Sunset Beach Condos

An ill-placed comment. An observation gone awry and a misplaced suggestion seemed to have ended what hopes he had for the future. What was that American phrase: Everything had gone up in smoke. All because he had misread a scenario and acted hastily. But regardless of the rhyme or rhythm of things, what's done is done.

The penthouse was on the market, his company closed, and all business passed to a local entrepreneur. The plane ticket that was sitting on the passenger seat in the rental car - his car had been sold to a dealership for barely the bluebook price - had him departing at midnight. With three hours to kill until he could escape this wicked place, he headed to the beach for a short stroll. For International flights he liked to check in about two hours ahead of boarding, plus drive time, he had about half an hour to walk.

He wasn't hungry. He wasn't thirsty. He hadn't been either of those things in days. He hadn't slept since it happened. He had tried desperately to take it back. He had groveled. He had cried. He had crushed his phone in his bare hand and had thrown it into a garbage bin when he received the text message that had dashed his whole purpose for making the trip.

He had avoided the more populated parts of the beach - the parts with the desert and food trucks and far away from the stretch that would go anywhere near the businesses that boarded the sand. He wanted to be alone. Actually, he wanted to talk to his sister, the one person who would listen and understand him.

The waves crashed violently before running up with reaching fingers as if trying to be the wave that went the furthest onto shore. He stayed away from the waves, not wanting to get his shoes wet. Wearing wet shoes on a plane would be torturous. But maybe torture was what he deserved. As he watched the waves he thought about Red - a man he had only seen once from a distance but could never forget. That's who had ultimately won the girl, after all. Magic vs nature vs sheer will - he just hadn't been enough.


The half hour crawled by as if each tick of his watch felt like an empty lifetime. He kept checking and checking the minute hand and eventually it indicated the time he had set for himself to leave. “ "Time to say goodbye.
Paesi che non ho mai
Veduto e vissuto con te
Adesso, sì, li vivrò
Con te partirò
Su navi per mari
Che, io lo so
No, no, non esistono più
It's time to say goodbye."
He said to the water as he turned away to head to his car.

Vivienne stood by the rental car, her slim silhouette framed by the dim light of the beach parking lot. She had not called ahead nor had she texted.

She had simply known, the way only she could know when it came to Fitzpatrick. His sorrow had pulled at her across the miles, across the walls she sometimes tried to build between them. She felt it like a knife in her own chest.

Her arms were crossed loosely over her pale blue cashmere sweater, and the breeze toyed with the hem of her white skirt. She looked soft against the hard world he was trying to leave behind.

As he approached, she pushed off the car with a fluid grace, her heels clicking once against the pavement before she stilled. No judgment. Just that unbearable understanding in her blue eyes, luminous even in the low light.

“You look like hell,” she said quietly, voice laced with affection and an ache she could not hide. She stepped closer, close enough that the salt in his clothes, the exhaustion in his very soul, seemed to rise up and sting her eyes.

Vivienne reached out and flattened her hand against his chest, right over his heart. Her touch was warm. Steady. Irrevocable.

“You’re not alone, Fitz,” she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. “Not ever. Not while I breathe.”

The plane ticket glinted under the streetlight through the car window, a silent witness to his intentions. Vivienne’s gaze flicked toward it, then back to him, and her hand fisted lightly in the fabric of his jacket.

“You don’t have to go,” she said, so softly it was almost a plea. “Or if you do… I’m going with you.”

She smiled then, a sad, stubborn smile that was all Vivienne. “You don’t get to disappear without me, frère. Not this time.”

Her hand stayed against his heart, steady even as the waves crashed violently behind them. She’d been soft up to this point. Normally, she was more playful and demanding. Finally, a glimpse of her usual personality came out, “I say we stay, and we burn this place to the ground. Nobody fucks with an Allhallow and walks away unscathed.”

He smelled her expensive fragrance in the air as she approached. No doubt she was the favorite of some new designer out of Paris - that always seemed to be her MO in recent decades.

He heard her then. The familiar clack of high heels on pavement. He wasn't able to grin or even snort, the pain in his chest would not allow such a thing, but he was able to think, 'Only Vivi would wear heels to the beach.'

Her hand touched him then. Just her hand on his heart. He felt the family bond grow stronger with the physical closeness. He felt the pain lessen one tenth of what it had been. His eyes left the violent waves as he focused on his favorite sister. In a voice hoarse and nearly drowned out by the wind he said, "I knew you'd come. When I broke, I felt the tether pull for you."

