What the hell was he doing, contemplating tearing her away from this? How selfish could a guy be?
Karen had been wrong. The choice he faced wasn’t against his heart. It was the easiest choice in the world—he would do anything to grant Charity a lifetime of happiness. Anything. If that meant walking away and leaving his heart behind, so be it. He’d live with his pain to see her smile.
But Karen had been right about something else: this went against everything he wanted. Because Charity was all he could ever want. He loved her with his whole person, now more than ever. To see her shine in her element was a rare treat that he would savor for the rest of his life. As she climbed the steps onto the platform where her family waited, she looked back at him, her smile bright, her eyes brighter. Even now, she thought of him.
He would do the same for her.
He ignored the pain and clapped along. Tonight, he’d say goodbye with his body.
Tomorrow would be the first day of the rest of their lives.Chapter Thirty-Four“I did it!” Charity threw her arms around Devon, joy bubbling up through her and exploding all around her in the form of her magic. She’d mostly balanced it now, only needing help occasionally when a particularly powerful surge came through. “I won! I’m a complete outsider, I didn’t know any of the fruits and veggies when I started, and still I won the whole thing.” She couldn’t smile big enough to express her excitement. Her father and grandmama, too, had been beside themselves pleased. “I earned a place here.”
She unpeeled herself from Devon’s front for a moment so she could lean back and look at his handsome face.
“Of course you did,” he said, pride shining in his eyes. He traced her jaw with this thumb. “I knew you would.”
“Was Dillon here? I don’t remember seeing him,” she said. Everyone else had already headed back to their lodgings, leaving Devon to wait for her.
“He and Macy…” Devon shrugged, an uncomfortable expression racing across his face. In a moment, it was gone. “You hungry?”
She frowned. Were Macy and Dillon having problems? Charity had let the competition consume her, not to mention the worry that it would be broken up at any moment by a flaming demon barreling through. Now that it was over, she needed to reconnect with her friends.
“No, I’m good,” she said as he intertwined their fingers and led her out of the competition area. People smiled at her as she passed, congratulating her on her completely unexpected win. “I ate the food from the other competitors.”
“Are you okay to just go home, or are you expected somewhere?” Devon asked.
She responded in the affirmative, and they turned the corner onto the cobblestone path that led to her temporary housing, but his choice of words stuck with her.
Home.
Karen’s words came floating back to her: “When you find your true home, you will know it.”
Night shrouded them as they ambled along the cobblestone path, the darkness brightened only by the dancing fairy lights above the hedges. Charity pushed in close to Devon, and he wrapped one of his big arms around her shoulders as she took in the beautiful scenery and well-maintained houses. Her dad’s beautiful garden designs gave the place a peaceful serenity. The blooming flowers warmed her soul, something she’d never really thought flowers could do. The crawling vines, turning fences green, softened even the harsh boundaries.
But really, they were just gardens. Devon could have something like this at his house, surrounded as he was with nature. Now that they knew what was possible, the right gardener could probably enhance the natural beauty of his property.
No, the surroundings, beautiful as they were, weren’t what made this place special. So what did?
My father. My grandmother. An entire village of people who want to get to know me. In the Brink, I only have a mother, and she ran out on me.
She slid her gaze to the ruggedly handsome man walking beside her with an easy, sure step and a powerful, robust body. A man who had been through hell and back to protect her. A man who she believed would do anything to make her happy.
She didn’t just have a mother in the Brink, she had Devon. She had his pack. Hell, she even had Roger. Their loyalty was beyond anything she’d ever experienced. Beyond anything she might’ve read about in a book or seen on TV. It was real, and she’d be lost without them. She knew that now. They hadn’t just saved her life—they’d saved her. They’d given her a bigger picture. She wasn’t alone anymore—hadn’t been since she’d stumbled out of that vampire-infested house without a clue.
When push came to shove, she’d be lost without Devon. He held her heart. Home for her wasn’t a where. It was a who. It was Devon and all the people associated with him.