Chapter 28

Oliver and I stood at the edge of the in-between, a few months after we'd started the preparations. The energy in here had shifted once we'd begun, clearing out all the debris and ruined buildings, leaving behind a place where magic thrummed in the very air we breathed, begging for an outlet. The longer Tantaii stayed dead, the more the magic had recovered, bursting and bustling with life.

We stood, staring at the remnants of what used to be – the shattered remains of the portal arches that had once connected the realms of shifters and fae. The rubble of the arches lay scattered around them, the destruction brought down by Tantaii's darkness littered about.

This was the only place we hadn't touched the materials. We would need it for what we were going to do next.

We stood alone in the space, just him and I. Callan had all but eaten Oliver when he'd said it was better we do it alone, but he was right. If this went wrong, which it very well could, then we didn't want anyone getting caught in the collateral crossfire.

Oliver and I shared a glance, a silent understanding that this may go incredibly wrong. I nodded to him, and we stepped out, each of us going in the opposite direction. I faced the arch that had connected the mortal realm to the in-between, and Oliver faced the other side, taking on the fae facing arch.

Restoring the connection between realms had to be done simultaneously, or we ran the risk of the entire thing imploding.

"Ready?" Oliver called from behind me, his hands already raised in front of him in preparation.

"Let's do it."

I'd been spending the last few months practicing my portals. It was much easier to do when I had excuses to visit my friends that lived on the fae side of the realm. Varus and I had gotten especially close, although we hadn't seen as much of each other since he found a new marked rider in an air fae we met while visiting Oliver.

I closed my eyes, the airy, bright feeling that was portal magic filling my head. I channeled it down my arms and into my hands, holding them while I waited for Oliver's signal. We'd done a few practice runs without magic, and in theory, this should work.

"Now!" he shouted, and without hesitation I channeled the magic outwards. My eyes snapped open to see a large beam of light pour from my hands, unlike anything I'd ever produced before as it connected with the empty space in the arch.

The air shimmered with raw energy as I worked, concentrating on filling the space, then weaving in more and more magic as it continued to fill. Slowly but surely, the shattered pieces of the arches that lie on the floor began to shift, hovering in the air and rising up to join the still standing pieces of stone. I risked a glance over my shoulder at Oliver, who was pacing exactly with me, his arch beginning to reconnect.

Before long, the rubble formed into something new, a shimmering, iridescent light shining from the center of the portal eclipsed in stone. As the final pieces of the arches clicked into place, a surge of exhilaration washed over me.

The portal wasn't see through like the ones I could form from scratch, instead it was more like a cloudy mirror, and I could see the outline of my silhouette wavering in the unsteady surface, facing back at me.

With a nod of satisfaction I stepped back, looking at Oliver to see he was doing the same, his portal also complete.

"Ready to test it out?" Oliver asked, his eyes shining with excitement.

I grinned, my heart pounding. "Absolutely. Meet back here in ten?"

He didn't answer, instead turning around and darting through the portal without another word, moving faster than I'd ever seen him go. Wasting no time, I did the same, gasping as a cold wash of sensation passed over me as I stepped through.

I found myself standing in a vast, open clearing, surrounded by towering trees and bathed in the warm glow of the sun. Before me stood the entrance to the pack I had connected the portal to, the Clover Pack. We'd debated linking the entrance to the Nexus Pack instead, but as the resident halfling and portal creator, it made more sense for it to be where I was the majority of the time. I was officially a liaison to the fae that would be coming over to the mortal realm.

Turning, I looked at the portal that had formed on this side. We'd had to build a matching arch in each realm, and it stood tall and strong against the backdrop of the Clover forest, its stones new and polished. It was warded with similar magic like the pack was, designed to turn away any humans who may accidentally stray too close.

"You did it," strong arms wrapped around me from behind as Callan kissed the side of my neck, pride thrumming through our bond that I no longer blocked. I wanted all of him, so it was only fair that I gave him all of me as well. "I knew you would do it."

"You just didn't want me to die," I teased, reaching around to poke a finger in his side until he let me go. Turning, I reached my hands up, pulling his head down to my level so I could plant a kiss.

"If you die, I die," he murmured against my mouth before diving in for another. Eventually, he broke the kiss. "You ready for this? To open these worlds, and bring all these people together again?"

I pondered his question. It was going to be a lot of work, going between shifter and faerie and the world in general. But it was also a great thing.

I had a sneaking suspicion that there were more true mate bonds that would appear, which would go a long way to boosting shifter numbers which had been dwindling for centuries due to the lack of mate pairs. If these portals could help even one person find the love and joy that I had since I'd come here, since I'd met Callan, then that would be enough for me.

"I don't think I've been more ready for anything in my life."