Ending ELE (ELE Series) (26 page)

I
look down and slowly remove the lid to the tiny box. Inside sits the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen... I mean, that I’ve ever seen in real life. I look deep into Tony’s eyes—love is overflowing from the both of us.

Tony clears his throat.
“Willow Mosby...” Just the way he says my name makes my heart get caught in my throat. “You mean everything to me; you’re my whole world. My life begins and ends with you. After my parents died, I never thought I could love again, never thought I could be normal... until you came along. You turned my world upside down and taught me what it is to be a man. You showed me how to live and that love can happen, even in the darkest of times. I need you like I need air.” He squeezes my hand in his. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

Tears spring to my eyes
as I try to find humor enough to say, “I already told you my answer.”

He laughs a nervous laugh.

I look down at the ring and back up at Tony.
I love this man in front of me all the way to the core of my being. I need to give him a real answer. A tear slips down my cheek as my heart soars. I purse my lips to keep from crying and nod my head. “Yes.” My voice catches as I repeat my well-thought-out answer.

A huge smile
spreads across his face and all the nervousness he was experiencing is now gone in an instant. He wastes no time taking the ring from the box and gliding it on my finger. As if he’d had it sized just for me, it fits perfectly. The other half of the ring lies in the box, the part I will receive when we say our vows.
I’m engaged
, I say over and over again in my mind.

“
We’re engaged,”
he corrects me with a proud smile. Then he adds out loud, “This ring belonged to my mom. I brought their rings back here... after they died.” This time his voice catches. “I suppose you already knew that?”

I nod my head as m
y eyes well with tears. That fact makes the significance of this gift all the more meaningful. I hold my hand up in the light and admire the stunning ring. It’s platinum, set with a beautiful, princess-cut sapphire surrounded by six intricately cut diamonds.

I am immediately lost in Tony
’s arms, clinging to the man I deeply love. I don’t want to let him go. I don’t want to return to our reality. I know what awaits us. I can sit here and grieve about our loss of innocence, or I can enjoy this memory in the making.

My hand starts shaking and Tony pulls me tightly to him. He pets my hair with his hand in a soothing gesture.
“Don’t think about it, Willow. Not today. Today is ours—not theirs. We won’t let them take away this moment,” he whispers into my ear.

“
I know,” I tell him. I pull back from him. “Did you ask my dad?” I remember how Tony had asked to speak to my father before we left.

He nods his head.
“Yeah, what do you think took me so long to catch back up with you? I got the usual interrogation but in the end, he gladly gave me his permission.”

I grab ahold of his hand and
, using Morgan’s gift, I’m drawn back to the moment he asked my dad.

A tear falls from my father
’s eye as he tells Tony, “You make my daughter happy and I know that she makes you happy. A love like yours only comes around once. While I still think of her as my baby girl, I know that circumstances have made the two of you grow up much faster than you should have. I appreciate you asking my permission first.” My dad takes a deep breath before finishing. “I give you permission to marry my one and only daughter so long as she’ll have you.”

Tony exhales the breath he
’d been holding. “Thank you, Mr. Mosby.” His voice is thick with emotion.

My dad pulls him into a tight hug.
“Call me Dad.”

Tony
’s eyes water and he does his best to blink away the tears.

I pull out of the memory and smile at Tony.
“That’s amazing,” I tell him.

“
I know,” he says, before pulling me into another noteworthy kiss.

***

Tony and I spend the day passing time. We spent a few hours putting the house back together, turning back over upturned furniture, sweeping leaves and whatnot out of the house, and fixing the hinges on the door. All these little things made it seem more homey, but the looming dread of what was to inevitably come was always in the back of our minds.

Every chance I
had to look at the ring, I did. I just couldn’t get over its beauty and the fact that it was on the ring finger of my left hand. When Tony was screwing in the hinges for the door, I was staring at it. When I had my hands on the broom, I was staring at it. I’m pretty sure Tony has noticed but he hasn’t said anything. I still catch him smiling like an eight-year-old at a birthday party out of the corner of my eyes.

When the house is pretty much put back together
, we both collapse on the couch. Tony fed the fire a few more logs and the crackling of the fire makes me want to just sink into Tony and relax… Well, as much as one could while knowing they’re being hunted.

I guess part of me feels relief knowing that there are people out there around the perimeter of the house watching over us.
I still can’t help feeling unsettled though.

Tony takes my left hand into his just as an ember crackles in the fire.
“It really does look lovely on your hand.” He runs his thumb over the sapphire.

I look up at him
and give him a sheepish smile. “I know,” I say goofily.

He lets out a small chuckle at my confidence.
He leans down next to my ear and whispers, “I can’t wait until the other part is on there too.”

He means the wedding band.
A pleasant shiver runs up and down my arms. “Me neither,” I whisper back, lost in thought about what married life will be like. In my mind, I envision children playing in a spacious yard while Tony and I watch from rocking chairs on a wraparound porch.

“
I wonder what life will be like,” I say. “Like, if we will have children and live in a house with a white picket fence…” I say, lost in thought.

I feel a smile tug at Tony
’s lips from atop my head. “I want to have two children,” he says in reply. “One boy and one girl. We’ll name them Ashton and Annabeth.”

I look back up at him after zoning in on my ring for the billionth time that day.
“And how long have you had those names picked out?” I ask playfully. I never thought about having children… much less what their names would be if I did.

“
Awhile,” he says cryptically. “I want them to have your hair and smile. They’ll be the most beautiful kids in the world.”

