(1 year earlier)

Two whole years passed us by. Nobody had really found out about the details of my relationship with Lee. However, Kat, in her patient stares and silent observation of me, I had to give a little. So, I told her a bit of the truth.

That Lee and I both confessed our feelings to each other.

And she seemed to accept it just fine, telling me that she was rooting for us.

I used Ashena’s spray every day, as she’d written to, and Lee did the same, telling me in the first week that he felt like he felt ‘oh so pretty and cute’ doing that spritz, like a model acting in a commercial or something. I’d laughed so hard when he’d said that, before grudgingly admitting that he was already pretty and cute all on his own.

When our bottles ran out every so often, more magically appeared. A new bottle on the desk in the morning next to the old one. It all became routine. I didn’t see Lee all the time, nor did we manage to send letters every day. The days we couldn’t, we called. Sometimes it was late at night and we were both tired from the day.

But it was calm.

Peaceful.

Happy.

And, no matter if we didn’t talk all day, we always said goodnight to one another.

No, not aloud.

Not over text or call.

After that day, we discovered something, rather quickly.

We could talk, telepathically.

It was a bit of a shock at first, neither of us were twins, but when Lee looked into it, he found that there were old stories about those descended from one of the original five leaders, the original alphas, that is. If two were a fated pair, both descended from one of those alphas, they were said to develop telepathic communication.

Nobody knew why.

Most people took those stories as just that – stories. They thought it was all tall tales, written down for entertainment.

But, despite there being five original alphas, in reality, excluding the Norcell line, there weren’t all too many descendants of the other four.

Only three Blackstone, including myself.

About ten from Evergence.

Twenty from Willowhill.

And, about twenty-five from Salttand – Kat and her father being two of them.

It was nice that we could use it to communicate with one another, but we both decided it was better to not rely on it so much.

Occasionally, I’d hear a whisper of ‘I miss you’ in my mind, of his voice. And other times, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from telling him ‘I love you’ out of the blue, whenever I thought of him.

And now, now that he’d left with his family for the trip last week, I had to face everyone alone at the reunion.

I sighed, thinking back as I stared out the window of the room I had at the cabin, thinking back…

He was leaving.

Now.

Lee smiled at me and tugged on my hand.

Can I…

I nodded, wrapping my arms around him in a tight hug. His parents were here, so I understood his hesitation. We were going to wait until he got back from the trip to tell everyone.

Just another year.

That was it.

And then we could do this without hesitation, we could have a goodbye kiss. No more hiding, no more huge secrets.

I’d shifted and ran over without telling my parents, just leaving a small note on the table that I’d be back in an hour – writing the time I left too. I was wearing some of his clothes, standing here, hugging him.

Everything surrounding me smelled like him.

It was a comfort.

I squeezed my eyes shut, afraid to let him go.

Tears were starting to come into my eyes as I finally did. He looked into my eyes, his crinkling a bit at the corner, his brow furrowed.

“Don’t cry,” he whispered. “I’ll be back.”

He reached up to caress my cheek, his hand sliding down my face to my chin. His thumb brushed over my bottom lip. His hand dropped, just before his parents called out to him.

He hefted his bags up and gave me a smile before he turned away and started to follow them. He turned, just before climbing into their camper, to give me a small wave.

I waved back.

As the door closed and they disappeared into the distance, the tires kicking up dust as they went, the tears started to fall down my face.

Alpha Blakeley put a hand on my shoulder as we stood there, for several more minutes. She’d been the one to give me permission to come over, last-minute as it was, not asking questions, not pressing the topic.

I appreciated it.

“They’ll be alright.”

I looked up at her.

I’d noticed how she’d hugged Lee’s father tightly before they left. She’d whispered something to him and he had nodded before replying to her. I wasn’t sure what they said, but they parted with wistful smiles.

Now, I could see a sort of deep sadness and pain in her gaze as she looked to where they’d disappeared to.

Despite them not being related by blood, they’d formed a strong sibling bond, somewhere along the line, I guessed. They’d both been captured twins, imprisoned together, but I didn’t know any of the specific details. They’d likely had to look out for each other for so long, that it was hard to watch the other leave.

Were her words for me?

Or were they for us both?

I nodded absentmindedly.

“Yeah. They’ll come back safe.”

I said those words for me.

Lee, you better come back.

I miss you already.

His voice was in my mind instantly as he replied.

I miss you too, Jane. Oh so much…

I nodded at nothing, at him, me… everything.

Sighing, I turned away and headed home.

Kat came into the room, tilting her head as she looked at me. I watched her reflection on the glass as she came closer.

“Come on, I know you miss him, but don’t hole yourself up in here, okay?”

I nodded.

Okay.

She held out her hand to me and I took it without hesitation. She pulled me up out of the chair and led me back out of the room, taking me through the hallways and to the table, piled high with food.

It smelled good.

We all chatted and ate, but there was a growing ache in my chest as I looked around at everyone. I plastered a smile on my face and laughed with everyone else at Henry’s exaggerated stories, and Briar nonchalantly mentioning how Anya almost burnt the house down again. Anya defended her actions, saying that it was normal for people who could control fire – that it was just ‘a daily hazard’.

I caught Cian’s gaze once, him seeming to be the only person to notice that something was wrong with me. He looked away, not saying anything.

Part of me wondered how much he knew.

Had he seen something with Lee and I together?

If so, it felt right to thank him, silently, because how would anyone be able to put that into words? ‘Thanks for keeping it a secret, but if you didn’t know, now you do’?

I nodded to myself and ate what food I could.

One year, I told myself, one year.

He would be back, and we would be together again.