I lay my head on his solid shoulder briefly. Dad said the same thing last week too. He’s just nervous about having me move so far away. “I know. But don’t worry. Declan’s going to be wonderful.”
When we reach the deck, I see Declan standing at the altar. He takes my breath away, stunning in his black tuxedo.
Ivy starts “Here comes the Bride.”
I take my first step toward Declan—to our shared future.
Chapter Sixty-Four
Declan
–two years later
I stand in the living room and stare out at the rising sun. I asked Yuna to come join me, but she told me she wanted to snooze for five more minutes.
The Pacific at dawn is gorgeous. And the sun ascending in the sky is stunning, all that pale light piercing the dark blue vault of heaven.
Something moves rapidly through the gold, orange and purple clouds. I squint. It’s faster than any bird and moves with an odd serpentine motion…
Then I see something even weirder. It’s coming straight for me!
Shit.
I freeze, unable to run. I put my arms up in front of my face in a defensive gesture. But the window doesn’t shatter. Instead, something soft and cuddly bumps into me.
I open my eyes and see a small pearlescent white dragon looking up at me, its wide, dark eyes intelligent and bright. I hug it out of reflex.
“Hi,” I say.
The dragon blinks. Damn, it’s cute!
It puffs a breath and flaps its wings a couple of times. Then its gaze catches something beyond my shoulder. Yuna’s coming down the steps to join me, still in her nightgown.
The dragon wriggles out of my hands and lunges toward Yuna with a loud cry. I don’t try to stop it because I can sense that it isn’t going to hurt her.
Before I can see Yuna’s reaction, another dragon bumps into my chest and squeals. It’s pink, and it flutters its eyes sweetly.
“You are simply too cute,” I say.
The dragon grins, showing me little fangs. Then it leaps out of my arms and flies to Yuna, who laughs.
“What are we going to name them?” she asks.
“I don’t know.” I don’t want to pick just any two names.
“Oh, oh, I have the best ones!” She snaps her fingers. “We should—”
My phone alarm goes off, making it impossible for me to hear what she’s saying.
“What?
” I ask.
She starts to say it again, but then my damn alarm goes off again. Argh!
“Declan, wake up.” Yuna’s voice penetrates my senses.
“No, wait, you have to tell me…” I mumble, my eyes still closed.