landed on her shoulders. But I noticed they carefully stayed away from my dad.
So odd.
Kelsey frowned my parents’ way. “I’m already pregnant. I do not need random fertility rituals. Lucky for me the kid here is really good at putting up walls. Are we heading out?”
My papa emerged from the tent looking right at home in the middle of the faery forest. He glanced around in obvious satisfaction. “Hello again, pixies. And don’t think I don’t see you, little sprites. Good morning to you as well.”
I glanced over and sure enough, there were some shy-looking sprites clinging to the trees and watching us. All the Fae creatures had been attracted to the magic. They were looking at the Green Man with wonder in their eyes.
“I’m glad to hear the bikes are ready,” Papa said. “But I think I’ll make the path the witches will take a bit more inaccessible. A few mighty oak trees should do the trick. Perhaps some thorny bushes will make them think twice about following.”
“He can do that?” Taggart asked.
Papa nodded as he moved across the camp. “He can indeed.” Papa stopped in front of Marcus. “You will take care of her?”
Marcus’s shoulders straightened. “With every beat of my heart.”
Papa sighed and held out a hand. “Then you are welcome in my family.”
Marcus only hesitated a moment before shaking Papa’s hand. “What changed your mind?”
“I was reminded that love is all that matters.” He smiled, a brilliant expression. “And that I can be an asshole who holds a grudge for far too long. So let us be done and let us be family.”
Marcus nodded. “Yes, let us be family.”
Papa went off to delay the witches and Taggart laid out his plan. We wouldn’t all fit on the bikes, so the Dellacourts were returning to the Vampire plane where they could easily get to Tír na nÓg without the problem of having a fugitive with them. They agreed to go through the direct door and make the kings ready for our arrival. That left us with four bikes. As they would all carry three, we would be fairly comfortable for the ride.
And when we reached Tír na nÓg, I would have questions to answer. Questions I didn’t even want to contemplate.
I turned to Marcus. “If I asked you to take me away from here, would you?”
He drew me close. “Yes, but Summer, my love, that won’t solve our problems. The worlds will still collapse.”
I stood there, letting him hold me and wondering if mine already had.
* * * *
Kelsey
I couldn’t help but watch as Dev shook Marcus’s hand. Mostly because I needed to make sure they weren’t about to get into a fight over Dev being a protective father. But it looked like the queen had at least talked some sense into that one because it seemed to be a perfectly peaceful conversation.
Then Summer was in his arms and Marcus looked…content. My heart felt fuller looking at him, knowing no matter what happened Marcus finally got a moment with the woman he’d been born to love.
I missed Gray and Trent so fucking much.
“Taggart says the bikes are working again.” Dean had his hands on his hips, staring over to where Summer remained wrapped in Marcus’s arms. “He seems to think magic made it happen.”
There was a lot of magic going on these days. “You didn’t do anything, right?”
He shook his head. “Nah. I wouldn’t even know how to start. Even a witch working on tech has to know something about the tech. But Summer isn’t a witch.”
He’d given me a rundown on some of the theories whirling around camp. “No. She’s something else. Do you believe she stopped the bikes?”
“And fixed them. The Taggarts spoke directly to her, told her what could happen to Marcus if the bikes didn’t work. It was a ploy to see if they could get her to fix the bikes,” Dean said. “She doesn’t even realize she’s doing it. I think she’s holding herself back. If they’d asked her directly, she wouldn’t have been able to. She’s so invested in this belief that she’s a danger to everyone.”
That could happen when someone so young, so sheltered, faced true tragedy. “So what we really need is a therapist. I wonder if the planes can hold out until we can convince Summer she’s worthy.”
“I think Marcus is working on that,” Dean said with a wistful smile. “I think that’s why the bikes stopped. That’s why the convergence stopped. She’s found her true mate and