The days passed like something out of a dream. During the day, Kaden often played video games with the young shifters, while Wesley and I chatted on the porch. Wesley caught me up on all the pack news, including who had survived and who hadn't, and the improvements he planned to make to the pack already. He wanted to find a new beta but decided it was too much change all at once for the pack.
In return, I told him more about my time with the Ophiuchus pack and all the things I'd learned, and then told him about everything that happened when I was being held captive by the Leos. We discussed the Sun Witches, and how it seemed as though they were controlling much more of our lives than we'd believed.
Wesley also spent time reaching out to the other pack alphas, without much success. There weren’t any immediate responses, but I had no doubt that Wesley would keep us updated if he found anything out. Mira was also silent, and I hoped that everything was going well with the Pisces pack.
A month didn’t give us much time to try and convince multiple packs that going against the Leos was a good idea, but I hoped that it would be enough to at least get them to come and hear us out. I just wanted this to be done, impatient for the confrontation to happen already. I was sick of running and hiding and being scared. I wanted the Leos to be taken care of, so I could enjoy my time with Kaden and the Ophiuchus.
On our last night on the island, I was so mentally tired that I fell asleep the moment my head touched the pillow, one of Kaden’s arms curled protectively around my side. When I opened my eyes the next morning, I was in the exact same position we’d fallen asleep in. I took a moment to look over Kaden’s handsome face, my chest bursting with affection. He looked less broody when he was asleep, closer to his actual age, and I wished I had my camera to capture the moment forever.
Breakfast was silent, and when I went to pack up our stuff afterward, I found that tears were prickling at the back of my eyes. I managed to hold them back all the way back to our boat, but when Wesley enveloped me in a hug, I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. This felt too much like a true goodbye for me to think of it being anything else. At the Convergence, there hadn’t been time for goodbyes, just the heart-pounding need to get away from the danger. I didn’t want to leave Wesley, but I tried to reassure myself that we would see each other again this time.
“I’ll see you at the solar eclipse,” I said, with a sniff. “Stay safe and try not to almost die again.”
“You too,” Wesley said, giving me a sad grin. “I don’t know why you’re always such a magnet for danger, but I'm sure you can take care of yourself. And you have someone on your side who will help you now.”
Kaden nodded as he shook hands with Wesley. “She’ll be safe with me, I swear it."
“Good,” Wesley said and stepped back. "I love you, Ayla."
My throat closed around the swell of emotion. I deposited my bag into the boat before going and giving Wesley one more hug. “I love you too,” I managed to get out.
Then I swiped my hand across my cheeks and got in the boat. I needed to focus so we could get going. I pushed the emotions associated with Wesley into the little box I kept in the back of my mind. It had previously held my grief over his death, but now I didn’t have time to deal with the fear of losing him again either. We had so much to do before I could even allow myself the luxury of worrying.
Once Kaden manned up enough to get in too, I started the boat. Wesley watched in silence from a little bit up the dock, and then we were off. I made sure everything was running smoothly before I turned around to face the island. Wesley raised a hand in farewell, and I echoed him. He became smaller and smaller until he was just a speck on the island, but I was sure he watched us until we were gone from view as well. I turned ahead and focused on steering us back to the mainland.
The boat ride was silent for the most part. I noticed that Kaden was less leery of the boat this time, and I couldn’t help the small, wry smile at that. I’ll make a seafarer of you yet, I thought. We docked, and Kaden went ahead to make sure the village was still empty while I turned the boat off and loaded our bags onto the dock.
“Anything?” I asked as Kaden slipped back onto the deck. He shook his head. Good. We seemed to have lost our Taurus tail, and I was more than happy about it. I didn’t know how far Jordan was able to trace the mating bond, but I hoped I’d be able to escape it for a little longer.
“Ready?” Kaden asked as I hoisted myself onto the dock and picked my bag up. “I figure we can make it to another town by nightfall if we get started now.”