Chapter Seventeen

Ribbons of Truth

I stopped on the way home and picked up seven red roses, seven boxes of chocolates, and seven balloons, because I wanted to do something nice for the ones I cared about and with everything hanging over our heads, I knew I might not get another chance.

I didn’t pick up lunch, because Jin would have been upset. He wanted to take care of the housecleaning and the cooking, and I wasn’t going to interfere with that.

I found them all gathered in the kitchen, of course. Angus sat at the head of the table, regaling them with some exaggerated—maybe—stories from his youth, and even though I’d just eaten a late breakfast and could barely waddle into the kitchen, the scent of whatever Jin was cooking up for lunch made my mouth water.

Angus caught sight of me standing in the doorway. “Trin,” he roared. “What do you have there?”

“We having a party?” Shane asked, leaning back in his chair.

Clayton walked to me and took the bag of chocolates and the flowers, then carried them to the table. When he put everything down, I stood there with all stares on me, feeling a little shy.

Jin turned from the stove, a long, wooden spoon in his hand, and watched.

“I…” I shrugged, then strode toward them and one at a time, I began handing out candy, roses, and balloons. Maybe it was silly, but we all needed a little silly in our lives.

Leo blushed like a teenager when I handed him his goodies. “I can hardly believe it. You got me gifts?”

My heart melted at his genuinely happy surprise. Even though he was sitting, I had to tiptoe to kiss his cheek. The half-giant was a little over eight feet tall. At five-nine, it wasn’t often a man made me feel short, but next to Leo, I was practically pocket-sized.

“You have one left,” Shane said, stuffing chocolates into his mouth. “You have a sweetheart hidden in the basement that we don’t know about?”

I winked at him. “Nope. I have a friend, though.”

Jin hunched over the stove, stirring the pot of stew so hard his entire body shook, pretending he wasn’t paying attention. But he darted a glance over his shoulder at me, then away, then back again.

When I walked to him and touched his shoulder, he started so hard he dropped the wooden spoon into the pot, cursed, then grabbed it out with a pair of tongs. I stood watching his awkwardness patiently, and finally, he set the spoon on the stove and stood like a plank of wood, staring at the floor.

“Thank you for taking care of us, Jin.”

He didn’t meet my eyes as he gingerly took his gifts. When he held them in his large-knuckled hands, he cleared his throat and then without a word, turned and fled the room, gifts squashed against his chest, balloon floating out behind him.

No one laughed. I’d have throttled them if they’d dared.

Shane polished off his chocolates and stood. “Guess I’ll finish cooking lunch.”

“You can cook?” Rhys asked doubtfully.

“Yup.” He wasn’t lying. Shane knew his way around a cook stove. He puckered up when he reached me and waited for me to lean in for a kiss. “Thanks, baby hunter.”

“Trin.” Angus scooted his chair back from the table and patted his lap. “Come here.”

I sat on his lap and wound my arms around his neck, ignoring the sheen of darkness hiding behind his eyes. I nuzzled his throat, drawing a growl from low in his chest, and when I inhaled, his perfect scent seemed to saturate every part of me. For a few seconds, there was nothing else.

But finally, I pulled myself away, got to my feet, and began to pace the floor, touching each man as I walked by him. “Crawford told me the mayor is thinking of arresting me. He believes if he holds me, he can control all of you. And Amias.”

“He’s right,” Leo said.

Angus nodded. “He called me before you got home.”

I stopped pacing. “Delaney called you?”

“Crawford did. He’s worried about you. I told him we know how to take care of our girl.”

I watched as Rhys helped Shane carry freshly baked bread and stew to the table. “He didn’t tell me he wanted to talk to you.” I sat down at the huge table, though I wasn’t going to eat. “He can be an asset to the supernats if we can ever come to trust him.”

“He’s not a bad man,” Rhys said, ladling stew into his bowl. “But he’s human, love. He’s always going to be a little untrustworthy.”

I watched Rhys eating, trapped by his absolute dark perfection. He looked up and caught me staring at him, and deep in his midnight gaze a spark of bright green flashed. It was like a broken shard of an emerald had gotten stuck in his irises, and for a second, that spark blinded me. All I could see was a speck of vivid green in a sea of blackness.

My eyes widened and I clenched my fists. In that second of blindness, I felt my blood heat and my flesh blister, as though I were a vampire being flung into the sun.

But even in that instant of heat, there was a flash of pleasure so extreme it was nearly incomprehensible.

Then it was over and he was staring at me as I was staring at him, with eyes too wide, caught in the strangeness of the moment.

“That was very fucking bizarre,” I whispered, realizing only then that my nails were piercing my palms. When I glanced down, needing an excuse to look away from him, I saw the little half-moons filling with blood. There was no pain. I was numb.

Every man there seemed almost paralyzed, dazed and unsure, their faces pale. I hadn’t been the only one touched by that strange moment. The realization comforted me.

“What the fuck just happened?” Shane asked.

Rhys left his chair and walked to me, then knelt at my side. He took my abused hands in his and gently rubbed the little trickles of blood away. “She’s almost ready,” he said. “And I am almost free. That is what just happened.”

And then he broke down into sobs so heartrending, so lost, and so…exhausted, somehow, that we all froze in shock.

Clayton was the first one to reach us. Out of everyone there, Clayton would come closest to understanding what Rhys was feeling—because Clayton had been so horribly restrained for such a very, very long time.

He wrapped his arms around Rhys, and I slid from my chair to do the same, very nearly unable to handle the viciousness of Rhys’s agony.

If he’d asked me, I would have lain with him and let him ease his sorrow, even if it would have killed me. His distress was that vast. That terrible.

The other men came to us as well, each of us needing to end Rhys’s suffering—and our own. We wrapped Rhys up in our love, our devotion, our protection. We showed him that he was not alone.

That moment sealed our bond in ways nothing else could have. I felt it. I felt the difference, and I felt the magnitude. It weaved around us, through us, inside us, binding us together with invisible ribbons of truth.

I knew the other nonhumans in Bay Town were shivering with the slightest touch of that overflowing power, because I felt them, too.

Silverlight screamed within me, demanding release, giving me no choice in the matter. Before she could burst free and hurt my men, I scrambled backward, climbed to my feet, and let her come.

I was overwhelmed with Rhys, with emotion, with power, and it exploded from me as Silverlight—and her light hit us all.

Silver light surrounded us, entered us, and sealed us together. All of us but one. All of us but Amias. I wasn’t sure what that would mean for him or for the us of which he was part.

All I knew for certain was that the power of her light healed something broken in each of us, and we were stronger when she faded away. Not just because of her power, but because of our love.