Chapter 35

Pixie. The Earth Goddess.

The sleeping plague swept across the land like a wave of death. Hundreds, if not thousands, fell in its path. Their eyes closed, and they never reopened.

Six months have passed since the day Hel broke free.

Six months. Two days. Five hours and three minutes.

But who's counting?

I still have my earth magic. And I can use it as much as I wish.

I pick up the mug of sleeping draught and drink it down. Same as I do every night, pulling me into a deep slumber that refuses to come without its aid. I lie down and close my eyes, praying that tonight will be the night he comes. That this will be when he stops his mission of death and comes to me instead.

I know that Shaw is the cause of the plague. I know it. And I wish beyond all wishes that he would stop.

The lives he takes, he takes for a reason. I know that.

He has either destroyed or driven away the unseelie. It has ended any attempts to find me by striking out at the remaining covens. The Prince fell to the sickness, too, and the new king has decreed that witches should be left alone and that no wars should be sought out. No retaliation. No punishments.

Peace has swept the land. It's come at a heavy price.

One that we are all paying.

Earth magic is gone. The earth covens are now nothing more than strange humans clinging to odd customs and rituals. The fire coven is no more than a handful of witches living with the water coven. And the air coven has chosen to relocate to the mountains in the north, where the cold keeps most others away.

I hear they have settled well and enjoy the solitude. Leo sent us a letter. He and Thalia got married.

I roll onto my side, feeling the gentle sway of the ship I have called home for the last three months. The wood of the hull groans as it gently rocks me to sleep.

Please. Please come to me tonight.

My dreams start as they always do. In that endless field. In the rolling hills and clear blue skies, sat beneath the old oak.

I stand and look all around.

I'm alone.

But I know he has put me here. Nightmares should plague me.

But I haven't had a single nightmare since that day.

‘Dream Walker!' I call out. As I always do. As I always will. ‘SHAW! Are you here?!'

Only a gentle breeze answers.

So I walk. I walk, and I walk, seeking him out.

I awake in the bed, the ship slowly rocking me as I return to the land of the living. To my right, Archie is fast asleep, lying on his back with his mouth open and a light snore coming from his nose.

I sit, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, chuckling as he gives a little whine and kicks out his legs.

I tiptoe from the room and head up to the ship's deck. It's a beautiful vessel with black sails.

When I reach my favourite place, the very front of the ship, where a mast of a woman peers out to the endless ocean before us, I stop and smile. The sea spray meets my skin and the air is so fresh, it fills my lungs with life.

I throw my legs over the side and sit, enjoying the vast freedom set before me.

A pair of arms wrap around my middle, and a face sinks into my neck.

‘Morning, Shadow Daddy,' I greet.

‘Morning, Poppet Doll. Any luck last night?'

I shake my head.

Dorian's back in his mortal body. Not trapped, just wearing it. We went back to get it after I decimated a good chunk of forest to heal myself. He can discard it at any time and become his shadow self.

All the souls he claimed in his time as Neve's prisoner were released when he died. And he has not claimed a single life since that day.

He's at peace. Tamed by love and a lust for life that he never had before.

And a bonus? He can choose to be his shadow form any time he likes.

And my oh my. The things he can do have me unable to walk for several days.

In a very good way.

‘He'll return soon,' he says. ‘Be patient.'

His words offer little comfort. He's said the same thing every day for six months.

I worry that he Shaw has found his freedom and decided to keep it in his own way and not share it with us.

With me.

I lean back into Dorian and look out at the endless blue before us.

Below deck, I have kept Shaw's body safe inside a silk-lined coffin. I want him comfortable. I check on him every day. There's not a hint of decay to be seen. It's like he's simply sleeping.

But he's cold, unbreathing and unmoving.

‘How long until we arrive?' I ask.

‘Who knows,' he groans. ‘A day. A year. We're going off of Archie's directions here, so we may end up in the southern poles encased in ice.'

I know he can feel the ache in my heart. I try to hide it, but I know I can't. He feels what I feel through our link. He holds me closer.

‘I may have saved you from hell. But what he's done has secured your future. When he's finished, I know he'll come back to us.'

‘He can't kill everyone.'

‘I'm pretty sure he could if he really wanted to.'

‘Then I don't want him to.' I sigh. ‘I want him to come home. What if he's forgotten about us? What if he doesn't want to come back?'

He kisses my neck and sighs deeply, releasing his own grief in that breath. It travels the length of me, making me shudder. I know he has thought the same. It's crossed all our minds.

‘He'll come back to you,' he repeats.

Archie joins us on deck, stretching his arms wide and yawning heavily.

‘Morning.'

He reaches around us and slams his lips on mine, claiming his kiss before peering up at Dorian.

