“Mera, you’re not supposed to run off like that,” he admonished, removing his glare from me to glare a touch less at her. “Sticking us with stringing up the lights was not a good distraction, but luckily, I knew you didn’t leave the room.”

She poked out her tongue, hip-checking him gently. Their relationship was so easy and caring, and I had no idea how she’d achieved that with the being who was basically as reticent and cold as Shadow had been. But that was Mera’s way. To tame the angry soul. A way I did not possess, but that was okay. I made up for my lack of people skills with exceptional blade skill, and I had no doubts of which was more important.

Only one would protect my family when the time arose. And it would arise… There was always something evil lurking in the wings. That was just how our worlds worked.

“Angel, come on,” Mera called, dragging me right into the midst of her winter wonderland.

She’d gone all out for the library’s first Christmas, the tree dominating the space, while underneath it was stacked with what seemed like hundreds of wrapped gifts. She’d been in the room of need for days choosing the exact right gifts for us all, and maybe it was her child-like excitement, but I found myself with swirls of anticipation in my stomach. An emotion that I’d thought I could no longer feel.

Rebirth might have taken from me, but it had also given so much back.

Shadow’s energy entered the library then as he stepped back from the realm. He would have to go there more and more as he helped to rebalance a world that had spent centuries under the rule and control of evil beings. It would take years to repair the damage, but they were heading in the right direction.

Despite Mera’s complaints before, her head snapped toward the direction of her mate as soon as his power was felt. When he appeared, her face lit up, and they came together in a way that was hard to watch. Not because I wasn’t happy for them, but because their pure love was the same sort of love my parents had shared.

A love I knew nothing of, and doubted after this many years, I would ever know.

“You weren’t long,” Mera said, after he kissed her senseless, and she dragged him toward the tree.

“And yet somehow you found the time to completely redecorate the library,” Shadow said dryly.

Mera lifted an eyebrow at him, her warning expression. “You don’t like it?”

Shadow’s lips twitched. “It’s perfect, Sunshine.”

Mera paused then, her little nose twitching as she started to sniff before she turned suspicious eyes on her mate. “Hand it over,” she snapped, and this time, Shadow actually fucking laughed.