couple of weeks!?”

I crack up, letting my sister tackle me down to the bed before shoving her off me. “What can I say, Ari, I’m just the superior sister –“

She gives me a sharp smack on my rump, making me laugh harder as I sit up.

Then she wraps me in a big hug, as she always does. “I miss you. You’d better not die or get stuck here. My girlies need their auntie June.”

“I won’t,” I whisper, hugging her right back, meaning it. “We’ll be back soon, I promise.”

“Yeah, bring that Tony-boy in to meet dad in his proper new role as Princess Consort,” Ari says with a happy sigh, grinning over at him. “But make sure I’m there when you do it. That is…something I will definitely want to see.”

I nod, agreeing to it but…inwardly, I hope it will happen. I mean, everything Orion said about it not being possible for Anton to get a body still rings in my mind. And if Anton can’t get a body…can ghosts even come back to our world?

If I ever go back…what will happen to him?

I bite my lip, hating all the possibilities that run through my mind.

“It’ll all work out, June,” Ariel says quietly, giving me another squeeze, sensing my worry. “I have faith in you. You’ll work it all out.”

I close my eyes and rest my head against my stupid idiot sister, letting her faith bolster me.

My family doesn’t stay for long after that. Jesse points out after about two hours that someone is, inevitably, going to notice that they’re missing and probably panic and issue a national alert. So they all gather close to Midnight, who ensures that they’re all touching and then takes a deep breath.

Just before she vanishes them away, though, squirrel Blythe gives a big squeak and leaps out of Laila’s hands. He scurries over to me, standing on my shoe with his little squirrel paws up against my shin, looking at me with pleading in his shiny black eyes.

I sigh and nod to him before turning to Faiza. “You want to do the honors?”

“Not really,” she says, tilting her head at me. “You’re the all-powerful one, anyway.”

I sigh and turn back to Blythe, hoping I get it right as I pull on some of my magic and will him back into ghost form. He turns towards my family, who all gasp when they see him.

Well, Marigold and Midnight excepted.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” Blythe says, looking around at them all, his face incredibly sad. “When I was a live I…showed all of you a side of myself that I’m not very happy with. And I…I wasn’t very nice to June,” he says, giving a shrug. “But I’m sorry.”

My family all comes forward then, surrounding him, hearing a little more of his story and ensuring him of their forgiveness. As they talk Anton takes my hand, tugging me outside onto the balcony. I smile up at him, glancing at the door, quite pleased to see everyone distracted by the ghostly confessions.

“Hi,” Anton whispers, wrapping an arm around my waist and tugging me close so that my belly is flat against his. Butterflies erupt in my stomach as he cups my cheek, leaning close. “Are you okay?”

I nod, a little breathless, standing on my toes to be closer to him. “Yeah, I’m good. They’re a lot, aren’t they?”

He smirks and shakes his head. “They pale in comparison to you, little drama bat Queen.”

I grin and then wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer, a great deal of joy and relief flooding me as soon as Anton presses his mouth to mine in a fervid kiss that gets…very heated, very fast.

I break it sooner than I want to, my head spinning a bit, and glance back inside, where people are starting to separate back into the leaving party, clearly looking for me. “Um,” I say, not really knowing how to say this next part.

Luckily, Anton does it for me.

“We’re going to take a moment soon, right?” he says quietly, drawing my eyes back to him. “Just you and me to…talk about some stuff?”

I grin, pleased that he’s read my mind. “Yes, I want that,” I say, nodding eagerly.

He hums, low and steady, and rushes his nose against mine. “I love you very much, June.”

“I love you too, Tony,” I whisper, blushing as I say it, leaning closer to him. Then I press a kiss to his mouth – a short, sweet one – and take his hand, pulling him back inside to say goodbye.

Predictably, Ariel is grinning at me like a wicked little cat. But I just ignore her, walking straight to Jackson and standing on my toes again to pet a hand over the baby’s hair. “Don’t forget about me, okay, Marigold?”

Jackson bends a little lower so that Marigold can better see me. He smiles at me, I think pleased by the affection I already have for his little girl.

Marigold just grins and nods to me, her eyes looking over my face like she’s memorizing it.

“Here,” I say quietly, suddenly inspired, touching her neck and making a little silver chain appear there. It glows lightly, like moonlight.

“Juniper,” Jackson says, straightening up a little. “Is it…dangerous? For a child to wear a necklace? She could choke –“

“Not this one,” I say, looping a finger in the chain and giving it a tug, showing how it snaps at the slightest pull but reforms around her neck. “It’s got strong protection magic in it, Jackson. It can’t hurt her and it will keep her safe.”

He looks at me with wide eyes. “Thank you,” he whispers, quite simple.

I smile at my brother-in-law, loving him a great deal, and stand on my toes to press a kiss to his cheek as well.

“Where’s my magical necklace,” Jesse asks, dry, an arm slung around Midnight’s shoulders.

“Oh, I’m hoping terrible things happen to you,” I say cheerfully, stepping back to lean against Anton.

Jesse grins at me and then winks before looking down at Midnight. “Ready?”

“Ready!” Midnight gives me one of her fantastic grins that make it impossible to know if she’s an angel from heaven or a demon from hell. And then she vanishes them all away.

I sigh, closing my eyes and taking a moment to lean against Anton, missing them already.

To my surprise, it’s Laila who breaks the silence. “You ready, Junie?”

I open my eyes and look over to her. She grins at me, standing happily with Orion on one side of her, Faiza on the other, Blythe again in squirrel form perched in her hand.

“We’ve got lots of work to do,” Laila whispers, looking excited, her moon tattoo standing out like a beacon beneath her hairline. “And I, for one, can’t wait to get started.”

I straighten up, grinning at my friend. “Let’s go!”