Juniper had been acting oddly ever since the wedding yesterday. I kept asking her what was wrong, but she wouldn’t say a word. I wondered if it had something to do with that odd look Rose has been giving me. But I thought better of it.
Maybe my new wife was simply overwhelmed by the enormity of what we’d just gone through. How could I blame her?
Getting married was a big deal. Especially getting married the day after I’d proposed. Talk about a quick turn around. But how fast it had happened didn’t matter. We deserved to celebrate properly.
“Where are we going, Mateo?” Juniper asked, a blindfold over her face.
I grinned. I had a big surprise in store for her. Most of the guests had left by now, but when I nodded to Balthazar, he transported us, just as I had requested, to a place unlike any in the world.
I removed the blindfold from Juniper’s face and watched as her eyes went wide and she stared in disbelief.
“Welcome to Atlantis,” I whispered into her ear.
The fabled city beneath the sea was a magnificent feat of merman ingenuity. Encased in a bubble of air was the great aquatic kingdom, its emerald glow almost camouflaging it from the outside.
Everywhere I looked there were strange creatures, mermen riding giant seahorses, massive whales that appeared to carry whole thriving communities on their backs, even a scary-looking giant squid or two, spitting ink onto a giant canvas that illustrated the city’s history.
Deeper inside the kingdom, somewhat closer to normal, was a metropolitan wonderland, full of canals and open-air markets. The line between land and water was so fluid, you could hardly tell where a puddle began and ended.
“Is this...real?” Juniper asked.
I nodded. “The King and Queen are expecting us. But...we’re not here for them.”
“What for then?”
“Our honeymoon, of course!”
She beamed, throwing her arms around my neck. But when she pulled back to kiss me, I could see that same melancholy look in her eyes. The haunted look.
“You want to tell me what’s going on, June?”
“Yes,” she said quietly. “I love you, Mateo. That’s what’s going on.”
She kissed me passionately now, throwing her body against mine, and I knew instantaneously that any planned royal reception would have to wait.
I had a wife to please right now.
Mateo took me to the palace in the heart of the city. It was more modern than I had been expecting. The walls were made of glass, encased with water and all kinds of aquatic life within.
Even the elevator ride up to our room on the top floor was breathtaking. The higher you climbed, the more you could see of Atlantis and its surroundings.
Whales drifted by, chowing down on plankton, while schools of colorful fish danced around the windows in my periphery.
I wondered where the King and Queen’s throne room was in this massive complex. We were supposed to meet with them soon, but I couldn’t concentrate on royal decorum right now. Our surroundings alone provided a sensory overload.
I was so in awe of my surroundings that, briefly, I’d almost been able to forget Mama Deo’s warning and all that came with it.
How could that be possible? How could the man who had marked me, married me, told me he loved me...possibly forget my very existence?
He picked me up with his muscular arms and carried me into the room. Not a room, no. A guest room, like a penthouse, with every luxury you could possibly desire.
We wasted no time on these luxuries, though. We were longing for each other from the moment we’d kissed and become man and wife.
And if I was really going to lose him, I intended to enjoy every second to its fullest.
“Mateo...” I moaned as he gently laid me down on the bed and kissed my neck.
He unbuttoned my shirt slowly, taking his time, savoring the moment. When he opened it up, revealing my bra, he stared at me with the same awe the city outside had struck in me.
“I can’t believe you’re really mine, June,” he whispered.
“All yours,” I said.
But for every sweet word, every gentle caress, every kiss...I could hear Mama Deo’s omen echoing in the back of my head.
His hand slid down the skin of my exposed stomach, plunging beneath my pants.
His fingers moved aside my lace underwear and began to rub circles on my clit, making me shudder in delight.
Two of his rough, massive fingers sank into my sex, making me gasp and clench around him.
I needed to shut Mama Deo’s voice out. I needed to be present. I needed to let this moment be free of any prophecy or curses or magic.
“I want you inside me,” I whispered, struggling to find the breath for words.
He moved quickly, removing his pants and as I removed mine. His manhood sprang from his boxer shorts at attention, throbbing, and wet at the tip already.
He wanted me.
Without a word, he pressed all ten inches into me. I gasped in a mix of ecstasy and delight. It had been too long since we’d made love like this.
And it showed. Every thrust was slow and tight and almost painful.
“You’re so tight, June,” he growled, his eyes turning black.