He didn't embrace her, that wasn't their way; her hand was enough. He let her take in his unkept appearance and bloodshot eyes. He let her observe and make what she would regarding his wayward self. She had seen the ticket, she knew of his intended flight and she cautioned him against it, suggesting they behave like they did in their youth and take revenge rather than responsibility.

He placed one of his hands upon hers that still rested over his heart. "My dear sister, nobody fucked with an Allhallows. I behaved impulsively and I ended up breaking my own heart." He knew she would want the story, who wouldn't; the freshest. juiciest gossip.

"I found my mate, Vivi. The one I have been bound to since birth. But, when I found her, she had already been involved, in love - it was a complicated situation - for something like three hundred years. I tried to rush her heart. I tried to claim too quickly. It backfired and I've been rejected."

He gripped her hand tightly and let his dark eyes meet her blues, "Just get me through this, Vivi. Don't let me die."

She had been sitting in a secluded spot on the beach for hours, trying to calm her aching heart. Though it was to no avail. On the rare occasion that a beach goer passed by, they didn't even notice her where she sat. She made herself small by curling her knees close to her chest, arms wrapped around them, and her head down. Facing the deep blue ocean as her mind wondered. Or she tried to shut off, which was failing miserably. She could only think of one person, the reason her head and heart were in turmoil. The reason she was hurting. When she received the text that shattered her soul, she broke down. He just released her of her commitments of their mate bond. She hadn't been thinking straight and impulsively returned the rejection, but it wasn't truly what she had wanted. She just assumed he wanted his freedom again or that she wasn't enough for him. Maybe there was someone else? Her mind thought, still trying to process it all.

She had just told him she loved him a few days prior. Though she had been nervous when she said the words, she meant them with her whole heart. She doesn't say those words lightly or if she hadn't meant them. As she watched the waves crash against the shore, she thought about what else it could have been. It hurt thinking about him, but she could only think about him. Fitzpatrick. She thought as her eyes watered and her chest started aching again. Not that it ever did stop since the first message. "What went wrong? Can we fix this before it's too late?" She whispered into the wind to herself.

She knew that there was a misunderstanding between them and that she wasn't the best with letting someone see her true emotions. But, she was ready to let him completely in. She was just about to show him something special that she had created just for them. She had loved two men for centuries, but when he showed up. It changed her life. She felt whole and could choose again. She chose him the day she went to the beach the first night they met. Though she went about everything wrong that night because Red and Jasper did mean so much to her. They always would. She would always love her ex lovers, both for different reasons. But, it wasn't romantic with either of them anymore. Familiarity it was with the two. She was in love with her mate, Fitzpatrick.

She sat there in the sand a while longer reminiscing after the rejections. She remembered he did try to take back what he messaged her. He even broke down. She wanted to hold him when she saw that and take it all back, but she was being stubborn and didn't want to show defeat. She technically did retract every word on her part, but hadn't actually told him. She felt their bond fully and the pain of the first message that was sent still lingered because it was in the air. Like a thin line that would easily break them if it wasn't fixed. Though a part of her was also scared he would do it again if she let him back in, so she emotionally made an impulsive decision that hurt both of them at that time. It still had hurt them. She had been searching for him, even messaged him, but hadn't seen or heard a word from him. She wanted to make it right. She hoped she could. To show him, he was who she wanted. Who she needed. Who she loves.

As she saw that it was getting late, she stood up and dusted herself off. She started walking towards the place they had met the first night. She thought maybe it would give her something she had been looking for. Which was him, Fitzpatrick Allhallows. She trudged along the firm sand that was damp from the waves as they crashed against her bare feet. It wasn't heavily populated and was quiet. Calming in a way. She happened to look from the water and along the shoreline. As her gaze reached up ahead in the distance, she saw something that made her stop in her tracks. Or someone. Two someones more accurately. She saw two people standing closely together, but one was very familiar. Someone she should know everything about and still wanted to. "Hallows." She mumbled to herself as she looked at the couple from the distance, not sure how she should proceed. Though, both her heart and brain yearned to go to him.

Vivienne felt the shift in the air before she even saw Sadie. That old, thrumming pull between her brother and the girl who had wrecked him soured on her tongue like something spoiled. Her hand, still pressed to Fitzpatrick’s chest, tensed sharply.

Without glancing away from him, she spoke, her voice low and edged with frost. “She’s here.”

