Wren deflated, picking at his nails and mumbling, “I wasn’t gonna say anything.”
“Yes, you were,” Teddy said, smiling. “Or if not, you would have stewed in silence like you did about Saint. I don’t want that. I want you secure in the knowledge that you’re the only one.”
“Okay.” Wren nodded. “You could try and be less handsome though. And less charming. You know, to anyone but me. It’s just a thought.”
“I’ll take it under advisement,” Teddy said with a small laugh, parking the car in front of their house.
The sun was already peeking above the horizon, painting the road in front of them in warm pinks and oranges. Wren wasright. He didn’t want to get out of the car. He didn’t want to rejoin the world and share Wren with anyone.
“You okay?” Wren asked.
“I wish I could stay here with you. Away from everyone else.”
“Let’s solve this case, and then we can hide,” Wren said and Teddy smiled, leaning over to steal a brief kiss from his lips.
They walked into the house and rounded the corner into the living room, where Trace and Saint were already sprawled on the couch.
They both jumped up when they saw them, coming to meet them in the middle of the room.
“Thank fuck you’re okay,” Trace said, clasping Teddy’s shoulder while Saint looked torn between looking at Teddy and inspecting Wren’s disheveled appearance.
“What the hell happened?” Teddy asked. “Saint, you good?”
“Fine.” Saint threw himself back onto the couch. “So much shit went down. It’s wild.”
“Catch us up?” Teddy asked, sitting down as well and motioning for Wren to join him at his side.
He ignored the looks.
“Wren, can you call your PUMA agent?” Trace asked. “He might want to hear this and I don’t think any of us has the strength to repeat this.”
“He isn’t my PUMA agent,” Wren said tiredly. “But yes, I can call him.”
He pulled his phone out and called Cyrus, putting it on the coffee table in the middle of them and setting it on speaker.
“Wren?” Cyrus answered, rustling accompanying his words. “Do not touch that! I told you!”
“Hi, Black,” Wren called, shaking his head.
“Just let me have it!” Black said, sounding like his words were muffled by something.
“Fine!” Cyrus said. “Fucking have it. Just sit down and stay still for five minutes.”
“Best I can do is three,” Black said.
Teddy fought back a smile when he heard Cyrus’s tortured sigh.
“Fuck my life,” he said. “Anyway, Wren, got any updates? Because I love updates at the ass crack of dawn.”
“You wouldn’t have to get up early if you never went to bed,” Black quipped.
“It hasn’t even been a minute,” Cyrus said. “Shush.”
Teddy leaned forward, closer to the phone. “Probably best to go linearly. Saint?”
“Right, okay,” Saint said. “A bit of a background first. The Worthingham family is all mid-level casters. Decent amount of power but nothing to brag about. Their only bragging right is the fact that it’s literally all of them. It’s like they breed to make sure everyone is a caster.”
“But the kid isn’t registered,” Cyrus said. “I checked his background.”
