“But you stopped her from killing Grace,” Cassian realizes. “That was you, wasn’t it?”
I duck my head but nod, tears burning in my eyes. I still can’t think of the other omega without crying. “Rad was controlling her with blood magic. I was able to break his hold on her for just long enough for her to… for her to…” I swallow hard, trying to keep my tears from falling, but it’s no use.
“Oh, Junes.”
“All of her thoughts. Everything they did to her. I saw all of it. Ifeltall of it.”
“You freed her.”
“Her family still had to bury her.”
“But Pack Cassidy didn’t have to bury Grace.”
I nod and Simon tucks me against his side. “I had no idea you were getting so strong.”
“Ian thought it was a curse. He wished it wouldn’t be me. It should have been someone stronger, but I got the affinity. And I’m going to use it to bring Rad to his fucking knees, and the Soldiers and my fucking family after that. I swear to the saints, I will make the most of this curse.”
“You have our support in any way you need it,” Cassian swears. “And not just because I want to see that bastard burn for what he’s done to both of you. Money, resources, anything. Name it and we’ll have it.”
I look toward the door of the quiet infirmary, to where I last saw the Royal Detective Inspector. “We’ll need Graeme Miller.”
Cassian nods. “I’ll pay him out of pocket if they try to recall him from duty here.”
“Saints above, Cassian, where are you getting this kind of money?”
He cuts a look at Simon. “Suffice it to say, Simon created an algorithm that helped us make some very lucrative stock purchases. We’ve invested wisely since then. And I have the support of my family.”
“Do they know?” I finally venture. “About the two of you?”
“Are you kidding me? My motheradoresSimon.”
“Who wouldn’t?” the beta mutters as he types a string of characters into his laptop.
“My family knows. His family knows. Ellie’s honor guard knows, and I suspect Bitsy does as well. We’ve been… discreet. Relationships like ours are frowned upon and I didn’t want an association with Pack Leclerc to draw enemies toward Simon.”
“And I can’t stand the thought of everyone thinking of Cassian as my trophy alpha.”
“You’re the trophy,” Cassian says, rolling his eyes.
“I’ll happily let you two fight over that title. I willneverbe anyone’s trophy.”
“Damn right,” Simon says. He clicks a few times and then his grin crumples into a frown. “Holy shit… Halcyon is… it’s bigger than we could have imagined. An entire conspiracy… It’s going to take me weeks to unwind all of this.” He winces. “But I can tell you now: Rose Pharmaceuticals and Radcliffe Industries are both involved. They’re engineeringsomethingtogether. I’ll need more time to fully uncover what it is, if I even can. But whatever it is, it won’t be good.”
I run a hand through my hair and sigh, snuggling down closer to Simon. “I guess we add defeating a global cabal to our list,” I mutter.
Simon strokes my hair away from my eyes. “And we will, kit-kat. I promise you, we will. We’ll fight until your fight is done, wherever it ends.”
* * *
Cassian and Ileave a sleeping Simon in Ellie and Jace’s care and walk out of the infirmary to find late spring in full bloom on Fairhaven’s campus. Flowers scent the air, dripping from bushes and lining the garden beds around campus, bursting from pots and urns at the doors to every building.
“Rad wanted to press charges against you,” Cassian says softly as we walk across the quad together. “You’ve used illegal magic against him twice now. He threatened to go live with it, to speak to the media about you. But Miller was able to trap him with the investigation and I’ve buried him in enough litigation to keep him quiet. Hopefully, he’ll graduate next week and that’s the last we’ll see of him.”
“I hope so but don’t believe it.”
“I’ll do what I can to keep him from you and Simon,” Cassian vows.
“You’re always taking care of him, aren’t you?”