The words tasted bitter. She felt Sadie’s regret, her longing, her tears carried on the salt-thick breeze. Too little. Too late. Vivienne had stood in the wreckage Sadie left behind. She saw the shattered pieces of the man who stood before her now, bleeding inside out. And now, Sadie thought she could just show up? Fuck that girl!

Still, Vivienne turned her head slowly, like a cat scenting something foul. Her sharp blue gaze found the girl standing frozen down the shoreline, small and pathetic in the moonlight. Her lip curled slightly in disdain.

“Well, frère,” Vivienne murmured, withdrawing her hand from his chest with a coolness that could have frozen the waves themselves. “It seems the little heartbreaker has decided to haunt you after all.”

She stepped aside, not to make room — no, never that — but to make it unmistakably clear she would not stand between him and whatever ruin he wanted to walk back into. Her heels clicked once against the pavement as she pivoted, arms folding tightly across her chest.

Still, she leaned in as he hesitated, her voice a low, cutting whisper against his ear. “Go, then,” she said. “Go throw yourself at the feet of the girl who ripped you apart. Maybe she will be more merciful with your soul than she was with your heart.”

She didn’t touch him again. Didn’t encourage. She simply stood back by the car, cold and watchful, her expression unreadable. Her heart burned with loyalty to him, and with a fury she could not — would not — forgive.

If Sadie hurt him again, Vivienne swore silently as she watched her across the darkened shore, there would be no forgiveness. No second chances. Not from her.

Fitzpatrick stood resolute in his place. His sister’s hand kept him grounded as he held onto it like it was a lifeline. He thought it was funny that Vivienne would want to stay here, in this pitiful town, when they could go anywhere in the world, allowing him to escape the nightmare his life had become. “You want to stay here? Really?” Staying might be too excruciating for him. To choose to stay in a place where your life fell completely apart seems more masochistic than he was capable of. He looked into his sister’s eyes, “Wouldn’t you rather go home? Or show me Paris? I can meet your hundreds of boyfriends and play wingman for you.” He wanted to convince Vivi that leaving Sunset was the wisest, more appealing option, but then a voice on the wind reached them and he felt her tense against him.

Fitzpatrick had heard Sadie’s imagined voice in the wind a thousand times since he had crushed his phone. He had turned to answer it a few dozen times before he realized it had just been wishful thinking. It wasn’t until Vivi actually said that Sadie was there that he turned his head to look for himself. He knew her outline in the darkness against the water. Once he was convinced it was Sadie, he looked away, his heart hammering in his chest like an out-of-control jackhammer.

Vivi was livid. He felt her passion and rage like a destroying angel ready to reign all of heaven down upon the earth. Her hand left his chest, and she stepped aside. Fitzpatrick turned to follow her departure from his side. He reached out and caught Vivi’s hand. “Go to her? The last she said to me as I begged for forgiveness was that she would never – and she was quite firm on the never – take me back. She proclaimed she was already healing from her breaking her part of the bond and that she would move on.” Anguish colored his words. Pain too deep to put words to bubble out of his gut with the admission, giving them a touch of poison that seemed to weaken him further. He needed his sister. Needed her strength and her support.

She stood there in the sand, staring at the couple that was a short distance away. She didn't know who the female was, nor did she care. She could feel the disdain and judgment coming from the girl. But, her focus was on the man who shattered her soul with one text, and that led to more impulsiveness on her end. She instantly regretted her decision after she said the words. She even retracted them. Yet, she couldn't get ahold of him. She received his letter from the bar earlier that day and had searched for him again. She ended up on the beach, re-reading his letter and hoping to find him before he was gone.

Her gaze never left him as she saw the woman walk away, and he looked like he was broken. Utterly defeated. Making her heart ache in her chest more than it already was. That's your fault, Sadie. At least part of it. She chastised herself as she slowly started to walk to him. As she stood in front of him, tears fell from her eyes. "Where have you been? I have been searching for you for days now. Texting, calling, and actually physically looking for you." She spoke gently but firmly as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I..." She couldn't finish as a sob escaped her.

She took a deep breath, trying to settle her frazzled nerves and hoping she could fix this horrible mistake before it was too late. She inhaled deeply one last time and looked into his dark eyes. "I hope you will listen to what I have to say face to face. Not over texts or letters, but genuine talk. We both said some hurtful words, and both of us are tortured. Please give me a chance?" She begged from the heart and hoped he could see that she sincerely wanted to fix the situation. He didn't owe her anything since he begged to make it right in the beginning, though she was stubborn and to was hurting then. Just as she was now. She hoped he would allow her to tell him that she retracted everything and could show him how much she wanted him. Her eyes were puffy and red from all the crying, but if he looked deeper, he would she her sincerity and how much she loved him. Her hands itched to touch him, hold him, but she kept them by her side. Though she just wanted to be in his arms, she waited to see if he would say anything. She hoped he did.