I lean my head back and look back up at Tony.
“I want them to have your personality and skin.”

He gives me a little laugh.
“My skin?” he questions.

“
Yes! I love the tone of your skin. It’s the perfect color—like you’ve been kissed by the sun.”

He rubs the side of my arm that
’s wrapped around him and grins, pulling me closer.

Just
then, a gunshot sounds off in the distance, pulling Tony and me out of our lovesick trance. Tony pulls me down to the floor, protecting me from the what-ifs. He reaches under the sofa and pulls out two guns he had stashed there earlier while we were cleaning, handing one to me. I make sure the safety is on and stash it in my waistband. Tony rises up just enough to see out of the window without being detected.

“
What do you see?” I ask impatiently. He looks out for a few moments before joining me back onto the floor.

“
Nothing, that’s what scares me the most.” He looks at me with his hazel eyes.

“
It’s Blake,” I say in an exhale.

“
How do you know?” Then the realization hits him as he looks into my eyes. “They turned on the device,” he whispers.

I let out a shaky breath. Our deal wa
s that they would turn on the device when Blake and his men were in range. This means they are in range. I feel vulnerable as the realization dawns on me that we won’t be utilizing our abilities on possibly the most important fight of our lives. The only thing that is comforting is the fact that they won’t have a leg up on us either.

Another gunshot sounds off in the distance and I instinctively cringe.
I hate that sound even more knowing I can’t heal the instant one of us gets shot.

I bite off a scream when a smoke bomb crashes through the window and starts filling the room.

Tony grabs my hand. “We stay together,” he says quickly, while squeezing my hand.

“
Got it,” I say in reply. I don’t plan on going anywhere without Tony. I hold onto the back of his shirt as we crawl through the smoke towards the back door.

A peppering of gunshots spray through the window behind us
. Tony opens the door in just enough time for us to dive out of it.

He grabs the back of my shirt and lifts me to my feet. I
catch a glimpse of his neon eyes as we begin running towards the cover of the trees.

“
Our powers are working. They must have turned off the machine,”
I tell Tony as we make ourselves invisible.

“
I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,”
he tells me.

We take cover behind the base of a large evergreen and watch the cabin. Men dressed in black from head to toe circle around the
perimeter, firing shots into the cabin.

“
Didn’t I warn those idiotic guns for hire that I’d slit their throats if they damaged the package?” a familiar voice says from behind me.

My blood runs arctic cold as I place
the voice and his annoying habit of turning everything into a question. I barely notice the sound of rapid gunfire and fighting behind us at the cabin. I turn to look at the hunter who thinks I’m nothing more than a lab rat. “Blake,” I say through my teeth.

Tony instinctively moves his body in front of mine as a shield to protect me from the gun that Blake is pointing in my direction.
“You should go ahead and surrender now, Blake.” Tony spits on the ground in front of Blake’s shoe.

Blake looks at it with disgust.
“And why would I do that? Do I not have your house surrounded?” His eyes widen with surprise a moment later. He shines his flashlight up into Tony’s eyes. “Now, now, isn’t this interesting?” He clucks his tongue. “Looks like someone’s been sharing her blood, hasn’t she?” He looks at me like I’m nothing more than a filthy prostitute.

“
I can do whatever I want, you overrated, worthless piece of crap that tries to pass himself off as a human,” I retort, realizing how childlike that just sounded but happy to have him think that I gave Tony my blood. Rather that, than him wonder how Tony got his multiple gifts. I smile at him and feel a little smug when his face contorts with rage. That’s why what happens next knocks me from my feet. Literally. I’m knocked off my feet when a bullet slams into my shoulder, just to the left of the bulletproof vest.

“
Bastard!” Tony yells as he whips the gun from Blake’s hand using his telekinesis and throws Blake against a tree. He drops to the ground beside me in the next second. His hand is on my shoulder, trying to stop the blood and heal me at the same time.

It hurts so
bad.
I didn’t expect the excruciating fire and pure, raw ache that your body feels when metal is pounded through your flesh and muscles at unstoppable speeds. I feel woozy and blackness is closing in on my vision. I blink it away when I see three of Blake’s men running in our direction. I focus my powers, weak as they are, on one of them. I lift him up from the ground and with a flick of the wrist I throw him into another man. Both of them go flying backwards a sprawl of arms and legs as they hit the trunk of a tree.

Tony pulls both of his hands up, one red with my blood. He sends the other man flying backwards.

I look down at my shoulder. It’s still gushing blood. The pain has lessened enough to keep me from passing out but it still remains unbearably intense. I try to focus my own healing abilities while Tony tries to stop Blake’s oncoming attack. My brain is too foggy and my heart is beating so hard I can feel it in my ears and in my temples.

I watch as Tony lifts Blake in the air but Blake falls to the ground a millisecond later. Tony lifts his hand as if to pick Blake back up but nothing happens.

The pain is increasing in my shoulder and I cry out in pain. Our powers are turned off.

“
No!” Tony yells. “Not yet! Turn the machine off!” He looks down at my tortured expression.

Over Tony
’s shoulder, I barely make out Blake getting up and grabbing the gun. I know I should call out and warn Tony but everything is foggy and my throat is closing up on me.

Tony turns around just in time for the two of us to watch Blake get pummeled by his son. Alec jumps on top of him and begins punching him over and over again. I can see the snow turning dark around Blake
’s head... Or is that the world turning dark...