We stayed in Austin’s room for the rest of the afternoon, moving from the bed only to shower and then return. Most of the time, we just lay there in silence, wrapped up in a bundle like we were hiding from a blizzard or something.

In a way, I guessed we were.

We’d agreed that it simply wasn’t practical to experience the “normal” grieving process, and that when we emerged from the room, then it had to be game faces on. Austin had an entire species of magical beings to co-manage, my bio-mom—who was starting to look decidedly evil—to track down, and a sect of rogue necromancers to deal with.

Me? I just had to get my magic back, create an army of newly minted supernatural beings, and then, oh yeah, save the freaking world.

So that might explain why we lingered as long as we did.

Eventually, though, the sounds of the guys arriving home filtered up to us, and we knew it was time to leave our nest.

“Hey,” I said in a quiet voice as I entered the kitchen and found Caleb helping Vali prepare dinner. Both of them looked up sharply at the sound of my voice, looking like they’d just spotted a unicorn in the wild. I could tell neither of them wanted to move or speak in case they startled me back to not talking. Or worse, being a psychotic bitch.

“Okay, I can clearly tell by the looks on your faces that I haven’t been the easiest to deal with lately,” I joked, or... tried to. It fell a bit flat, and I sighed. “Look, I just wanted to apologize. I don’t mean to shut you all out. I’m just...”

“We get it, regina,” Vali said, filling what could have turned into a seriously awkward silence. “You’re just dealing with things your way.”

Caleb put down the knife he’d been chopping vegetables with and came to wrap me in a tight, but quick, hug. “Nothing to apologise for, Kitty Kat. We’re all hurting; we just have different ways of handling it.”

Their understanding was almost too much for me to swallow. It would have been easier if they had gotten mad at me and thrown things, but that really was more my style than theirs.

“Well, anyway. I’ll try to tone down the bitchy,” I assured them, sliding onto a bar stool and peering at what they were preparing. “Looks good. What are we having?”

“Burritos,” Vali responded, throwing me a wink as he stirred the aromatic meat in his frying pan. “I love Mexican food.”

“Huh.” I cocked my head, watching him cook. “I don’t think I knew that before.”

Caleb looked past me and gave a little head nod, which told me Austin had just joined us. Sure enough, seconds later he slid onto the bar stool beside me and lay a casual hand on my leg. Like it was no big thing. Like I hadn’t been refusing everyone’s touch for a week or like he used to do affectionate things like that...

Whatever. It gave me warm fuzzies inside, even despite my little glass house of emotions being securely padlocked closed again. So I allowed it.

“Where are Cole and River?” I asked, and it was Caleb who answered me.

“Last I saw, they were out back working on the gun range.” He jerked his head to the backyard where light was rapidly falling. “They should be back in soon though. Power hasn’t been connected out there yet.”

“They’ll probably use Cole’s fire for a bit until River gets annoyed with the shadows or something,” Vali chuckled, and I cracked a small smile at that image. He glanced over at me, then put down his spoon to grab a glass out of the cupboard.

“Here,” he murmured, pouring me a small glass of red wine. “I know you’re not really a wine drinker, but I just got a shipment in from one of my wineries in Romania. Maybe you can see what you think?”

Vali owned wineries in Romania? Fuck, I really didn’t know him well at all.

“Thanks,” I said quietly, picking up the glass and smelling the wine. It smelled fruity and sweet, but when I took a sip, it was pleasantly tart. “Um, I like it,” I told him, and he beamed. “It tastes like... uh... wine.” I cringed when I heard what I’d just said. Clearly I had a long ass way to go before I became any kind of wine connoisseur. The guys all laughed though, so I shrugged and left it at that.

Cole and River came back inside just as Caleb and Vali were transporting all the food to the enormous round table. They both gave me cautious greetings but relaxed noticeably when they saw I wasn’t being a nutcase. I had to hand it to them all; if I had been bad enough that even Cole was cautious around me, I was amazed no one had lost their shit sooner.

It was as I pulled out a seat to sit at the table that my phone rang. At first I didn’t even register that it was my phone—seeing as I’d owned it for all of a week and wasn’t used to the ring tone—but Cole picked it up from where I’d left it on the kitchen bench and handed it to me.

The screen said it was Jonathan video calling—which was a little odd, given we weren’t really video-chat kind of people—but I answered anyway.

“Hey, Jonathan.” I smiled as the screen brought up the little box with my face and the bigger one with his. “Can I call you back? We’re just about to have dinner.”

“Uh, no. Sorry, kiddo,” he replied, his smile tight and sad. “Unfortunately that won’t be possible.” He glanced away from the screen, and his image bounced like he was walking briskly... or running.

“Jonathan? What’s going on?” A sick feeling pooled in my gut as the image showed him looking over his shoulder, then ducking into a room, which I recognized as his office in Omega.