Vivienne watched the girl approach, each cautious step like nails dragging across her already fraying temper. She stood rigid beside the car, arms folded across her chest, her eyes as cold as the moonlight that slicked the beach.

She heard the sob before she even saw the tears, and it did not move her. It hardened her.

Vivienne’s gaze narrowed as Sadie spilled her pleas, her tremulous little heartbreak-song meant for Fitzpatrick’s ears alone. Words like searching and hurt and tortured floated in the air between them, desperate and heavy with regret. Vivienne scoffed quietly under her breath, a sound sharp enough to cut glass.

Oh, now she wanted to talk. Now she wanted to mend what she had so carelessly shattered.

Her fingers curled against her arms as she fought the urge to storm over and rip the girl’s pathetic excuses right out of her throat. Sadie might have seen the defeat in Fitzpatrick’s posture, but Vivienne saw something else. She saw the raw, open wound he had barely managed to stand upright with, the life leaking out of him day after day while that girl played her tragic little games.

Vivienne could feel his anguish vibrating through the very marrow of her bones. He was trying to stay strong, trying not to crumble right there in the sand.

Her lips parted, but for once she did not speak. She did not trust herself. If she unleashed what was clawing at her chest, she might scorch the entire beach and everyone on it.

Instead, she pinned Sadie with a look so razor-edged it could have drawn blood. A silent promise, as fierce as any curse ever woven.

One wrong word. One wrong tear. Break him again, and you will answer to me.

Vivienne shifted her gaze to Fitzpatrick, her Fitz, and in that look was all the steel, all the fire, all the ruthless devotion he had left in this world.

Whatever he chose, she would not stop him, but she would never forgive Sadie for putting him in a position where he had to choose at all. And if the girl failed him again, even once, Vivienne would not stand by the car next time.

She would burn the whole world down.

Vivi moved away, leaning against the car as he stood in the sand. He was a breath away from breaking. A moment away from losing himself into a despair that would consume months if not years of his life before he could function normally again. He wasn’t looking forward to the despair, but it would claim him, regardless of what he wanted. He breathed in deeply, the salty air, heavy and burning.

He knew Vivi was close – watching, judging, and waiting for him to fall apart of give in. She would judge him, he knew that, and he deserved her judgement. She was his sister. The one would have to pick up the pieces where he drops them for the family, for the business, for Kent. She would become the face until he recovered, if he ever recovered. The dragon within him couldn’t even raise his head, how was the man still standing?

Sadie drew close, and Fitzpatrick was forced to look at the ground. If he saw her, he would break even more. He had shed so many tears in the past several days that there was no more left, his body was dehydrated to the point where there was not enough water in his body to create them. She claimed to have been trying to reach him by phone and on foot. “My phone is gone, broken. And I have been sleeping in my office as I cleaned it out.” There was nothing to his voice. Once bold and vigorous, was now of a man’s who had no spirit.

When she begged him to listen, he closed his eyes and put up one of his hands. “I heard you already, Sadie. You said never and I heard you.” He wavered on his feet. He didn’t know if his soul was about to leave his body or if he was about to pass from five days of not eating, drinking, or sleeping. Whatever the reason, he was not long for this world. He had planned on being unconscious on the plane so he wouldn’t start screaming from the pain. But maybe he would die right here. It would be easy to dispose of him here. Maybe not as easy as home. At home, they would just lay down in the march and let nature take care of the body. Here, the ocean would do quite the same. “You want a chance? To do what? I am done for, Sadie. Let me go home and face my fate.” Fitzpatrick lifted a shaking hand to point at his sister, “This is my favorite sister, Vivienne Fitzgerald Allhallows. You were always so scared to meet my family. Well, there is the one who is the closest to me. She will wear the crown in my absence.” His quivering hand left Vivi and pointed to Sadie. “Vivi, this is…” he swallowed hard and corrected himself, “was, my mate, Sadie Kaida Reign.”

