Page 88 of Fire Bound

He’s always right. Each day I spend with him, I feel lighter, and I feel more at peace.

I feel whole.

I used to take for granted feeling like this, but now I know better. I know how fast things can change and how easy it is to let the darkness in. I submerged myself in it until I couldn’t breathe, but Jax stood by me and, like a torch, his flames led me home.

So, from now on, I’m not going to take a single second for granted.

Happiness is hard to come by, so when you find it, hold on tight and fight like hell to keep it. No matter what, you deserve it. You deserve to be happy and to be loved.

I look down at the sweet bundle of newborn bliss in my arms. “And you are,” I whisper to my niece. “You are so incredibly loved.”

Jax turns my head so I can look at him as he says, “And so are you.”

Remington

Three Months Later

The crisp Grecian morning air prickles my skin and makes my heart happy as I stand on the deck of our villa overlooking the ocean. After two weeks here in Santorini, I’ve decided it’s my new favorite place we’ve been too, but my answer might change again after another two weeks of traveling. I’ve pretty much said that about every place we’ve been to the last three months. Each beautiful city is new and exciting. I find something to like in all of them.

I especially enjoy that I get to explore each of these uniquely beautiful cities with the man I never thought I could have but is now the man I’m never letting go of.

He’s been to so many of these places already, but when Jax visited them, he wasn’t there for leisure. He was still following whatever leads he could on Sterling. It’s as if he’s getting to experience everything for the first time with me.

I never thought I’d be so content to be away from the pack or from my home, but I’ve found so much peace in traveling the world that I’m not in a hurry to get back to Montana.

Plus, it’s hard to miss my family when I talk to them multiple times a day. With a family this big, I’m talking to someone different all the time trying to stay up to date. I usually talk to Pruitt the most because I’m admittedly obsessed with my niece. How could I not be? She’s the perfect combination of my brother and best friend. I think the universe had a wonderful plan in mind when it gave my big, scary, tattooed brother a blonde-haired little girl. I think they knew he needed something to soften him, and holy shit has she. Ryker Weylyn is a pile of mush for his daughter.

“Look!” Pruitt squeals happily over the FaceTime call as the camera flips around and my cute as hell niece is back on the screen. “See, I told you she was waving.”

She’s not, but when someone tells you that their baby is doing something, you smile and nod. “Hello my sweet, River!” I wave back at the screen. River’s not actually waving. The four-month-old has recently discovered her hands and is clearly fascinated with them.

It was hard as hell to keep what Genevieve told me from Pruitt. All day long I had to fight myself to not announce to the world that I was going to have a niece. The girly clothes I purchased in mass quantities were strategically hidden so Pru wouldn’t see. Pru had of course broken down and pleaded with me to tell her, but I’d refused. She had said from the beginning she didn’t want to know what she was having, so one of us had to be strong.

Pru got me back by keeping her name selections a secret. My brother and sister-in-law had surprised us all when we discovered they’d stuck with tradition and gone with an R name.

River Genevieve Weylyn.

“She misses her aunt and wants her to come home.” Pruitt turns the camera back around so she can show me her pouting face.

I laugh and shake my head at her dramatics. “Oh really?Rivertold you that?”

“Yep, I’m now fluent in baby babble. It’s a skill I’m adding to my resume right after‘curse breaker’,” she jokes before turning serious. “But really, when are you coming home? We miss you around here. Doctor V said she could use your help at the halfway house.”

“There are five people left there. I have full faith that between Winnie, Doctor V, and Doctor V’s staff, they’ve got it covered for the time being.”

Five people… It’s an absolute miracle that’s all that’s left. Everyone still feels guilty about the lives that were lost that night when they had to fight Sterling’s hexed people. There were just so many people who were beyond saving. Their minds were gone and all that remained were the monsters they were created to be.

Jax and Isabeau keep saying it was a mercy that those souls were put to rest, and the rest of us are clinging to that.

As if I’d summoned her myself, Winslow’s voice comes through the phone followed by a door slamming. “Pru, I need to borrow some baby formula.”

Pruitt’s head whips around to look at the witch who now stands behind her. “What? Why?”

“Erin had her baby last night, but now she’s gone. She left the little boy in a laundry basket for us to find this morning,” Winslow explains with a sad sigh. Erin was one of the women who’d agreed to stay at the halfway house until she had her baby. She was a quiet and reclusive leopard shifter. Most of the time, we had to talk to her through her bedroom door. Winslow has spent many hours sitting on the ground outside the door, trying to coax her out to no avail. “I know we told the women that we’d take care of their babies if they decided they weren’t capable of raising them, but it still makes me a little sad he doesn’t have a family now.”

“We’ll find him a home,” I tell her. Winslow’s head turns as she searches for the source of my voice. “I’m on Pru’s phone.”

Winslow finally looks at the phone in Pru’s hand. “Oh hey! I thought I was hearing voices again.” She puts her hand over her heart in relief before walking closer. “You look all tan and pretty. Where are you now?”

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