Lazriel kissed the top of Winter’s head. “You need me again, don’t hesitate to reach out, all right?”
“Yeah, Pops.”
“Good.”
In the next moment, he took off as fast as he’d come in with a burst of vampire speed.
Winter let out a heavy sigh.
Zayn and I went to head over to him.
But he held up his hand, shaking his head.
And then he was disappearing in his Wraith shadows.
“Fuck,” I breathed.
“He’s heading to Vaxan,” Zayn informed me, clearly picking up on my intent to go after him.
“What? How do you know?”
“Now this issue with his magic has come out, Win mentioning research Vaxan was doing for him makes sense—it has to be about that. He’s been avoiding following up obviously. Now, after this, he’s finally gonna stop doing that and see to it. So let them do their thing. When Win’s upset, it’s easier one-on-one for him. Give them the night or whatever, then we’ll check in.”
“All right.”
Zayn stroked my shoulder. “One hell of a date, huh?”
“One hell of an understatement.”
“Come,” he said. “Let’s head back inside, calm down, take a beat, yeah?”
“Good idea.”
As we walked, he wrapped his arm around me. “It’ll all be okay, icicle. This is just the aftermath of a storm.”
“Another one will be coming soon once word fully gets out.”
“And we’ll deal with it.”
“We, huh?”
“Yeah. I’m here for you. Just like you’ve been for me.”
I leaned against him. “Thanks, hellion.”
He chuckled, and the sound felt really good to hear right about now.
Because I knew… the countdown to hell breaking loose had just begun this night.
14
~Vaxan~
Adrenaline thrummed through me as I stared down at my phone and the many text messages that had come in from Zayn and Evira both.
It would have made better sense to open a group discussion. However, they were clearly worked up, so they hadn’t had the forethought for that, needing to get the details of what had transpired earlier across to me as soon as possible instead.
Vaxan:I will see to him.