When she heard him explain about his phone and where he had been sleeping, her heart dropped lower than it already had been. She listened to him and noticed he wasn't the same man that she had met the first night. The man she met was bold, spirited, and full of life. The one in front her was a shell of a man, and the tone of his voice was monotone. All she could do was nod that she understood. Her body was running on fumes, so she dug deep down to get the energy to fight for him.

She looked down when she heard him say I heard you, as a tear slid down her face and dropped into the sand. She shook her head as she raised her face to meet his. "I fucked up. When you sent the initial rejection to me through text, it broke me. Shattered me. I truly didn't see it coming." She took a deep breath trying to stop the flow of her tears that she was surprised she still had. She wasn't one to show her emotions often and usually had her guard up. At the moment, she let them all down and showed her true vulnerability. She spoke softly and straight from the heart, "I was impulsive and highly emotional when I spoke to you. You were begging and trying to fix it, but I wasn't truly ready to hear what you had to say. I was rash when I accepted your rejection and when i said never to you." She took a moment as her eyes closed, raised her head to the sky and inhaled deeply. Trying to relieve some of the pain in her chest. She opened her eyes and stared straight at him before she spoke again. "I retracted everything that I said. It was not fair to you for the way I didn't listen. I still don't know why you released me to begin with. I was blinded by my anger and pain that I lashed out. I had too much pride to show any vulnerability that... I said things I never meant. Since I met you, I have felt whole and complete. Which scares the shit out of me in the best way. I was scared if I let you back in that you would do it again."

She spoke genuinely with full emotion that she barely could contain the sobs. She could see he was barely standing, much like herself. She listened to him say to let him face his fate then introduce the woman leaning against the car. Sadie barely glanced at Vivienne because her focus was on the man that was hurting as much as she was trying to hold hers in. When he introduced her to Vivienne, the was comment made her hang her head and almost lose her will right there in the sand. She choked on a sob as fresh tears slid down her face. "I love you, Fitzpatrick. More than you know. More than I have been able to show you in the short period of time. I'm sorry for not giving you a chance to explain or take it back. I want you more than anything. I need you. You are the other half of my soul. If there is any chance. Any hope. Please, lets fix this." She spoke clearly with her head hung low.

She soon thought about how she had been trying to reach him and he didn't fully know she took back everything. Nor had she spoke the words out loud. She raised her head and looked at him. "I, Sadie Reign retract the acceptance of release and rejection issued from Fitzpatrick Allhallows from the commitment their mate bond. To which I, Sadie Reign accepts Fitzpatrick Allhallows' rejection of my release for him of the mate bond we share. Hopefully forming our broken bond back to where it was destined to be. Making us whole."

As she spoke the words out loud for the first time, she felt a sharp sensation shot through her heart. She clutched her chest as her knees buckled against the sand from the impact of her taking back her rejection and accepting his. She looked back up at him, "I caused you too much pain. I will bear the consequences of the rest. You can keep the release you first issued that started all of our pain. Or you can take it back. And we try to work on this. Work on us. I know what and who I want. And that's you, Fitzpatrick Darsey Allhallows." She looked at him with love, determination, and all the hope in the world. She knew it could go either way, but she was giving him all of her. In front of his favorite sister.

Vivienne stood as still as stone, every muscle in her body rigid as Sadie spoke. She heard every word, every desperate, tear-stained plea, every trembling admission of guilt, every confession poured out like blood on the sand.

She did not care.

Not enough. Not yet. Not after what this girl had done.

Her sapphire gaze, sharp and unblinking, locked on Sadie like a blade finding its target. She watched the girl stumble, clutch her chest, fall to her knees in the sand like some tragic heroine begging for mercy. Vivienne did not move to help her. She did not soften. She simply stared, letting Sadie feel the weight of her judgment pressing down like a hand around her throat.

Her brother, her beautiful, brilliant, broken brother, stood swaying on his feet like a tree battered by a thousand storms. Vivi saw it. She felt it. And it made her want to tear the night itself apart.

When Sadie finally finished her impassioned speech, Vivienne pushed off the car in a slow, deliberate motion, her heels crunching against the pavement like the ticking of a clock counting down. Her arms unfolded with a lazy grace that somehow made her look even more dangerous.

She stopped a few paces behind Fitzpatrick, close enough for him to feel her there, a solid wall at his back.

Her voice, when it came, was velvet wrapped around steel. Quiet. Deadly. Color=blue]“Well.” [/color]She dragged the word out, tasting it like poison on her tongue. “What a pretty little speech.”

