68. Now We Know
1305 Words
We make it to Mystical Moon without anyone saying anything else. I'm not sure what we're doing, but here we are. Mike carries me through the woods. I can't walk with my heels on. I keep stumbling everywhere when I try.
Granny's home when we get there. She's doing something in her cauldron.
"Hi, sweetie. How's the casino doing?"
"Seems good. I think they blew up an escalator, and we need a lot more help for the bar, but it's casinoing."
"That's good. I wanted to see it, but Monte has the helicopter tied up. Phira and I are coming this weekend." She dumps a tube of something in and sparks fly out.
I jump back. "I'll give you a tour. And I can send a helicopter for you. Just send me a message when you need it."
She dumps something else in quickly. "I'll keep that in mind. What can I do for you now?"
"Cyrus wanted to visit."
He crosses his arms. "I want the soulmate test done."
I stare at him. He hasn't even been here for a few days.
Granny wipes her hands off on a towel. "And what do you want, sweetie?"
I stare at my hands and shrug my shoulders. This hurts my hand. "I guess. I mean, we're already here."
"Ok. Give me a second to get the stuff ready. You can sit at the table." She starts pulling stuff out of her bookshelf.
Mike puts his arm around me and pulls out a chair.
Cyrus sits beside me. "It's better to know, baby."
I stare at my hands while granny puts the stuff down. Then she takes our blood and stirs the cup. She watches it and says some words. It's the longest minute wait of my life. Then she sits it in front of us. "Purple. You are soulmates."
Mike does something. I hear him moving around.
Cyrus kisses my head. "It's ok, baby. We'll be fine. Now we know."
"Now we know." I nod and stand up. "Thank you, granny."
"Of course, sweetie. We'll come see the casino this weekend."
We get outside and I take the deepest breath. It feels like the trees are closing in on me for a second. I need more air.
Cyrus rubs my hair. "I love you so much. I had to know. I could not watch you with him anymore."
I let it out slowly. "I didn't even think you were coming back."
His eyes fill with tears. "I'll always come back. I promise."
"Not here. Let's go." Mike picks me up and carries me to the helicopter.
I stare out the window until we land at the casino. I have no idea what to even say. And I don't know why this is so shocking.
"Go help them finish out the night. I'll deal with it in the morning. I'm taking her home."
"Yea." Cyrus gets out and we take off again.
I snuggle into Mike's side and cry.
"I know, babygirl. I'm sorry I couldn't make him wait for you to be ready."
"At certain times, I was ready."
"Yea, but this wasn't one of them. You thought he had walked away again. You gave up on him coming back. You weren't talking to him. And you lost Monte. I know you care about him."
I hold him and sob.
"And it's more than just that. Now you know who we are. The search is over. This isn't the happy ending I wanted for you."
"I remember when Conner got purple. All I could do was hold him."
"You were holding each other, baby. You were crazy happy. Then with Drogon." He rolls his eyes. "I thought you were going to do him in the hallway."
I giggle. "We were trying to wait."
"You barely held on for that one."
"You're not wrong. I was falling apart and kept trying to get him naked every time I saw him... He didn't argue at all. He still doesn't."
"You remember when I got purple?"
"Yea. We didn't know what it meant then. That's how we learned what purple was. But it didn't matter either. You were mine already. It could have come back any color, nothing would have changed. I was completely in love with you. I still am."
"Me too, babygirl. I love you more and more every day."
"How are you so perfect, Mike?"
"It's just the way I am."
I look at him and we start laughing. I wipe the tears off my face and shake my head. "What do I do?"
"Well, he wasn't wrong. Now you know."
"Now, I know."
"Spend some time with him. After all, he did come back."
"That's true."
"And I know you love him."
"I do. But I really thought he was gone. I was trying to deal with it. I don't know how many times he texted me this week and I threw my phone calling him names."
"Concentrate on the love between you. Spend some time together. Talk out your issues. It won't take long, and you'll be fine."
"You're probably right. I'll make him get the honeymoon suite again."
"You don't have to jump into bed with him. He rushed the test. You can still take your time and get more comfortable with him. He's not going anywhere."
"What about Monte?"
He kisses my head. "Monte will be fine. He'll find his soulmate someday. They'll fall in love. It's the way life is. I know you care about each other. That's not going to change. You're still going to protect each other. No more kissing him though."
"I liked kissing him." I plop my head on his shoulder.
"I could tell." He shakes his head. "But no more of that. He's not yours, and you'll both get hurt if you keep going. You can only be friends now."
"He told me this would happen."
"What?"
"He said I'd end up with the prince and his mate wouldn't be a princess or a queen. She won't be rich. She'll be a normal girl. And that it'll be ok. He could get some kisses and cuddles from me for a while though."
"He was protecting himself. He cared about you, but he knew he wouldn't get you. He's hurting right now, I know he is."
"Why would he be hurting if he knew?"
"He told himself, you being with him could never happen, but he was hoping it would. He was praying for the stars to line up and a miracle to happen. That you would be his. It didn't work out for him. Now, he can say, he knew this would happen all along. He gets to go on with his life pretending it didn't hurt because he knew what would happen, and he prepared for it."
"I guess I don't understand."
"You'll understand when you're older. Sometimes we have to tell ourselves things, so when they happen, it doesn't hurt as badly."
"If he believed I was going to be his mate and fell blindly in love with me, it would have hurt a hell of a lot worse than it did."
"Yep. He was telling himself it wasn't going to work out. So, when it didn't work out, he knew it was coming. It's not that he didn't care about you, because he did. And he hoped you would be his, but he couldn't let himself believe it. It would have broken his heart."
"Mine feels broken."
"I know you love him too." He kisses my head then carries me inside.
We take a bath and wash each other. I love his muscles. I love his whole body. I touch him as much as I can.
He carries me to bed and makes love to me before we fall asleep holding each other.
- Writer