“Kiddo, I know you’re going through a really tough time at the moment with Wesley gone, and I’m afraid it’s only going to get worse before it gets better.” He placed the phone down on his desk, presumably in the little fox phone holder I had bought him for his birthday a few years ago. At least that was what the angle suggested.

He started typing on his computer while I processed what he’d said. “What do you mean it’s getting worse? What haven’t you told me?”

Glancing back at the camera, he gave a regretful sigh, but his fingers continued to fly at a million miles an hour across his keyboard. “I’m wiping all the evidence of what Omega has been doing. You don’t need our data anyway, not to do what needs to be done. This information is just too dangerous in the wrong hands.”

“What? Jonathan, I’m not following. Are you in trouble there? I can be there in a few minutes if you need me; Caleb can portal me there.” I wasn’t totally sure what the hell was going on, but he seemed frazzled.

“No, no, absolutely not,” he exclaimed, shaking his head at the camera. “I’m probably just being paranoid is all. Old age will do that to a person. Look, I just wanted to give you a quick call to tell you that I have total faith in your abilities. You will win this fight, kiddo. Never stop believing that you will, okay?”

“Jonathan,” I croaked. “It sounds like you’re saying goodbye to me. Why would you be saying goodbye?” Was he planning on going somewhere? Leaving me now when things were getting desperate? Where would he be going?

“Never goodbye, kiddo,” he whispered, hitting one final button on his computer, then giving me his full attention. “Never goodbye. Just... make sure those boys take damn good care of you, and don’t ever forget how much I loved you.”

“What? No!” I snapped my gaze to Caleb. “Omega HQ, Jonathan’s office. Something’s wrong.”

“Kit, no!” Jonathan bellowed down the phone at me. “Do not come here!”

It was too late though. Caleb was already gone, taking Cole and River with him and leaving me behind, that motherfucker!

“Jonathan, something is wrong. Please just tell me!” I was sobbing now, clutching my phone in my hands like I could climb through the screen based on sheer will alone.

He leaned in closer to the camera, giving me a smile. “You’re needed for bigger and better things, hon. This is one battle you’ll have to fight another day, when you’re stronger.” He paused then while I sniffled and tears obscured my vision. “I never told you how we really came to Suzette’s that night. I have a lot of regrets in this long life of mine, kiddo, but none more so than how long it took me to find you. If I had just found you a few years earlier, before Suzette... before Gray. I can never apologize enough for everything you went through at that bastard’s hands, hon. Not a day goes by that I don’t curse myself for not finding you sooner.” He sucked in a shuddering breath, then smiled sadly. “You look so much like her, you know.”

“Who?” I asked bitterly. “Bridget? That bitch that took my magic away? I could be there with you right now. Whatever you think is about to happen, I could stop it!”

He shook his head, glancing offscreen like he’d heard something. “No, not her. Your grandmother, Tasha. You have her heart, kiddo. She would have been so proud of the woman you’ve become, but to me you’ll always be that spunky little girl who cracked my safe at age thirteen. I love you, kiddo.”

“What?” my exclamation was cut short by the distinctive, sickening sound of a gunshot.

On my screen, Jonathan’s head snapped back, and his phone must have been jostled out of the little holder because the next thing I saw was the ceiling fan rotating slowly above his desk. What made me physically ill, though, were the red flecks of blood across the screen.

Dropping my phone to the floor, I dashed over to the kitchen sink and dry heaved for a moment until I heard the one sound worse than that gunshot.

“Oh Foxy,” Simon’s voice sang down the phone, and my blood ran cold. “I know you’re there. Caller ID says the call is still connected. Hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to end call now. But I do hope you saw me shoot your dad in the head.” I was still at the sink, frozen. I couldn’t move to pick up my phone, and I sure as shit didn’t want to see whatever the video might be displaying.

“Let’s catch up soon, Foxy Girl.” Simon chuckled. “Life doesn’t seem nearly painful enough for you yet.” There was a muffled sound, like he was picking the phone up, and just before he disconnected the call, I heard him say, “Search everything; Boss wants those files.”

The little chime of the call ending rang out through the silent house, and my knees turned to jelly. I crashed to the kitchen floor and began sobbing. First Wesley, now Jonathan? No... surely this was some cruel joke.

“Go; I’ve got this,” Vali murmured in a quiet voice, but my distraught brain didn’t compute what he was saying until the air pressure shifted with the distinctive shift of portal magic. Austin must have gone to join the guys. And left me behind again.

I wanted to yell and scream, demand that they come back and take me to Omega, but I couldn’t even move. My body had stopped obeying any commands I gave it.

Instead, I just lay there on the cold kitchen floor, crying more tears than the human body should ever be able to produce. All the while, Vali sat with me, stroking my hair and murmuring to me in Romanian.