The Virgins - Complete Boxed Set

Epilogue

C

assie

Maddox

and I were curled up in bed watching actors, not on a stage, but somehow recorded and placed on the screen in our chambers. The story we watched was about a brave young man who’d been orphaned and rose to the highest ranks of elite warriors on Everis, falling in love with a beautiful marked mate along the way.

It was exhilarating, a mix of adventure and romance and Maddox pointed out the scenery and explained to me what I was seeing. His world. Everis. The sky was a beautiful pale hue that shifted from purple to blue; according to Maddox, the color shifted with the temperature or the season. The trees were huge, much like I imagined the giant redwoods of California I’d heard about. I couldn’t wait to see his world with my own eyes.

Beep-beep-beep.

Maddox sighed and rose from our bed to answer the communication coming through to the ship. We hadn’t heard from the other hunters since Maddox had told them about Neron.

“Maddox.”

“By the Divine, Maddox. I have a problem.”

“Thorn?” Maddox frowned and I sat up, pulling the sheet over my breasts to cover my nakedness. Thorn did not sound like himself. I’d only heard him once or twice, but he’d been so calm and controlled. Now, he sounded frazzled, frantic.

“Yes. I have to abandon my hunt.”

“Why? Are you injured? Do you need assistance?”

Thorn sighed, the sound long and tortured. “Not with this. My mark, Mad. I can’t believe it, but…”

Maddox’s frown changed to a knowing grin and I tilted my head, puzzled by his amusement at his friend’s obvious upset. “Let me guess? Your mark is on fire and you’ve been dreaming about a tall, beautiful woman with hair the color of dark red berries and brown eyes.”

Thorn cursed. “Yes. How did you know? Have you seen her? Where is she?”

Now I was smiling, too. Elizabeth. Maddox was talking about the woman we’d rescued from Neron, the woman who knew what she was, what Maddox had been. Alien.

Maddox grinned. “Her name is Elizabeth. She took my horse and rode east from the cabin where I confronted Neron. That’s all I can tell you, my friend.”

“Why can’t I find her? It’s as if she knows I’m coming.”

Laughing now, I couldn’t resist teasing the fierce warrior. “That’s because she does. She knows what she is, Thorn. She knows about the marks.”

“And wants nothing to do with you,” Maddox added.

“She’s my mate! If she knows about the marks, if hers truly has awakened, then she should be running to me, not away.”

“Neron didn’t exactly give her a good first impression of Everian males.”

“She can’t compare me to Neron. He was a psychopath. Fuck!” Thorn’s curse made us both grin.

“She’s denying the truth,” Maddox added.

“She can deny all she wants,” Thorn grumbled. “But she’s mine.”

I recognized the same possessive tone that Maddox used when he spoke of me.

“So, she’s hiding from me?” Thorn sounded forlorn and frustrated. I was quickly learning marked men of Everis were irrational until they claimed their mate. Maddox had been and Thorn certainly had the same signs.

I laughed. “I’m sorry, Thorn,” I said, sympathizing. I hadn’t made it easy for Maddox, either. “But, yes. She must be running from you. That would be my guess.”

Maddox couldn’t resist adding one more caution. “She took off on that horse with Neron’s ion blaster. Not only is she hiding, she’s armed.”

“My marked mate is armed and running from me,” Thorn growled. “When I find her, which do you think she'll want to do first? Fuck me or shoot me?”