I adjusted my glasses as I watched Zeke looking out the kitchen door. He was spying again. I understood the urge, but Lexie had said she wanted to do this alone. I didn’t like it myself, but it was her choice.

“Zeke, stop watching,” I said, still managing to keep my voice calm.

Everyone was on edge, waiting for Lexie to finish talking to Rory. Lexie breaking down had bothered everyone. She had such a big personality that you never really noticed how small she was. Not until she starts crying. Then you remember that she’s breakable.

I looked down at the counter and focused on tapping out a staccato rhythm. It helped, barely. I needed to be the calm one.

Zeke was still watching.

“Zeke,” I bit out, not asking this time.

Zeke ran a hand through his hair and stepped away from the door.

“She’s fucking crying again,” Zeke growled as he walked further into the kitchen and leaned against the cabinets, his face troubled.

“She’s going to cry for a while. We killed a soul, and she felt that soul die,” I said, my own voice growing colder. I needed to be the calm one, the rational one. “That’s going to take time to heal, for all of us.” I took a deep calming breath and let it out. “She’s going to need time. The guilt might not go away, but eventually, it will become bearable. For all of us.”

I looked over at Asher. He was leaning against the cabinets on the wall closest to the hallway. His eyes were unfocused. I sighed. I couldn’t really stop him from listening in. He couldn’t help it.

“She keeps saying ‘I’,” Asher announced. Asher's eyes focused before he looked around the room.

“She’s saying ‘I killed her’, ‘I destroyed her’.” He shook his head, his face blank.

“She thinks that since it’s her area of talent, it’s her responsibility,” I tried to explain. “That she somehow should have known what to do. She’s taking all the guilt onto her.”

“She’s not the one who lit the fucking match,” Ethan said, his voice was hard as he leaned in front of the sink.

Heart heavy, I tried to get through to them again.

“She’s going to try and take all the blame, and we can’t let her.”

Everyone looked at me. Good, now they were listening.

I continued.

“We have to make her realize she wasn’t alone in this mistake, that we did this, too.” The guys all nodded at this, all of their faces were haunted. “We also have to convince her that with the knowledge we had at the time, we didn’t see another choice. It was a mistake. We didn’t go out there to kill Mary Summers’ soul. We went out there to protect Lexie.” The guys nodded again. “We tell her it was an honest, horrible mistake that we all made.”

Everyone agreed.

Asher’s eyes were on the floor again.

“She’s telling him about the Veil now,” Asher told us. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“What the hell are we supposed to do about the Veil?” Ethan grumbled.

Everyone was silent for a while.

“We help her any way we can,” I told them honestly. “We’re there for her when she needs us.” I nodded at my own words, already making a list. “I’ll hire someone to start digging into Necromancy and anything to do with the Veil. Anything about controlling the dead.” I didn’t know if it would work, but I had resources, and I’d use everything I had so I never have to watch Lexie break down like that again. “Heck, I’ll hire a team if I have too.”

Isaac was nodding. “I’ll design her a training program like we talked about last night. It’ll keep her mind off things. Plus, self-defense for someone her size is never a bad thing to have.” He lifted his head and looked around the group. “You guys willing to help her train?”

Everyone nodded.

“She’s already scheduled three climbing lessons a week for the next three months,” Asher said to the room. “She really liked climbing.”

Ethan looked around at us, with a strange look on his face.

He said, “What she needs to do is a link to the Veil. We need to find out how she’s supposed to do that before anything else.”

“More meditation exercises,” I offered. Then I realized how much was really there. “We’re going to need to help her make a schedule. Schedule some recreation time around all this, too.”

“She also needs to eat right,” Zeke said, drawing everyone’s attention. “Serena said taking care of herself was not an option. She needs to eat right and sleep eight hours at night.”

Everyone else cursed. I sighed.

“She never sleeps eight hours,” Isaac snapped. “Hell, last night she was screaming after two.”

“Then again after another three,” Ethan said, his face dark. “Isaac said she stopped whimpering when he touched her.” He looked up and around the room. “Maybe that’s the answer.”

The others were silent at his words.

I started thinking about a different solution, but there was another issue we needed to talk about before Lexie finished talking to Rory.

“I know everyone cares about Lexie, but right now, we need to know how much.” I said, a bit distracted.

Everyone glared at me, Zeke looked downright hostile.

What did I say?

“We aren’t bailing on her,” Zeke growled at me.

Oh. That’s what it sounded like?

“I’m not trying to say we should.” I looked around at each of them and tried again. “I mean, how do you guys feel about her? How does she fit in our group? She’s a girl, and that’s going to change the dynamics a bit.”

The room was quiet.

“I don’t want to watch romantic girly movies,” Isaac said with a groan.

Ethan laughed. “You won’t. Have you seen the movies she likes? Deadpool is a favorite. Monty Python and The Holy Grail is another. Oh, and Tremors 1, 2, and 3. Not to mention Star Wars.”

Everyone chuckled.

“She fits,” Zeke admitted. “I noticed it the first night studying at Rory’s.”

“Me too.” Isaac nodded. “It’s like she’s been with us for years.”

“Like puzzle pieces and we didn’t know we were missing one,” Ethan added.

“She already feels like family,” Asher agreed. “Like she’s always been here.”

“Then we should have a no dating Lexie rule,” I told them seriously.

They all looked surprised.

“Do we really need one?” Ethan asked; his face puzzled. “Anyone want to date her?”

No one answered.

I sighed; no one was going to fess up now if they did.

“We’re all going to be spending lots of time together,” I told them. “She’s new, different, she’s funny and well, she’s…”

“Cute. The word you're looking for is cute,” Isaac said then frowned at me. “Because if you call her hot I’m going to smack you.”

I sighed and tried to explain again.

“I just want to cut off trouble before it starts.” I swallowed and tried again. “Imagine if she dated one of us and it didn’t work out. How would she still be able to hang out with us? Be friends with the rest of us? Or worse, what if one of us starts dating her and someone else liked her, too?”

Everyone started thinking about it. The room was quiet for a time.

“I see where you’re going,” Zeke said.

“That makes sense,” Isaac mumbled.

“I can get on board with that.” Ethan chimed in.

“You do realize you guys are assuming she’d want to date one of us?” Asher asked.

That made everyone stop and think.

“She canceled on Dylan last night, but he’s still very much on the radar,” Asher continued.

“What did she end up telling him?” Ethan asked, rubbing an eyebrow.

“She told him a relative died, and she won’t be able to see him for a couple weeks,” Asher replied. “I backed her story up to him. I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”

“So, this whole thing might not even be necessary,” Zeke pointed out.

“I still think it is,” I told them honestly. “I make a motion to have a no dating Lexie policy, within the group.”

Ethan sighed. “Seconded.”

Ethan’s voice told me he clearly didn’t see the point of this.

“Third,” Asher agreed distractedly as he pulled out his cell phone.

“Motion passed,” I said. “No dating Lexie.”

Asher tilted his head to the side. “They’re done talking.”