Going into the hall, I took her hand and drew her into the bedroom with me. Looking at Bran, I raised my eyebrows. "Don't let them escape."
I shouldn't have toyed with the remaining alchemists, but they'd killed Isengram. Retribution was my right, but I preferred it quick rather than cruel when I was in my right mind.
But first, Cathy. I shut the door, sat on the bed, and hung my head. "I'm so sorry," I whispered. "I'm sorry for how I treated you these past hours, and I'm especially sorry that I haven’t yet told you truly, openly, how I feel."
"How do you feel?" she whispered. Delicately, she perched on the bed beside me. I met her gaze, staring deeply into her green eyes, and smiled. "I'm crazy about you. I don't deserve you, but I'm crazy about you." Leaning forward, I pressed a soft kiss to her lush lips and then pulled back so I could cup her cheek and stare at her beautiful face again. "I've known you for such a short time and already I can't imagine my life without you. I feel like a completely different person when I'm with you, and I don't want to let that go."
My voice was barely a whisper, but I meant every word.
Cathy's eyes widened, her lips curved into a smile, and she reached up to touch my face. "You don't have to let that feeling go," she said. "I feel the same way about you."
And that was all it took for me to know that I was home.
17
CATHY
"Puttwo of them in my SUV. Lay the injured one on the back seat of the SUV. The other able-bodied alchemist will go in one of their cars. Bran pointed to a nondescript beige sedan. "Keep an eye on them all. Do not let them move their hands. We are heading for Repupair, no detours of any kind."
Now that Rey was in his right mind, he'd become much more productive and able to make reasonable decisions. It was by far an improvement.
Not to mention his confessions of how much he adored me. I'd been so shocked I hadn't responded but now that everything was whirling and moving and shaking, I wished desperately that I had.
"Uh, we can be the ones who take the alchemist’s car," I volunteered. "Rey and I, and..." He looked at me in surprise, with a hint of a smile on his face. "Maybe Rissa could drive?"
His second didn't know what I was up to, but she nodded anyway. "Sure."
Ten minutes later, we had some random alchemist guy between us in the backseat of the car. He kept cringing away from Rey, getting far too close to me.
"I'm not sure why it is that I'm driving and you're not, Cathy, considering if this asshole tries something, you don’t have anything to gut him with but a stubby manicure." Rissa raised her eyebrows at me in the rear-view mirror.
"Because I need to talk to Rey, and you're his right hand, and..." I trailed off and looked out the window as I considered how to continue. "Just from the last couple hours, I’ve seen how fast things can go bad. Since we needed a third so we could have two guards and a driver, I thought you were closest to Rey and wouldn’t snark. Even if this guy gets to listen in, I wanted to tell Rey something important."
She shrugged one shoulder. "Okay."
Okay.
So... Okay.
Even the alchemist was looking at me. Ugh.
He offered me a tentative smile. "I'm happy to hear what you say."
I turned toward Reynard, who was laughing silently and put my hand up to block the face of the alchemist. "Speak again and I'll let Rissa have you, bucko. This has been a terrible night and I’m on my last nerve."
Even though she was totally in her human form, Rissa growled like the big, bad wolf. It was hard not to giggle as the unnamed alchemist squirmed.
I gazed at Reynard and felt a helpless smile curl my lips. He made me laugh, even in a moment like this. "I said it earlier, but I’ll repeat myself now. I like you, too. It freaked me out, you not having your emotions, sure. It's okay, though, you totally couldn't help it."
He grinned and put his hand out, which I took with my free hand. "I'm glad you see it that way."
"Me too," I said. "I want to go all the way with this, okay? Give it a real chance."
Squeezing my hand, he leaned completely over the alchemist and pressed the softest, sweetest kiss to my cheek and whispered, "Me, too,"
Reynard put his hand on the back of the man's head and pushed him forward. "Head to knees, monster."
I giggled and grabbed his face, then proceeded to kiss it until Rissa made a retching sound. "We're here, you pervs."