Vivienne tilted her head, her hair catching the faint light, a cruel smile ghosting over her lips. “So many beautiful words, chère petite. But words are cheap, aren’t they? Easy to spill when the damage is already done. When my brother, MY BROTHER, is standing there half a breath from collapsing because you shattered him.”

She took a step closer, her voice dropping even lower, a silk-covered dagger. “You want to fix it? You want another chance? Then you will crawl through every shard you broke and bleed for him the way he bled for you.”

Vivienne’s hand, cold and sure, landed lightly on Fitzpatrick’s shoulder, steadying him without a word of permission needed. Her other hand gestured vaguely toward Sadie, a dismissive mother be like brushing away an annoying insect.

“If you ever, ever do this to him again…” She smiled, all teeth now, all bright vicious promise. “There will be no speeches. No second chances. I will come for you, Sadie Kaida Reign. And I will not come kindly.”

Then, softer, for Fitzpatrick alone, her voice slipped into something fierce and protective and agonizingly tender.

“Choose, frère. Whatever you choose, I am with you. Always.”

She squeezed his shoulder once, her blue eyes blazing with a devotion that no bond could break, and waited for him to speak. Ready to destroy or defend. Ready to follow him into hell itself if that was what he asked.

Fitzpatrick listened to Sadie’s explanation. She still maintained she didn’t understand why he had offered get freedom from the mate bond in the first place. He squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated on staying upright as he tried to explain his stance and the reason he offered the release. Before he could start his explanation, Vivi and her tongue of razor blades, needed to have her say. Vivi was a formidable opponent and a bad enemy to have. Fitzpatrick understood her emotions and would have been just as vicious if the roles were reversed. He gave her the room and time to speak, staying silent, cutting her off would only cause more problems. Fitzpatrick was amazed that Vivi’s words seemed to encourage him to get back together with Sadie. He thought she would have gone down the path of, ‘Stay away from my brother.’ not ‘If you ever do this again…’ While she raged at Sadie, it gave him time to think. With his sister encouraging the bond to be rebuilt he had to rethink his position.

When it was his turn to talk is voice was dead, like the life was but leached out of him every second he stood there. “Sadie. We haven’t spent that much time together, but what I have learned about you is that you have a history of having your choices taken away from you. Your parents being murdered and leaving you alone. A potion being given to you to force a magical mate bond. A bond that lasted centuries and was only broken because I came along and broke it, immediately looping you into yet another situation that you didn’t choose.” He was losing the little bit of stamina he had fast. His eyes were closing, and he was trying desperately to hold on to consciousness.

“I was sitting in my office in the middle of negotiations over a business and the owner was holding on tight. He kept saying a phrase that got me thinking. He kept saying, ‘When you take away every option but yours, it makes a guy feel painted into a corner.’” Fitzpatrick hoped his sister was listening to his words as he explained how he started this whole mess. He knew she was savagely protective of him, and she had in the past and would again spill blood to avenge him. “That phrase just reminded me of you, Sadie. You have never had the chance to choose. That was all I was trying to give you. Also, you didn’t seem to know anything about mate bonds, and I didn’t know if you knew there was a way out, if that was what you wanted. So, I made the offer to release you. Looking back, I should have added some content around it, but it wasn’t me rejecting you. It was an opportunity to inform you that you had the power to choose.”

He turned, his reddened eyes resting on Vivi as he addressed her directly now. “My dearest sister, I have made my choice, and I need you to hear me out.” He wasn’t ignoring Sadie, he just directed his words towards his sister first, pleading with her to understand his position. “Vivi, I need an heir. If I don’t have at least one child Daniel’s moronic offspring will inherit the title and I have tried to groom all of them, but they are all…they think it is funny to eat glue and throw animal feces at each other. They are not fit to rule. If you had a prospect and might have a child, it could be different. Your offspring would be suitable. But our breed is rare. Sadie is my natural mate, which means she was born to birth my children. Together, she and I would create the next generation of Allhallows and provide me with an heir to groom so I can step down from a role I have held for far too long.” He needed her to understand. He reiterated the most important part of that, “I need an heir, Vivi. A dragon heir.”

He turned to Sadie and offered her his quivering hand. “I, Fitzpatrick Darsey Allhallows, accept the retraction from Sadie Reign, and reform the bond that was broken by misunderstanding and emotions.” His hand glowed with a golden light that looked like the softest candlelight. “Then choice is yours now, Sadie. Choose to be mated or let me leave with my sister to heal.”