Page 63 of Last Ride of the Umbra Fae

Epilogue

Upon Eternal

Once upon a time, a raven fell in love with the moon. He looked upon her every night, enamored with how bright she’d shine in the darkness he was cursed to live in. She became his opium, his safe place. She was powerful enough to move the seas, powerful enough to bend the light. But it was what he saw inside her that moved him most. The moon was stronger than the Eternal stone, more than any tale had said her to be. She was more than an Umbra, she would be his way out someday. This bond wasn’t forever, though love could last eternal; it would be the very thing that would save her in the end.

I’d had a choice to make: to live with the Umbra Fae and remain in the very cage that held my real name along with all my memories, or to fly free, never seeing Vessa again. I chose the latter. I chose me.

I was lost between male and raven, finding it was quieter soaring through the clouds. Less messy, though the bloodlust remained no matter what form I was in. My life had been stolen, but as we’d grown older, the thread of curiosity had arisen. I’d felt her pluck that string as her mind had wandered to the what ifs, finding myself lost in it, pushing those boundaries more and more.

There’d been a time where my soul had lived for hers, but as much as her presence grounded me, I had known that I would always be trapped.

Caged.

Bound to a woman who had been tempted to touch me yet afraid of how hard she would fall if she kept going. I would rapture her soul in a simple breath. I had always known when she’d pull along the threads of our bond. On those late nights when her bed had lain empty, I’d seen her imagine where she wanted my tongue to slide, always afraid of that loss of control; it had scared her more than lust.

Freedom always came with a cost. Now, I saw it for what it truly was. One could never really be free. The echoes of her voice would always be in the back of my mind.

Somewhere beneath that bond was a love that had never been given a chance. It was a noose hanging around my neck, pulling taut the more I saw her with him. As I craved to be in her shadowed grip, that cool mist upon my flesh, she would always be unobtainable on the other side of it, as her hand slipped away when we were made to come together just to fall apart again. Destiny held a tighter hold, a truth the moment I had seen Ryder. Watching her slowly slip away from me made me realize how much of a possession I had always been. The heart and desire were the most destructive of things. While I had caught those brief moments when she might have given me her heart, when I had done more to her with a simple touch, I was not herpath. I had seen it in her eyes, the betrayal cutting like knives. She wasn’t ready to let me go, but I had to.

What would the moon want with a bird when she had the sun to cast her gaze upon?

I was alone in a world with no time to understand; I’d learned it by fault, rebellion, and by fate, leading me by the heart while she had fallen in love with a cowboy led by his cock, destiny or not.

I’ll cherish the times she made me smile, when we’d looked upon the stars on nights she couldn’t sleep, and when she had looked at me the few times she would have kissed me.

I would rather have her hate me forever than to watch her die. A realization as I’d driven the knife into End’s Wrath. He had known it was coming.“The great loss Vessa will have to face before she finds her peace.”Something greater awaited her. He was meant to die there, by my hand, and I was meant to be free. It was the only thing I could have done that would be a deep enough cut to have her end Sheriff Dawson and his men in an instant. To save her life and to free mine.

She wasn’t supposed to come back. Fucking hells, she was not supposed to come back.

Tears stung my eyes.

I’m sorry, Vessa,my eyes had pleaded. For a breath, I knew she’d seen it, felt it before the last remnants of our bond were torn by the fray.

Her catatonic stare had been enough to know that she would never forgive me.

I’d looked at her one last time as I’d flown away, for I knew, if our eyes ever met again, there would be the barrel of a gun between us.

“Goodbye, Moon.”

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