“Perfect. It’ll distract them.” My heart settled, and my mind stopped trying to solve fifteen problems at once. Even if the house was part brothel, part clinic, part frog spa, and part war room. Even if my aunts plotted with herbs and footnotes. Even if my mate left sometimes to be the leader the shifters demanded.
For now, he was here. For now, I didn’t have to carry this burden alone.
CHAPTER SEVEN
With rebirth came power, and I was something wholly different and utterly unpredictable.
Ineeded rest, a moment to process, and an hour to plan our next steps. Underestimating Eloise Roberts would result in our demise, but utilizing her narcissistic tendencies was not only clever, but essential.
She would never fall for a ploy where I suddenly forgave her for being the worst grandparent on the planet, both alive or dead. So we needed something to piss her off enough where she made her own decision to come. My wedding was one, but I needed something ready to go now, not in several weeks’ time.
My fingers drummed on the kitchen counter as I watched the nightlife come alive through the window. A flash of lightning made me blink, and when the spots stopped dancing in my vision, I spied a new house sitting on the lawn. Dayna’s home had returned. It regularly appeared and disappeared off my lawn. Who knows where it went when it was gone? Maybe it attended meetings for sentient houses. Whatever the reason, the ability to pick your house up and move was a handy skill to have. No need to worry about hotel bills. But that house had an attitude, and if it didn’t like you, you could expect to be spat out on your ass.
“I can hear you thinking from across the house,” Sebastian drawled.
I glanced over my shoulder, taking in my best friend dressed in dark skinny jeans and a snug black T-shirt.
“Dressing down or to impress?” I wondered, my tone cordial but cold.
He flinched. We had, like most friends, had disagreements over the years, but this level of deception was new territory I wished we’d never traversed.
“Neither. I’m dressing like I’m neither the crown prince nor the most sought after bachelor in the country.”
My gaze swept down him. “I'm not sure you achieved that goal. Certain people are all over thetortured bad boy with a dark soul needing just the right person to make his world bright once morelook.”
“My world hasn’t been bright in a very long time, Cora.”
He came to stand next to me and folded his arms with a nod at my aunt’s house. “We are running out of room. It’s a good thing the house is here.”
I scoffed. “If supernatural strays stopped moving in on a long-term basis, I’d have plenty of room.”
“You want me to leave?” He sounded as broken as I felt.
I squeezed my eyes closed and dragged in a breath. Did I? No, I didn’t think so. “No,” I settled on.
“I am sorry.”
“As you’ve said.”
“How can I make it up to you?”
The thought had been niggling at me all day. “Did you delete it yet?”
“Yes.”
My jaw clenched. The universe had already decided this for me. For reasons I couldn’t work out, that made me angry. “Okay.”
“But it is retrievable from the trash folder for 30 days.”Fuck.“I put a password on the file, so I can give you access.”
“Do it.”
His fingers curled around my wrist, and he spun me to face him. “It’s not an easy watch. You should have someone with you.”
I hadn’t even decided if I would watch it yet. It might be cleansing, or it might fuel my nightmares. But if I watched it, I could at least decide if I wanted the rest of the memories returned. Like peeking into my soul and checking the color.
I nodded once. “Okay.”
“You want me to come?”
