Sun Catch Her (Book 1: Three Rivers Deep series) COMPLETE

Chapter Fifty-Two

Am I dead?

My eyes were closed. I swayed precariously on my feet, but still...I had to be dead to be tasting this.

My eyelids fluttered to give me a brief glimpse of light. So, not dead then. I drew in a breath of the aroma that surrounded me. But if not dead, then what?

I hadn't opened my eyes yet. When I finally did, I expected to be standing next to my mother. Maybe I was eight again. Maybe this was a dream? Perhaps...perhaps the last ten years were nothing but a figment of my imagination, a glitch in my brain's circuitry from being struck in the head by lightning?

That's right, the coma. Was I waking from the coma?

Daylight, I identified with a grimace, opening my eyes, and then squinting. I was outside, not at the hospital. I was staring down at my toes. They were dirty. I could feel the cold in them as they curled on the edge of a rock. There was water down below, churning, rushing, rippling. Something twisted in my heart. Mom isn't here. I...I really don't understand.

The aroma wafting through my open mouth and nose was so much like her, and yet, it was not really the same at all. This taste, it was nothing like her... Because this is something new?

Something newly realized, wild, and exhilarating. I swallowed and discovered I was filled with the fragrance, every pore exuding it. My saliva, my sweat, my breath, the sweetness was coming from my core. I exhaled a long breath, took it back in, and shook my head in disbelief.

My hand slid to my stomach, and then I remembered their two powers had come together inside of me.

No, I was not dead. In fact, I was more alive than ever. And I was in love. Heart hammering, I breathed in again, relishing the sensations wafting through me. My spectral soul and my physical soul had opened their eyes and spread their wings wide, fully aware, and now I understood. For how could I not acknowledge the whole truth, now that I was tasting it? This brave new understanding that was beyond being in heat, beyond the she-devvi crazed drive to reproduce. Just feelings, pure and unadulterated.

Lightning and Rain. Their power in my middle blended into one. It was perfect. They were perfect, together, in me. My two males and my two souls. I understood I was in love with them both, my one soul drawn inexorably to Micah, and the other to Alex.

I swayed on my feet, resisting the pull of the earth. The brightly lit air that surrounded me was warm, draining the cold from my toes. There was the disjointed realization again of the water below, swishing, rolling, bubbling-inviting. The river, I realized. I was standing over the river, and I had never felt more beautiful. I wasn't the abomination I had been made out to be in many people's minds. I. Am. Beautiful. In this very moment, in this dualistic love.

Letting a sweet breath of it roll out over my tongue, my bottom lip trembled. It had been ten years since I tasted anything close to this, and I'd never been this happy. My arms came up to my chest, hugging the happiness to me. I contemplated my position above the river, and the thought occurred to me that I could simply step off. I could give myself to the water below. I could take this beautiful happiness with me and hold onto it forever.

I took a step forward...

Two arms wrapped my waist from behind. My eyes shut at the familiar body pressing to my back. I could give myself over to the river...or, option two, I could stick around a little longer. My eyes reopened. Stay to see what became of this life, of having two soulmates.

"Micah?"

"I am here, little one."

I leaned back into him, fully accepting my second choice. "This light I'm seeing..." I lifted my chin. Like windswept curtains struck through by a shaft of sunlight, the light billowed out between Micah's arms where he held me. "This is my aura?"