‘And good morning to you, a giant swarm of terrifying shadows with a twelve-inch cock.'

‘Why must you speak?' Dorian groans. ‘You're so nice to look at until you speak.'

‘Why must you blush,' Archie grins. ‘Catch anything for breakfast yet?'

‘Not yet.' Dorian grabs him and tosses him overboard. Archie yells with a whoop and a deep laugh as he falls and lands in the water with a splash. ‘Let me know how you get on, though,' he chuckles, watching Archie perform a leisurely backstroke as he looks up at me.

‘The water is beautiful,' he calls back up to us as we laugh, watching him over the edge of the ship. ‘Come join me, my earth goddess.'

‘I told you to quit calling me that, wolf boy!' I chuckle back.

‘That's wolf man to you, Pix. Or wolf lord. Maybe Wolf Master? Or perhaps even ‘Wolf-oh harder, harder, harder!' he teases, his voice high as he mimics me. ‘Now get in here, and let me fuck you senseless.'

Dorian grips my hips and tosses me overboard. As I let out a yelp, falling to the water, I can't help but feel a rush of excitement course through me as fast as the wind whips past me.

I land with a splash, and Archie is quick to pull me into him. My legs wrap around his waist, and I laugh with my whole heart as he peers up at me.

‘Don't let her drown, Arch.'

‘Not in a million fucking years,' he says softly, looking up at me.

‘You mentioned some senseless fucking, My wolf lord.'

‘I think you'll find my name…' He slides my skirt up and bunches it around my waist as I free his length from his trousers. ‘Is actually ‘Lord Wolf oh harder. Harder. Harder!'

‘You better live up to your threats.'

He rests himself at my entrance and grins from ear to ear.

‘Not a threat, Pix.' He eases himself into me as my head tilts back, and I moan in pleasure. ‘A fucking promise.'

In the second cabin, I stand by the door and look at that redwood coffin. I slowly walk towards it. The water from the ocean is still fresh on my skin, dripping to the floor and leaving foot-shaped puddles in my wake. My fingers rest on that coffin, and I ache.

A huge part of me is missing. He's missing.

I lift the lid, and my breath catches as I see him lying there. Stone cold and ashen. Eyes closed. Arms at his side.

Six months.

I sweep the hair from his face before I climb inside with him, snuggling into his side and wrapping my arms around his stomach. My legs entwine with his, and I pull the lid down, sealing ourselves away from the world.

‘Dorian threw me in the sea today,' I tell him, my head nestled into his neck. ‘Archie caught me. He taught me how to catch fish, and we cooked one over a fire. I then sat on the front of the ship, a leg on either side of that mermaid, and read. It was the strangest book Dorian picked up for me the last time we made port at this rough little sailor town. Drunk humans as far as the eye could see and thieves lurking around every corner. I thought I would be afraid, but then Dorian reminded me I could kill them all without breaking a sweat, and I ended up actually enjoying myself. I made a bet with a man with a wooden leg that I could out-drink him, and he fell flat on his face in front of everyone in the pub after our third bottle of rum.' I giggle at the memory. ‘I earned three gold coins and even won his hat. Anyway…' I tell him about the book I'm reading. About the ferocious lady pirate who stole her ex-lover's ship when she found him cheating on her with her sister. She stole his ship and his crew. She took his treasure maps and beat him to every single one of the spots where the treasure was buried. I tell him how she took lovers on the condition they made her climax with his tongue and fingers before she even laid a finger on them. How she was the best swordswoman anyone had ever seen.

I snuggle deeper and close my eyes.

‘Come back to us, Shaw. Come back, and let's go on those kind of adventures together. All three of us fighting the sea monsters and raging storms. Looking for buried treasures and lost cities.' I chuckle then yawn. In the darkness, an irresistible wave of tiredness takes hold.

I know this pull. This beautiful sedation seeps into my heart, body, and soul, and I fall into it happily, with a smile on my face.

The sun shines through the branches of the old oak tree above me. Vibrant green leaves and long green grass. A perfect summer breeze. I blink, watching those beams of light seep through the gaps above.

‘Hello, Pixie.'

I grin and I turn.

‘About time, Dream Walker.'

Shaw stands with his hands in his pockets, looking ever the polished gentleman. He's beautiful. He's here.

‘What the hell kept you?'

‘You know what?' he says, stepping closer. ‘All of a sudden, I can't remember.'

He opens his arms, and I leap into them gladly, claiming my kiss with desperate need. We crash into the grass and waste no time at all in showing one another just how much we've missed each other.

His fingers. His tongue. His lips. His body. His cock.

They all beg for my forgiveness. And I give it.

