Derek grabbed the mutt’s collar and yanked him back down to the ground on all fours, where Shadow continued to brandish his tongue, attempting to lavish me with more uninvited affection. Despite the surprise, I really had no right to feel irritated with Shadow. He’d saved my life and that of my two babies in carrying me out of the Keep, and endured great personal suffering in doing so.
“There, boy,” I said, grabbing his enormous head between my hands and giving him a generous ear scratch. He settled down contentedly at my feet.
I looked around the cabin to get a better look at our newly arrived passengers. The first sight that met my eyes made me break out into a wide smile. Liana and Cameron sat opposite us. Cameron’s body shook with tears of joy as he held Liana in his arms and showered her with kisses.
And next to them sat Claudia and Yuri. The feisty blonde had placed herself on Yuri’s lap, her small legs wrapped around his waist. They kissed as though they were having a competition of who could get to the back of the other’s throat first. I diverted my gaze, feeling uncomfortable watching a scene that was escalating too rapidly to belong anywhere other than their bedroom. I caught Derek’s eye and we both broke out giggling. When we noticed Eli sitting at an awkward angle nearby, positioned to distract himself from the couple, we laughed even harder.
Taking pity on him, Derek tugged on Shadow’s collar. “Come on, boy. Stand up. Go to Daddy over there in the corner. He looks like he’s in need of some company.” Eli glanced over at us and smiled with embarrassment, mouthing a “thank you” to Derek when Shadow got up and made his way over to his master.
Then my eyes fell on Vivienne in the far corner and any joy I’d just felt vanished. Her eyes were fixed on the ground and beads of tears trickled silently down her cheeks. Landis sat next to her, an arm placed around her shoulder, although he too looked devastated.
Derek followed my gaze and, on noticing her too, he looked back at me. “My sister deserves more than this. She’s sacrificed more than any of us.”
“I-I don’t think Xavier made it, Derek,” I whispered, recalling the state of his body when the Elder had transferred to me. I hadn’t seen him since and neither had Ashley. It seemed that Yuri and Liana had no news of the man either.
Derek held his head in his hands and fell silent, a silence that lasted until Craig addressed him.
“We’re back at the port. What now?”
“We’ll drop you off here,” Derek said. “You’re free to go back to Headquarters.”
Craig looked suspiciously at Derek, but then he nodded and limped his way out of the boat. He scurried away from the port and drove off in one of the buggies still parked up on the beach.
I looked up at Derek in question, as did Gavin. “He’s of no use to us any more. And I don’t want him knowing the location of our new home.” Then Derek said, “Liana, you’re the most experienced captain on this boat. I need you to navigate us to the beach where our new house is.”
Liana pulled herself away from Cameron’s arms and stood up.
“Well, I’ll do my best. I really hope there are some decent maps here.” She began searching through a drawer beneath the controls and pulled out several large maps, spreading them out against the dashboard. Derek went over to her, gave her the address and helped her locate our villa. Once Liana seemed to be confident of our destination, she took Craig’s place and the boat went shooting forward.
“We need to hurry,” said Derek. “We’ve only a few more hours until the sun starts to rise.”
By the time we arrived at the villa, daybreak looked about half an hour away. Liana steered the boat toward the shore until it hit shallow waters, at which point we all abandoned it. We jumped into the ocean and rushed across the sand, and then up the stairs to the boulevard our house was situated on.
A wave of nostalgia hit me as we arrived outside our charming home. I remembered all too clearly visiting the place months ago with Derek. I remembered how we’d fantasized about raising a family here. A dream that now seemed destined to be elusive.
Derek was the first to arrive at the front door. He reached for the keys from his pocket and unlocked it. We all bundled inside, leaving a trail of dirt behind us on the white floors. Shadow shook his giant mane, spraying the pale walls with mud.
My immediate concern was the impending sunshine. Thankfully, the house had come furnished and blinds lined the windows.
Once we’d closed the blinds, it was clear that everyone was itching for some rest, or in a certain couple’s case, privacy. It had been a long, stressful night.
“Is there a basement here, Sofia?” Eli asked me politely, Shadow trailing along behind him.
“Um… let’s take a look.” We found the door to a large basement located in the washing room. We descended the steps and Eli looked around, nodding.
“This looks like a good place for Shadow to rest for now, out of everyone’s way.”
Shadow padded over to a corner and nestled down. Then I took Eli upstairs to find him a bedroom that hadn’t already been snagged by the others. It turned out that he had to share with Landis. The two couples had already locked themselves up and Vivienne must have already retreated into a room by herself.
I wished Eli and Landis goodnight before heading off to find Derek. He wasn’t in the master bedroom that had been left for us to share. I went down the stairs and into the living room, but only saw Gavin lying on the sofa.
Then voices came from the kitchen. Derek stood leaning against the kitchen counter, in conversation with a tall dark-haired man I immediately recognized as Ibrahim.
As soon as Derek saw me enter, he said, “Ibrahim, I hear what you’re saying. But let’s please discuss all this in a few hours once we’ve had some rest. The bedrooms are all taken but if you want to stay here, there’s plenty of comfortable sofa space in the living room.”
Ibrahim nodded and gave me a brief smile before leaving the room.
“How come he’s here all of a sudden?” I asked.
“Sofia,” Derek said sleepily, “let’s talk about it in a few hours. We both need to get some rest.” Without waiting for my response, he picked me up and whisked me to our bedroom.
We undressed and tucked ourselves under the freshly starched sheets. A suspicious noise was starting to emanate from the direction of Claudia and Yuri’s room. I cuddled up next to Derek and muttered, “Well, this sure isn’t the housewarming party I would have expected.”