Dentelle (45 page)

“You were
a beautiful bridesmaid.”
His voice was rich.

“You
looked pretty hot, yourself, in that tux, Mr. Walker,”
I said with a wink.

“
Do you
miss being able to talk to everyone? In your mind, I mean?”
he asked
suddenly, popping a salmonberry into his mouth.

“No!”
I said firmly.
“Do you miss Madison
intruding on your thoughts?”

He sputtered.
“Not in a million years.”

“Well, I
feel the same way,”
I assured him.

The full moon had arrived a week before, and not
surprisingly, my links with Jason, Ash, Madison, and Dakota had remained
intact. But Max, in all his brilliance, had come up with an idea. An idea so
simple, I could have kicked myself for not thinking of it sooner. His
suggestion was that Ash, Madison, or Dakota should try linking with someone else
and just see if it worked and broke their link with me. Madison had been
cynical, saying there was no chance that would work and there was no way to try
it right then because there was no one extra to link with. Max explained that
he thought she and Ash should try linking with each other.

Laughing, she’d opposed that idea big time.
Crossing her arms, she’d stomped a foot and said, “Besides, if for some one in
a million chance that works, I would be stuck with Kurzon. And that would so
not work.”

Ash had simply smiled and said, “Madison, while
I’m no angel, I’m certainly not a demon like this Kurzon character was. But I
can promise you this. If we are able to link, you’ll be in for the ride of your
life. I promise adventure, adrenaline rushes, and a whole lot of passion.”

 
She’d
hemmed and hawed for quite a while and then had finally said in her customary
derisive tone, “Whatever. I’ll try it to make Max happy. It’s not like it’s
going to work anyways.”

But it did. And they were linked, and I was free
of both of them. And Jason, Ash, and I were all ecstatic. And Madison had
thrown a fit. That is until Ash had grabbed her by the waist, pulled her into
his arms, and kissed her into silence. We then contacted Dakota in Montana, and
she’d been able to link with someone there.

And it had all been that simple.

“Hey,”
I said, throwing a salmonberry at Jason.
“Are
you going to tell me this secret now, or what? You promised. And I’ve been
patient long enough.”

“Tell you
what secret?”
he said playfully.

“You know
what!”
I shoved him hard, and he fell flat on his back.
“We were in the warehouse, and you were
about to say something more about your Flair. I think your exact words were,
‘But it’s so much better than that. You aren’t going to believe it.’ But you’ve
been holding out, saying you wanted to wait and be sure, and I’m done waiting.
In fact, if you don’t spill it, I’m shifting into a mountain lion and leaving
you here. You’ll never catch me.”

The smile on his face was brighter than ever. He
sat up, twisted sideways, and linked hands with me.
“I will tell you. But first, I want you to remind me of all the Flairs
you have.”

I moaned.
“That’s
stupid. You already know what they are.”

“Humor
me.”

“Fine,”
I said, forcing a reluctant smile to my face.
“Well, since Madison, of all people, was right, I still have all of
them: invisibility, telekinesis, tracking, shapeshifting, and of course, my
original defensive Flair.”

“Yes. And
which Flair do I have?”

“Jason!”

“Just
answer the darn question you impatient, stubborn, beautiful woman,”
he said
with a chuckle.

“You have
the defensive Flair, too. So what?”

He was laughing and shaking his head.
“But I don’t.”

“What do
you mean you don’t
,” I asked totally confused.

“Alex, I have
all five of the same Flairs you do.”

“What?” I said aloud, sitting straight up. “Are
you kidding me right now?” I shouted over the roaring waterfall.

“No!”

I slapped my hand against my mouth. There was no
way. It was so loud, I reverted back to telepathy
. “Have you known this all along?”
He nodded
. “Why didn’t you say something?”

He ran his hand down my arm.
“I wanted to be sure it would stay that way.
And I didn’t know what would happen when the full moon came and went again.”

I was still in shock.
“Everyone’s gonna freak out when they hear about this.”

“No,”
he said, squeezing my arm.
“I don’t think
we should tell anyone, except maybe our closest friends. And not even them
until we have to.”

“Why?”

“Call it
instinct. I don’t know. But I guarantee the Council, and every other living
Guardian, will go crazy if they know the two of us are that powerful together.”

