Finally, the last and thickest cord attached itself to him. He could see Summer was in love with him, had been since she’d seen him at the age of twenty. Even as her self-doubts and misunderstandings filled her, she hadn’t lost that love. It was like a thick steel rope that tied her to him. Not breakable or changeable but secure and unerring.
He was suddenly acutely aware that she must also be receiving his soul. Self-loathing washed over him and he closed his eyes for a moment. She’d given him all of the most beautiful gifts in the world, and he’d sent her over trash and destruction. He opened his mouth to speak but she covered it with her hand.
“I can see all of you now, Cullen. Not a bad part in there. I know you’re filled with unnecessary self-doubt. You think you’re not as good as you are. But I can see clearly. I have you inside of me. There’s no part of you that I would trade.”
Because he had to, he leaned down to kiss her as they floated together in the white light that was their love for each other.
“I haven’t lived three hundred years, Cullen. But I’ve waited for you my whole life too.”
No words could have sounded sweeter to him.
“So this is the hotel? Or is it a spa?” Cullen looked down at his mate and ran his hands through her hair for the hundredth time since they’d mated. She was dressed, much as he wished it was otherwise. She wore a pair of his sweatpants that she practically swam in and a plain white tee-shirt. In his life he’d never seen a more beautiful site.
Cullen laughed. “It’s both. The idea was that your father and some of his compatriots would offer their services here for basic plastic surgeries and luxury recoveries. It’s also a hotel. This is Maine. When it opens, people will come here to both undergo surgery and recuperate from it while they drink expensive cocktails. Or people may want to stay here while they ski in the winter, look at the leaves in the fall, hike in the spring, and canoe in the summer. Ashlee feels that between the staff we will need to help run the place and the vacations and surgeries we should be able to bring a large amount of our pack home. The others we’ll find a way to find.”
Summer shrugged. “Not my department. I can’t possibly imagine running a luxury hotel.” She paused for a second. “How is she going to make sure the right people see it?”
Cullen raised one eyebrow. “She and Tristan have concocted some way to place spells on the ads so they will feel absolutely compelled to come here whether they want to or not.”
“You sound skeptical.”
“At least she’s trying. But I will reserve judgment until I see if it works.”
He looked around the hotel that was supposed to save the pack. It was finally complete, although now that the Institute would need to be rebuilt, the plan would be delayed again. Truthfully, Cullen wished they’d come up with a new name. Kendrick had taken the name and used it in Mexico, named his evil laboratory ‘The Institute’ In mockery of the Westervelt home. Yes, it was time to move on from things of the past.
Maybe they’d all have to move into the hotel now. It was fortuitous that they weren’t due to open for another six months. Not Cullen’s problem. He’d always lived apart in his cabin and preferred it that way, but maybe he should start paying more attention.
The lobby was a mixture of greens and copper tones, with some slight touches of pink Ashlee and Summer’s mother had once called ‘accents.’ Whatever that meant. The pack was spread out in a circle. Theo was not there and Ashlee was also absent, as were the children. Tristan stood by the long winding staircase that led to the rooms above with his arms crossed. His face told Cullen he was mad. This wasn’t a surprise. Tristan didn’t like to be kept waiting, and he and Summer had been gone a long time.
Cullen felt his neck get flushed with embarrassment. He hoped it didn’t reach his face.
Tristan studied the two of them for a moment. His eyes moved back and forth from one to the other. Did his Alpha abilities mean he could see that he and Summer were now mated?
Tristan cleared his throat and Cullen noted his eyes were less hostile. “Thanks for finally joining us. Must have been a very important … conversation you two had.”
Gabriel opened his mouth but Tristan silenced him by raising his hand. Evidently, Tristan was going to leave the reason for their lateness alone. Cullen would be eternally grateful for that gesture.
Cullen moved to take his usual place in the circle, just to the left of the Royals. Twenty-nine sets of eyes watched him walk. For the first time in his life, he didn’t join the circle alone. Summer, in a gesture meant to garner notice, grabbed his hand and walked next to him. He watched as her eyes challenged anyone in the room to ask them where they’d been.
No one spoke a word.
“How is Prince Theo? Does he live?” He’d not thought one second about the fallen prince during the past few hours. Even though he knew he should feel badly about that, and without a doubt did care what happened to him, he didn’t feel the least bit sorry that he’d been otherwise focused.
“He fares very poorly.” Tristan matched Cullen’s formal speech. Most of the pack did that without even realizing. They’d all lived a very long time, seen dialects and customs change so frequently, they could speak almost any way they wanted. “We were hoping you might be able to help Ashlee and tell her what to do for him since you seem to have greater knowledge of these things.”
“Only luck and time can help Theo now. No ministrations of ours will save his life. Should he live, and I hope deeply that he does, he will never fully recover. He will always look burned where the creature touched him.” The grumbles that filled the room made his spine stiffen. He was always the bearer of bad news, always the messenger they wanted to kill.
“I am very sorry to hear that.” Tristan looked down. “My brother lays upstairs near death, struck down by a creature that attempted to kidnap my son and burned down my home. My wife is hysterical, shaken. I have never seen such things before nor read about them in myth. Yet, you Cullen, you knew what to do about them as if you were very familiar with them.”
Cullen nodded. “I am, my Alpha.”
“So tell me what the goddamn things are, why they came after Braden, and then you can explain why you never told me about them before.” Tristan had raised his voice so loud that some of the pack had taken subservient positions in their body language and gazes. But not Cullen, he knew better. Tristan wouldn’t take or believe that kind of behavior from him.
“They are called Flying Demons. I know how to kill them because I have before, unfortunately many times. I cannot know, but I’m reasonably certain, that they came after Braden because Kendrick sent them for him.” He paused.
“And?” Tristan prompted.
“Give him a minute.” Summer’s voice was hard. Cullen looked over at her. The blues of her eyes flared in anger. He could practically read her thoughts. She didn’t like the way Tristan handled her mate.
Not wanting to give Tristan a chance to respond to her, he finished his thought. “I didn’t tell you because I thought the problem long gone. Or rather I hoped it was and I thought it an unnecessary conversation.”