Kelly

“Hi Hector,” she said as Gray took the three of them in through the front door.

Andrew had already returned, the local coroner’s office having brought the body with him in a vehicle while the others walked. It hadn’t seemed to take them very long at all. No more than fifteen minutes. The walk had been nice as well, allowing her to stretch her legs, and reaffirm that no, she really wasn’t in shock.

That alone shocked her. Kelly had never considered herself to be a killer. Now that she had, she knew she wasn’t. But the knowledge that she’d done it just didn’t bother her. Not in the sleepless night terror sort of way. But more the “Goddammit, why’d he force me to do that?” manner. She regretted taking a life, but didn’t dwell over the actual action of it.

According to Gray, that was a very shifter-esque way of looking at things.

“Hey,” the embassy guard said, coming forward to greet them. His attention was first on Gray, then on Kelly, but the pair of them waved him off.

“See to Rachel, will you?” Gray asked. “Get her a water or whatever she wants, along with maybe a blanket and a comfortable chair.

Kelly’s mind was elsewhere, but she still heard Hector tripping all over himself to help Rachel get whatever it was she needed.

“Did we just…?” she asked with a small laugh, not needing to finish her sentence.

“I have no idea,” Gray replied, but his voice burbled with laughter.

The two of them stopped and looked at each other.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said softly.

Kelly nodded and nuzzled her face into his hand as he reached up to touch her. “Are you okay?” she asked, suddenly remembering the huge cut he’d received on his side. She looked at it, but it was mostly closed now, the flow of blood all but stopped. Another hour perhaps, and she figured it would be gone.

“Amazing. I wish I could heal like that,” she joked.

“It has its ups and its downs,” he replied. “Don’t forget, I feel all the pain of these wounds, and without painkillers either.”

“Oh.” Suddenly it wasn’t so appealing.

“Yeah, maybe don’t wish for it quite so readily,” he replied, then pulled her close and kissed her, his mouth finding hers with a fervent need, a desire to reaffirm the fact that they were both alive, unharmed, and still very much in love with each other.

Kelly met him with the same intensity, needing no encouragement. The moment lingered on and on in the silence, until a throat gently cleared itself behind them. She jerked upright and turned to see Andrew standing there, eyebrows questioningly raised.

“I think he wants to know what happened,” she whispered sidelong to Gray.

To her surprise, he began to laugh. It was contagious, and after a moment of staring at him in astonishment, she began to laugh too.

Andrew didn’t laugh.

“Finished?” he asked a few minutes later, allowing them to get themselves back under control. There was no ire in his voice, nor condescension either. Just a simple acknowledgment of what had been necessary, and then back to work.

“Yeah,” Gray said.

“It’s a simple story, really,” she jumped in before he could start to speak. “I’m assuming you’re filled in up to the point where they met and fought?”

Andrew nodded.

“Well, Gray came over last night, we talked, worked things out, etcetera. This morning, we were getting ready to come back here, to fill you in on a few details, when Jacen returned. He burst inside, jumped Gray, and took me by force. Gray recovered from his nap, came after us, and we fought him.”

“We?” Andrew asked, his eyebrows raising a fraction of an inch, the only thing indicating he was surprised.

“Yes, we. Well, mostly Gray. They fought as humans, then Jacen shifted, so Gray did too. He won, and Jacen was down. Gray came to check on me, Jacen got up and jumped him. I took the knife Jacen had been holding on me, and when the opportunity presented itself, I slit his throat.”

She frowned. “I really didn’t want to do that. But I did. He was trying to kill Gray.”

Andrew’s lips formed a line.

“Don’t you dare,” Gray said warningly.

Kelly looked back and forth between them, trying to understand what was going on.

Then air escaped from Andrew’s lips in a rush. She frowned, until she realized he was trying not to laugh.

“You had to let yourself be saved?” Andrew laughed. “Oh my, Gray. My poor Gray. You know you aren’t going to live that one down anytime soon.”

Gray hung his head. “I know. But hey, she’s a badass, and if you make fun of me too much, she’ll come take it up with you.”

Kelly grinned savagely at Andrew and tossed him a wink, promising much “destruction” if he tormented her mate.

“Okay, okay. I give!” he said with a laugh. “Now, tell me about these other facts?”

So the two of them filled him in on how Jacen had been a former Institute operative. Also she spoke about the differences in his personality from when he’d been with her, to when they had finished the “job” of impregnating her, to what he’d been like upon arriving at her door the first time.

“He didn’t seem unstable when he came to me either time before. But that was before he knew about Gray as well. So it could have simply been triggered by that perhaps?” she said.

Gray nodded. “I figure he spent months at the hands of Intelligence. Who knows what they did to him while he was there, right? But while in captivity, all he focused on was Kelly and the baby. Builds it up in his own little world. He’ll come to her, reveal himself as alive and after some time to think about it, she’ll welcome him into her life. So he has no reason to lose it. Then I’m there, and he realizes everything is falling apart and isn’t how he imagined it. Boom, his mind just sort of breaks.”

Andrew nodded. “It makes sense.”

Kelly sighed. “So what now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Am I in trouble?” she asked, looking back and forth. “I mean, I killed someone.”

Andrew opened his mouth, but Gray beat him to it. “No, you aren’t in any trouble, my love. You were acting in self-defense of both yourself, and of me. There is no reason for you to be in trouble. Shifter law views these things differently than human.”

“Oh.”

“As ambassador to Cloud Lake, I have final say over all punishment awarded due to harm inflicted upon a shifter. Which is rare for obvious reasons. But the local police won’t want to get involved, and I’m certainly not going to put you in jail or anything after all I’ve heard. You are free to go.”

She nodded. “Where do I go? My place is kind of in shambles.”

Andrew returned her wink. “I’m sure Gray has a suggestion or two on that matter.” He departed without any further fanfare.

“As a matter of fact,” he said slowly, “I do.”

He linked his arm through hers and escorted her up the stairs.

“You live here?” she asked, surprised.

“Um, yes? I’ve thought about buying property in the city, perhaps up by the Koches. But it’s just been me. There was no need for a full-on house.”

“And now?” she asked.

Gray paused. “I dunno, I think living here works.”

He showed her to his room and opened the door upon a fairly standard hotel room. There was a sitting room with television right at the front. A hallway on the left-hand side, created by the bathroom on the right. At the back of the room was the bed, with another TV on the far wall from it.

“Sure. Until the baby is born,” she teased, perfectly accepting of the living accommodations. They didn’t have a kitchen like she did, but the rest of it was much nicer.

“I think we can arrange something,” he joked, and pulled her tight.

They stood there in the room, embracing one another for what felt like eternity. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she thought once more of Jacen and his needless death, and then it was done.