Realizing I’d been holding my breath, I let it
out in one big swoop. This was a lot to take in, but what he said about the
Council was so true.
“You’re probably
right. They were already a little freaked we shared the defensive Flair. Why? I
don’t know. I guess we are kind of a power couple, aren’t we?”

He laughed
and nodded. “Do you know what else this means?”
His eyes were brilliant and
intense.

I shrugged.
“Not
really…what?”

“Alex, you
and I are Flairmates.”

Flairmates. I racked my brain. Had I heard that
term before?

He wrapped his arms around me. Then he stared
straight into my soul.
“You and I have
exactly the same Flairs. Do you know how rare it is for two linked partners to
acquire the same Flair upon linking?”
I shook my head slowly.
“Very, very rare. And when they do, it’s a
sign they are destined to be together for all eternity. They are meant for each
other. Innocents like to use the word soulmates. That’s what we are, Alex.
We’re soulmates and Flairmates.”

My mouth fell open.

“We fell
in love, yes. But more than that, we fell in love with our one true mate. Just
as Orcas belong in the sea, waterfalls belong in the mountains, and the moon
belongs in the sky – you belong with me.”

Before I could respond, he shifted closer to my
body and kissed me tenderly. I parted my lips, and he deepened the kiss,
exploring my mouth with passion and unbridled need. He tasted of honeysuckle
and salmonberries, and I devoured him. Gripping the back of his neck, I pulled
him down. And we kissed and we kissed and we kissed.

After some time, I don’t know how long, he broke
away. I moaned in frustration; I didn’t want his lips to ever leave mine again.
Not ever. But he smiled dreamily and drew me to my feet. Then he did the
unexpected and dropped to one knee. Lovingly, he gazed into my eyes with those
stunning aqua-marine eyes of his and said loudly, “Alexandria Anna Adams, will
you marry me?”

My heart fluttered and stopped. I was so shocked
and so surprised but so happy. “Yes. Yes, I will marry you.” All smiles, he
nodded and then rummaged through the picnic basket. Once he found what he was
looking for, he stood up and tenderly placed a marquis cut diamond ring with
amethyst side stones onto my left ring finger. It was a perfect fit.

We kissed again, and then a couple minutes later
he said,
“Do you want to go
skinny-dipping now?”
Earlier I’d turned him down in favor of a quick plunge
in swimsuits.

“You’re so
bad,”
I said, breaking into laughter.

“Oh, but
it’ll be so good. And so fun. Come on. Live dangerously. We’re engaged after
all.”

“How can I
refuse my fiancé
?”

“Race you
in.”

“You’re
on,”
I said. And we laughed all the way until we plunged into the ice cold
water, and then we laughed even louder.

####

Dear reader,

Thank you for reading the Guardian series. I
hope you enjoyed my urban fantasy/paranormal trilogy and the cast of characters
as much as I enjoyed creating and writing about them. While I’m elated to have
finished this third book,
Dentelle
,
I’m also sad to have arrived at the end of another exciting adventure. For a
bit, I’ll take a break from writing and devote some much needed time to my
family. But who knows what the future holds…there may be more journeys for
Lexi, Jason, and the Bellingham Circle. (It really bothers me that Neo is still
out there hunting Amethysts)! By the way, did you happen to google Bois
Dentelle? If not, you should!

 
If you
have a moment, I’d love it if you left feedback as well as recommend this
trilogy to friends. My hope is to always keep the first book,
Amethyst
, free for all to read.

If you have questions or comments for me, I’d
love to respond, so please visit my blog at
http://www.amethystatheatherbowhay.blogspot.com/

Sincerely,

Heather Bowhay

ABOUT THE
AUTHOR

Heather Bowhay lives in Bellingham, Washington
with her husband, Dan, their two children, Dawson and Laci, and their three
cats, Lyon, Maci, and Tyger. She graduated from Western with her teaching
certificate and has found that substitute teaching gives her the best balance:
time for family, exercising, cooking, reading, writing, and of course time to
guest teach in several different classrooms, promoting a fun learning
environment but without the lesson planning.
Amethyst
is her first novel in the Guardian series, followed by
Linked
, and then
Dentelle
; they are all available in eBook format.