“Anna? Anna!” I race ahead faster now. Two seconds later I hear her call to me.

“Kai! It’s all right. I’m at the canyon!”

Christ Almighty, I’m about to have a heart attack. I’ve never run so fast. She sounds okay, but I have to see her for myself. I burst through the trees into a sudden open space and halt at the sight of a massive spirit, bright white. I nearly fall back, but Anna rushes to me.

“It’s okay,” she says, wrapping her arms around my heaving chest. I hold her, never taking my eyes off the exquisite spirit. It’s not Belial. It’s not a demon at all. Nor is it a warrior angel.

As Anna tugs me forward, I feel stranger and stranger the closer I get to it. This spirit doesn’t fill me with a sense of threat like the warrior angels from the summit. In fact, it’s as if this spirit has purified all the dark feelings from my soul, and I’m left only with love and happiness within.

The spirit watches me closely as Anna brings me to stand before it, and I’m astonished by the overpowering sense of peace that blankets me. Anna squeezes my hand and stops short at the cliff’s edge, never letting me go. She looks up at me. “Kaidan . . . this is my mother, Mariantha.”

My face snaps back to the angel, who levitates over the empty space with a contented smile. I have no words. Just . . . wow. Anna’s mother.

I lower my head and say, “It’s an honor to meet you.”

“It is I who am honored to meet the soul who loves my daughter more than any other.”

I am too full. Her words, the emotion she’s emitting, it all makes me want to inexplicably weep. I keep my head down and swallow.

“You have embraced life and the truth, Kaidan Rowe, and are now reaping the blessing.”

Yes. I raise my eyes to her and nod, then swallow again, overly grateful. I’m feeling like a boy next door, all wholesome and shit—er—stuff. I drop my eyes again.

“I must go,” Mariantha says. “Guard your love, for it will lead you through the darkness.”

I nod again and stand there stunned beyond belief as she and Anna say their good-byes. Then her mother’s spirit stretches its wide wings and flies away.

I search all around us, but nothing else is in sight. I take Anna’s hand and we race back down the path, eager to get out of the open. But I don’t feel any fear. The exalted feeling still swirls around inside me, making me want to laugh with unfathomable joy. Anna feels it, too, because a smile is on her lips as we run.

“What did she say to you?” I ask Anna when the cabin is in sight.

“That they’re celebrating our marriage in heaven!” She laughs, and I shake my head at this astounding turn of events.

We burst through the cabin doors and I shut the door, locking it. Then I take Anna’s face in both my hands and walk her over to the wall where I can hold her in place. I’m finally coming down from the adrenaline rush of fear.

“You scared me to death,” I tell her. “Don’t ever leave me like that again.”

“I’m so sorry. You were sound asleep, and I saw her . . . I know it was dumb, but she was like . . .”

I think of her mother’s bright, welcoming form. “A beacon?”

“Yes.” She takes my wrists, rubbing them to soothe me.

“Were they really celebrating us? Up there?”

Her smile is luminous. “They really were.”

Unbelievable. I try to imagine it, that the souls in heaven know us—not just Anna, but me, as well—and they’re cheering for us. I want to ask why they would celebrate us but never give us the chance to be there with them, to join them in heaven, when we leave this place.

Anna breaks my desolate train of thought by crushing her lips to mine, and I react on instinct, pressing her back against the wall and dropping my hands to her body. I remember how I felt when I awoke, before I knew she was gone, and that need returns with a vengeance.

“Let’s not sleep tonight,” Anna says.

Oh, woman, you’re speaking my language. “I’m going to let you make all the rules in this marriage, Anna.”

“Good boy.”

I laugh and grasp her around the waist. She looks down and gasps.

“You’re bleeding!”

I glance at the scrapes and cuts along my feet, ankles, and legs from where I ran in the darkness. Most of the blood is already dry.

“I’m fine. Nearly healed already.” But she frowns, and I know she wants to nurse me. I kiss her pouting lips and tighten my hands around her waist.

When I lift her, she wraps her legs around me and I carry her to an oversized chair. I fall back onto it and give her bum a good slap, making her scream. “Hey!”

I hush her complaint with another kiss, and pull her hips down against mine until she lets her head fall back and sinks into my lap perfectly.

It’s still our wedding night. She’s all mine until the sun rises and it’s time to release her back into the world. Until then, let the celebration continue.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Unexpected

“Miles away I can still feel you,

Lay your head down on my embrace.”

—“When You Can’t Sleep at Night” by Of Mice & Men

When I get off the plane in L.A., there are two messages waiting for me from a hospital in Atlanta. I nearly lose my mind until I hear the words “Richard Rowe. . . .” I hail a cab as I ring the number and get transferred to the doctor on duty.