My Dream Walker.

My wolf.

My Shadow Master.

My magic.

My fucking freedom.

All of it. Mine.

When I open my eyes in the real world, my Dream Walker is softly kissing my neck. I moan in bliss as he looks up at me through his lashes.

‘You saved this body for me?'

‘I saved it for me,' I smile back, the orgasm he gave me still rippling through me. Every spot he touched in my dream tingles. So real. It was all real. And waking up to see him moving. To feel his breath on my skin and his lips on my neck makes my dream a reality. ‘I am very fond of that form.'

‘You kept it in a coffin?'

‘It was comfortable and kept you safe.'

I gasp as his fingers ease inside of me.

‘You ever been fucked in a coffin before, Pixie?'

‘No, Sir,' I reply, relishing as his fingers slide in and out of me.

‘Then let's tick that off both our lists, hmm?'

The look on Archie's face is something I will never forget as he watches Shaw and I walk onto the deck, hand in hand and still coated in sweat. He drops the hand of cards he's holding and basically screams in joy before running towards him. His arms are open, and I need to yank my hand free so I don't get shoved out of the way. Archie and Shaw embrace, laughing wonderfully and holding each other tightly. Their words are a mess as joy overrides any form of ceremony.

I look at Dorian who grins as he places down his cards.

He would have felt my pleasure. My happiness. My excitement. He would have known Shaw was awake as soon as I did, and yet he kept it quiet. He stayed put. And he let us have our reunion.

‘You took your sweet fucking time,' Archie beams, slapping Shaw on the shoulder. ‘Shit. I have missed you. I assume you have caught up with Pix already?'

‘Of course. What the hell else am I going to do? Kiss you and smack your backside?'

Archie's eyes actually widen at the thought.

‘Good to see you haven't changed.' Shaw turns to Dorian, who rises to his feet. ‘Back in that body too, huh?'

‘Oh. He's broken out his "Shadow Daddy" form a couple of times,' Archie adds. ‘When Pix is feeling brave.'

‘She likes this body,' Dorian says, heading to meet Shaw. The two hug. ‘She was extremely reluctant to let us go.'

‘You and her… in your shadow form?' Shaw asks, a brow raised as the two look at one another. ‘What was that like?'

‘She couldn't walk the day after, but the girl insisted.'

‘Crazy little thing.' They all look at me. ‘It is so fucking good to be home.'

We leave the ship anchored a mile or so offshore and leap into the sea. The water is crystal clear. A sparkling blue that warms my body. Below, the most colourful fish swim in schools around us, and colourful rocks of pink, turquoise, red and orange shimmer below.

Corals.

I've never seen them beyond the pages of a book. Archie reaches the shore first and looks back to take my hand. He's just a ball of energy, unable to quit smiling as I grip his hand and let him lead me on.

Our feet sink beneath the warm golden sand, and he looks at it like it's made of actual gold. Palm trees line the coastline, and the tops of emerald-green mountains reach up miles in the distance.

‘How do you feel, Archie?' I ask.

He looks at me, tears in his eyes as he struggles to hold in his emotions.

‘You're home, Arch,' Shaw says. ‘You're finally home.'

We all stand on the shores of Archie's homeland. A thousand miles from where we came from. A million miles from the life we once had.

He scoops me up and twirls me before sliding me down the length of his body and planting my feet back in the sand.

‘Welcome to paradise, Pix.' He kisses my knuckles. ‘Just you fucking wait. This island is my very own version of heaven. Waterfalls to fuck you beneath. Endless streams. Mountains and caves. And trees that grow fruit so delicious your mouth will be watering for days. And I'm going to show you every inch of this place. Of my home. The home of the wolves.'

‘I can't wait,' I reply.

The wolves are gone. He knows that. But there is freedom here. And adventure. The perfect place to recover and rest until we decide what we want to do next.

Oh. How far I have come. As I watch them all run onto the beach, laughing and so free, my heart grows.

I'm free. We all are.

I have my earth magic. Our blood curses are broken. And I have three lovers who also happen to be the most powerful creatures this or any other world has ever seen.

The one and only earth witch.

The one and only Dream Walker.

The one and only Shadow Master.

And the last remaining wolf shifter.

We stand on ancient shores. Alone.

And I can not wait to start a new life with them all.

But first things first.

I take Archie's face and kiss him deeply.

‘Let's see how many of you I can take before you make me scream.'

‘Oh, Pix,' he chuckles, ripping open his shirt, his eyes glowing a vibrant yellow. ‘Challenge accepted. On your knees and open wide, my love. Let's get all those wonderful holes of yours filled with cock.'

They surround me with dark smiles.

And I fall to my knees gladly for them all.

The end.