Darci headed back inside in search of Echo. As she neared the kitchen, her steps slowed when Shae and Dagan stepped out. They made such a striking couple. Despite Shae’s height, she appeared fragile and delicate with her lean build, pale skin and bright hair. He was exceptionally tall, muscular, and dark—and avampire.
Darci still couldn’t get overthat.
“Shae—” Dagan caught her hand when she would have walked past him, his ebony warrior braids swaying just past his shoulders now. He turned her to him and gently caressed her cheek. “It’ll be okay.”
“How?” Her shoulders drooped in despair. “You heard her. She flat-out refuses to talk to anyone.”
“Hey.” Dagan drew her closer and wrapped his arms around her. “It’s hard, I know. Give her a little time, perhaps then she’ll be more open to it?”
“I really hope so,” her voice, muffled by his chest, drifted faintly to Darci. Her shoulders rose and lowered as if with a heavy sigh.
Dagan looked up and nodded as Darci drew closer. She smiled in greeting.
Shae pushed back her heavy fall of wavy hair. A faint smile curved her lips but it didn’t touch her shadowed gaze when she saw Darci. Before she left with her mate, Darci quickly said, “Shae, can I speak to you?”
“I’ll be in my workshop,” Dagan said quietly. “Call if you need me, Shae-cat.” After she nodded, he pressed his lips to her temple and strode off toward the basement stairs.
Shae watched him go, rubbing her brow as if trying to ease away a headache.
“Are you okay?” Darci asked softly.
“Yes…” She dropped her hand and shook her head. “No. It’s Mom I asked her if she’d talk to Lore about what happened, about her abduction. She refuses.”
Lore was Echo’s tutor, but according to Blaéz, he also liked to dig into the Guardians’ heads tohelpthem deal with their incarceration. She recalled Blaéz being as tight as a melded vault about his imprisonment until she’d slowly peeled away the layers and he finally spoke about his horrific past.
Darci doubted that Jenna was ready for that just yet. “Just be there for her for now. Later, try again.”
Shae wrapped her arms around her waist. “I hate seeing her like that.”
Darci understood, shereallydid. At times, Blaéz would withdraw into himself after a nightmare, and use brutal activities—either going through a rigorous circuit training for long hours or swimming the treacherous ocean—to come out of it. At least he never asked her to whip him anymore.
“You wanted to see me about something?” Shae asked her.
“Yes.” Darci nodded, trying to shut off her pained thoughts. “Would you be able to take photos for the wedding? I’d appreciate it if you could.”
Gray-gold eyes widened in surprise before a smile lit her striking face. “Of course. I’d be honored.”
“Thank you. I was afraid I’d have to make do with my nephew’s cell phone shots,” Darci said wryly.
“My pleasure. I’ll see you later. I have a few things to take care of, wrap up the last part of my freelancing job.” With a little wave, and appearing somewhat more in control of her emotions, Shae headed for the back stairs.
Darci pushed the kitchen door open and entered. She found Jenna seated at the table, a euphoric Bob splayed over her lap, all four paws dangling down her thighs as she stroked his back.
She adored Bob, and since Shae’s mother appeared far too fragile to be carrying a teacup, let alone a feline of Bob’s girth, Darci asked softly, “Shall I take him?”
Jenna looked up, her dove-gray eyes warming in her pale face. “No. I like him...” She broke off as Hedori walked into the kitchen, looking nothing at all like his usual well-dressed self, wearing faded jeans, a long-sleeved sweatshirt, and he’d fastened his steel-gray hair into a loose braid.
He looked really, really good. Yep, she and the other girls had commented on that. Not in front of their mates, of course. The only time he dressed this casually was when he took his sailboat out.
Hedori slowed to a stop when he saw them. “Darci.” He inclined his head in greeting. “Can I get you something?”
“Thank you, no.” She smiled. “You’re spending the afternoon at the boathouse?”
“Not exactly. I’m taking Lady Divine out for a few hours,” he said, glancing at Jenna.
Despite the fact that Jenna was his mate, Hedori treated her like he did all the women in the house. Courteously. After what she’d been through, being abducted by a psychotic rogue angel and held in the Dark Realm for six months until he, Dagan, and Aethan had rescued her, Darci understood why he kept his distance. Jenna was too traumatized. She didn’t speak much to anyone, and not at all to him.
More, Jenna had no idea what she was to Hedori.
