Michelle nodded as her eyes filled with tears once again. “We love her, and we miss her. We want to know Thia and Decebel. I don’t think we knew how to convey that because of our own anger. But life is too short to be angry over things we can’t change. I’m done losing time with our daughter.”
Lilly smiled. “Good. I think she will be relieved. Be expecting her phone call. And keep your eyes open for anyone that doesn’t look right.”
Peri held out her phone to Michelle.
Her eyes widened. “You have a cell phone?”
Peri’s brow pinched. “I may have been born in The Dark Ages, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t evolved with the times.”
Michelle’s face turned red. “Right, of course.” She took the phone and looked at Peri expectantly.
“Put your contact info in there, and then I’ll send you a text so you’ll have my number. If something is wrong, you can text me and I’ll be here in the blink of an eye, literally. Unless I’m in the middle of killing something, trying to avoid being killed, or mating?—”
“Peri,” Lilly snapped.
“What?” She shrugged. “Just want her to know if I don’t appear in the blink of an eye, there’s a good reason.”
Lilly sighed and shook her head. The damn fae would be the death of her.
Michelle quickly did as Peri asked and then handed her back the phone. “Thank you,” she told the high fae and then looked at Lilly. “Thank you for watching out for our girl. Not just these past few years, but all of them. You’ve been a good friend to us, and you’ve loved Jen like your own. That means more to us than you know.”
Lilly’s vision blurred as emotion swelled. She couldn’t imagine going years without seeing Jacque. She knew Jen’s parents had to be hurting. “It’s my honor to claim her as one of mine. And you know I love you guys.”
Michelle walked over and gave Lilly a tight hug, and then Jeffery did the same. “Thank you,” he said in a gruff, emotion-filled voice.
Lilly nodded, stepping back. “You have my number already. Use it anytime you need to.”
“And I will be around to check on you,” Gwen told them. “You won’t be left alone after finding all of this out.”
Gwen held out an arm to Lilly, and she placed her hand on it. Lucian wrapped his hand around Peri’s. “We’re going to flash from here, so don’t freak out,” Peri warned them.
Jeffery and Michelle nodded with wide eyes and gave a final wave.
Ten
“I have a new motto: Expect the worst, then multiply that expectation times ten. This way when the worst happens, but it’snotmultiplied by ten, I’m pleasantly surprised. Yes, I know. I’m a genius. You’re welcome.” ~Peri
The tripfrom the Adams to the Henrys lasted only a few seconds. Then, Lilly’s feet were on solid ground, specifically the sidewalk. Thalion and Cyn appeared a second later, Peri having mentally shared the information with Cyn.
Lilly turned slowly and saw the house where she’d raised her daughter. Emotions welled up inside her. There were lights on, and she could see shadows of people moving around inside. It was someone else’s home now, and they would make their own memories. A sense of nostalgia ran through her. She closed her eyes, picturing the inside of the house. For a moment, she could even smell the familiar scent of home.
“No time for sentimentality.” Peri’s voice intruded on her recollections. “We’re on a schedule.”
“No, we’re not.” Lilly sighed and turned back to face the Henrys’ house. “You just made that up.”
“Maybe.” Peri lifted a shoulder. “Or maybe when I called Elle before coming here, it put us on a schedule because Jewel has been frequenting supernatural brothels that only allow those with a certain amount of dark magic to enter.”
“What?” Lilly practically shouted. Of all the things Peri could have told her about Jewel, repeated visits to a place for people to hook up was not at all on her radar. Why would it be? Jewel was mated to a werewolf, a possessive one at that. Not that they weren’t all possessive, but Dalton and Jewel had been through some crap, and he never let Jewel out of his sight. “How?” Because, again, he never let her out of his sight.
“I don’t know all the details. I haven’t spoken to the beta yet, but from what I know, she takes Dalton with her, but he can’t go in,” Peri explained.
“He doesn’t have enough darkness in him because his mate is a gypsy healer,” Cyn said.
Lilly still couldn’t get past the part that Dalton was with Jewel when it happened. “He lets her?” Again, Lilly was seriously confused. “He hasn’t tied her ass to a chair or bed to keep her from going?”
“I have no idea why. From what Elle said, Dalton apparently looks like he did when Jewel had been taken by Volcan. He’s a wolf barely hanging on to his sanity.”
“Was she with Elle, Sorin, and Dalton?” Cyn crossed her arms and widened her stance.
