Tears immediately filled my eyes as that tiny hole in my heart was filled with his words, the sincerity of them, the totality of them. Caleb lowered his head and kissed the first tear to fall and I gasped his name.
“I love you,” I whispered, and he began to move over me once more. It wasn’t fast and fevered, hungry and needy as it was a few moments ago, but slow, tender, meaningful, and I loved every minute of it. I loved every part of him.
CHAPTER 17
Caleb
It had been three weeks since we left Florida. Marta was doing much better after the remedies Ary Delgado had supplied for her—remedies that were not of the human world. Ones that I would be forever grateful for because I never wanted to lose Marta, I never wanted to lose the best mother I could have ever asked for.
Marta and Zoe hit it off immediately as Zoe had quickly taken to helping Ary with whatever she needed to keep Marta comfortable. I spent more hours watching the two females that meant the most in this world to me together than I could count. Watching the human and the shifter bond regardless of their obvious and not-so-obvious differences.
I grew up a lot in those days of watching and listening and allowing myself to believe. Running was cowardice, avoiding was disastrous, and not living was downright criminal. Gil had told me that and I believed him wholeheartedly.
I came back to D.C. with Aidan and Brayden, and missed Zoe desperately as she stayed behind to continue to help Gil with Marta. Training beside my brothers was like old times. The three of us didn’t miss a beat in the physical tasks required of us. We spent hours behind closed doors with Nick Delgado going over security issues and weak points and even more hours with X reviewing the human government infrastructure, until finally, the day had come.
Havenway was still in its early days and most of the old buildings were in various stages of construction, but we’d been summoned to what was being called “the briefing room.” It was a little after noon as I closed the door to the room I’d been assigned to and walked down the long hallway. I knew what this was about, knew what going in there would mean and I was okay with it. I knew who I was and why I was put here and I was ready to take the next step.
Knowing that Zoe was waiting for me in the house where I’d spent a lot of my teen years had a lot to do with my acceptance. She knew everything there was to know about me and she was still there, still waiting for me, still loving me. My heart swelled with the thought because I never thought I’d have someone like her, with feelings that rivaled my own. I just never assumed this was where my life would end up.
“You ready for this?” Aidan said, meeting me as he entered the hallway from another direction.
We were wearing the black cargo pants, T-shirts, and black industrial boots that had become our uniform as of late.
“I’m as ready as you are,” was my reply.
He reached for my arm. “Just checking,” he said with a grin.
Aidan had checked daily for the bracelet. Topètenia males received a leather bracelet with the Topètenia insignia branded along its length, after their first completed shift, usually around the age of sixteen. I hadn’t worn mine since I’d turned eighteen and left the Sanchezes. The morning after Zoe arrived in Florida I’d put it on. She’d touched the leather and asked me about the bracelet and I’d explained it to her, told her about the transition of the Topètenia shifters from child to shifter to soldier. She’d smiled at me and pride had swelled in my chest. Today, I looked over at Aidan’s matching bracelet and felt that same pride.
“I’m here one hundred percent,” I told him. “You don’t have to doubt that anymore.”
Aidan nodded. “So am I.”
“Good to hear.” Brayden came up behind us, clapping us on the shoulder. “Thought I was going to have to take both of you out for going AWOL.”
“Nah, we would never let you stand and take all the glory of becoming a guard alone,” Aidan joked.
“Never that,” I added.
It felt good, this walk down the hall with my brothers. The bond we’d built over the years had intensified, our connection sealed.
It wasn’t until we entered the briefing room that our joking moods subsided. There was a stage toward one end and a podium with a sound system had been set up there. Behind the stage the wall was draped in black, the Topètenia insignia in a vibrant green color. The floor was a dark laminate with cushioned chairs lined in rows of twenty across, ten down each side with a three-foot-wide aisle in between.
Lidia joined us and we walked two by two down the aisle, stopping just in front of the stage. Nick and X came up on either side of the four of us and Roman Reynolds, the East Coast Faction Leader stood behind the podium.
The ceremony was brief, our status as special operative shifter guards sealed and applauded by all those in attendance. But I didn’t feel the significance of the whole thing until later that evening. It was after dinner when Rome came to where we sat in the dining hall.
“It’s time,” was all he’d said.
We all knew to get up and follow him out. None of us spoke as we moved through one long hallway after another until finally stopping at a steel door. The Faction Leader typed a number on the keypad just beneath the knob. There was a loud click and the door slid sideways, instead of opening outward. Rome walked through and we followed. There were no lights on, but none were needed. About a quarter of a mile in I saw the first candle and then a room that opened up to at least two hundred more. They lined the walls, casting the space in an eerie glow.
The Faction Leader was immediately approached by another guard and draped in a black robe that tied at his neck with a silver rope. Out of the shadows appeared two more cloaked in gray robes. They came to stand on the side of the FL. A small table was brought before the FL, a needle and ink on top.
“Aidan Sanchez,” the FL called solemnly and Aidan stepped forward.
I watched as my oldest brother removed his T-shirt and knelt on his knees as the Topètenia insignia was tattooed onto his back. When he was finished, Aidan stood and Rome came over to him. The FL placed both hands on Aidan’s shoulders and whispered some words to him. Aidan nodded and Brayden’s name was called.
I would be next. I would step forward and point to where I wanted the tat, then it would be done and it would be official. I would be a Topètenia shifter for the rest of my life.
Twenty minutes later my right bicep stung as the needle applied the ink, branding me. When I stood my teeth were clenched, eyes trained on the FL standing in front of me.
“You were one. Now you are of many. You are a Topètenia and we are bonded. My strength,” the FL continued, cupping his hand to my bicep. I did as I’d seen Brayden and Aidan do before me, twisting my arm around the outside of the FL’s to grab his wrist.
“My strength,” I repeated.
“Our strength,” we said in unison.
When I returned to my room that night the first thing I did was call Zoe. As I lay on the bed waiting for her to pick up the phone, I touched the tat lightly.
“Hey there,” she answered, her voice light and happy.
I smiled at the sound. “Hey yourself.”
“How’d it go?”
“It went great,” I admitted. “It feels right.”
“It is right. You’re right where you should be,” she insisted.
“And you’re with me.”