“Mateo,” I gasped. “Please, harder.”
He needn’t be told twice. He began to thrust into me like a wild beast, making my head spin, clearing it of all thoughts of curses.
No, now I was with Mateo in the present moment and nothing could get between us.
His sweat dripped onto me as my mouth watered, craving more, insatiable.
“June, I can’t hold on much longer,” he said, panting.
“Don’t stop, Mateo,” I begged. “Don’t stop.”
If we stopped, I knew what would happen. The real world, the warnings, the fear of the future—it would all come rushing back.
All I wanted was for this moment to last forever. Never to lose him. Never to lose myself.
I flipped him over so that I could ride him instead, taking my time to slow down, to savor every delicious second.
“You’re mine,” he said.
“Don’t you forget it,” I said, more honestly than I intended.
I began to pick up my pace, rocking my hips back and forth on his powerful bulge, so strong I could barely take it.
The heat between us was building. I knew neither of us could keep it up forever. If only...
“JUNE!” Mateo shouted.
He wasn’t able to hold back and neither was I. As I felt his hot warmth enter me, my walls contracted around him and my release was simultaneous.
I gasped in ecstasy as my hips rocked once more and then I collapsed beside him, panting, sweaty. I curled into his arms, holding him, also panting.
He grinned. “You just couldn’t let go, could you?”
Later that evening, we were planning to join King Tristan and Queen Akola for supper and I had stolen a moment alone in the bathroom to clean myself up.
But I couldn’t stop staring at my own reflection, questioning what I was supposed to do. There were only two more nights left.
Should I tell him the truth? Would it be worse if he knew he was about to forget me?
“But what can I do?” I cried, feeling powerless. “I can’t imagine my life without Mateo. He’s my mate! He’s my husband now.”
It felt strange referring to Mateo that way. But, it still felt right. He wasn’t just my significant other now. He was my everything.
Both my wolf and my witch went quiet at this. Even though Marissa wasn’t mated to Mateo like Starlet was to Zeus, she could still feel my pain.
A life without him was no life at all.
I frowned. What was she talking about? After Mama Deo had dropped that bombshell on me, I hadn’t been able to hear another word out of her mouth.
I felt like I had sleepwalked my way through the rest of the party, feigning smiles, and shooing away compliments on pure autopilot. Still unable to process.
But now I was beginning to remember. There was more to it.
“What did she mean? A journey of self-discovery?”
“I don’t want a bigger purpose,” I spat.
I hadn’t stopped to consider Marissa’s feelings in all this and now I felt bad. I looked out the bathroom window at the fish floating by, almost as if they were birds flying, and shrank into myself, my body shaking as I sobbed silently. Tears poured.
I was beneath the ocean and, though I could breathe, I felt like I was drowning.
How had it come to this?
“June, you alright in there?” I asked, knocking on the bathroom door.
She had been in there too long and I was starting to get worried. I knocked harder when I heard no reply.
“C’mon, June, what’s wrong?” I asked. “I can hear you crying.”
“I...I can’t tell you,” I heard her little voice whisper.
It was so small and sad sounding, it almost broke my heart. I considered breaking down the damn door and picking her up in my arms just to show her how much I cared. But that would probably only make it worse.
“Listen,” I said. “No matter what it is, I promise we can get through it. We are meant to be together, and tonight we should be celebrating.”
No answer.
“June, please,” I said. “Open the door.”
Finally, the door cracked open and when I saw her, I nearly gasped. She looked as if she was in between shifting. Somewhere between Starlet, Marissa, and herself, like the walls of her very reality were collapsing upon her.
“June…?” I asked.
She blinked, and the black hair and long canines were gone. She was herself again—teary and mascara-stained, but herself.
I grabbed her and held her tight, trying desperately to comfort her.
She looked up into my eyes, her voice shaking. “Mateo, there’s something I need to tell you.”
But just before she could tell me what was going on, I felt my brain tingle as a faraway voice reached out to me.
I blinked in disbelief, letting go of Juniper’s arms, a vengeful rage taking over everything—so much so that I couldn’t even remember what Juniper and I had been talking about.
This was the man who had tried to kill me, who had killed Juniper’s beloved grandparents, who had conspired with the demoness Odessa herself.
He and Royce were going to pay.
“Mateo?” Juniper asked, frightened. “What’s wrong?”
“We have to cut our honeymoon short,” I growled. “Your father has been found.”
