My whimper lodged in my throat and my heart threatened to stop beating. It was the sweetest thing he’d ever said to me. He was always saying the most perfectly romantic things and I was like a cavewoman.
You hot, sexy man.
I felt like I’d never be able to tell him in words what he meant to me and what it meant that he loved me without really knowing if I was Lena and without me having any of those memories. Leaning forward, I captured his lips in a kiss. He parted them instantly and our tongues wound together, deepening the kiss.
When he pulled back, he held my gaze. “I love you.”
Three words. They were small words, and some people said them so often that they became inconsequential, but to me… to me they were everything.
A throat cleared behind me and Brayden looked up, trying to hide his annoyance.
“Let’s save the smooching for the wedding, shall we?” Artemis said, and I inwardly groaned.
This man would be the death of me.He tells me less then twenty-four hours ago that he fathered me and suddenly becomes super protective dad?
Ugh.
Brayden just chuckled. “Yes, sir.”
I spun, looking at Artemis. “Is my mom okay? Can I talk to her first?”
The Elder Fae nodded. “She’s fine, driving with Morgana now. Morgana is making tweaks to her memory. She will only remember the fire and being saved. None of the scary or supernatural stuff. They will wait here until we come back from the Ether.”
Thinking of a witch tweaking my mother’s memory was horrifying, but I supposed it was better than her remembering being held captive by Novus.
“Okay, let’s just go to the Ether and get this over with then.” I rolled out my neck. I could feel the weight of sleep pulling at my limbs. How long had I been awake now? Twenty-four hours? I blinked rapidly. Now was not the time to lose focus.
“Averly!” Maddy’s voice came from the porch and I spun to see her holding a small slender silver can. She held it in the air, and when I recognized it as an energy drink I nearly cried. Rushing over to her, I popped the top and took the entire thing back in four chugs.
As a professional bartender, I was used to long hours, but this was pushing it. I hadn’t bartended in a year. This energy drink would give me the final push I needed to put Lora in an overdue grave.
Castiel met us on the porch, Leah wrapped in his arms. She broke away for a moment and came over to me, pulling something from her waistband and handing it to me.
My little Walther P22.
“Thought you might need this,” she said.
I took it from her, feeling the cold steel in my hands and wishing I’d had this the last year so that I could have shot Silas with it.
Missed you, buddy.
I slipped it into the waistband of my jeans and gave Leah a hug before she retreated back to Castiel’s arms.
“Okay, what’s the plan?” Castiel asked.
Brayden walked over with Artemis, and August stepped out of the house to rest his arms around Maddy.
Nora must have been sleeping in.
Brayden looked at our little group and pointed to his brother. “If you had a portal egg, could you get to the others?”
Castiel nodded. “Absolutely, but I’d need the bracelets off of them to be able to portal them out.”
Brayden nodded, looking at Leah and I. “We will handle that. I’ll take Lora—” He started and I cut him off.
“I want Lora,” I growled. “Besides, she has a death curse I need to help dissolve.” I looked to Artemis for backup and he bobbed his head.
Brayden stared at me with part adoration and part annoyance. We were already acting like a married couple. “My love, I am the king of the Greywolves. My power is unmatched. You go ahead and dissolve that death curse, but I will kill her. She took everything from me.”
