Whereas the high court probably saw me as a liability.
“Do we not still need a Gatekeeper this side of the gateway?” Rys asked. He’d been silent up until now. They all had. But he stepped forward, drawing Lady Sarhin’s attention. “The gateway will remain in my territory, whether Axel returns to the Fae Realm or not. I don’t want it unattended. Axel has worked hard to gain my trust and the trust of my pack. I’m sure my father can attest to how hard it is to be accepted as an outsider.”
Her lips twitched, amusement flashing in her eyes. “Yes, I’m sure he can.”
“As the alpha of this pack, and if Axel is willing, I would like to formally request that he remain the Gatekeeper and continue to reside here. He’s also teaching Gabriel about his fae heritage. Helping him learn the language and discover his own magic. I’d hate for that to come to an end when they’ve only just started.”
She outright smirked now. “Noted. I will approach the court and see if they can be persuaded to extend Axel’s time here.” Her focus swung back to me. “In the meantime, maybe there are some things you could work on to sway their decision.” She gave me a pointed look, which I ignored.
“I will be in touch.”
“Wait.” I caught her before she turned away. “What about Melhak?”
“What about him?”
“Was he working with Zh’alek when he attacked me?” I thought as much from Zh’alek’s answers, but I needed confirmation.
She sighed. “We think so, but without being able to access the deleted files and with Melhak refusing to talk, we can’t confirm it. As far as his punishment is concerned, it doesn’t matter. We have enough evidence to imprison him for a long time. He’ll be transported to the prison outsideAnyathwithin the next few days. I expect he won’t be given a warm welcome.”
I shuddered but couldn’t muster up any sympathy for him.
Selling Blue Alhuirn carried a lengthy sentence for a reason.
“Anything else before I go?”
“No, thank you.”
With a nod to Max, Rys and Dathal, she disappeared back through the gateway.
Silence settled over the forest.
I slumped against the edge of the chair, the adrenaline crash imminent.
“If you’re good here—” Max said, cracking his neck and stretching, which was just a little distracting in his current state. “—I need to get back to the station and report all this to DCI Thornton.”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Well, I was actually drained from seeing Zh’alek and terrified of being forced to return home for good. But mostly I wanted to finally be alone with Talis, and I couldn’t do that until everyone else left. “You can all go.” When neither Rys nor the others made a move, I decided that blunt honesty was required. “I’d like to talk to Talis. Alone.”
Max looked at me with what seemed to be a mix of sadness and longing before replacing it with a wide smile. “I’ll need you to come in at some point to fill in a report so we can wrap all this up, but it can wait a few days.” He winked at me. “Have fun.”
Not waiting for a reply, he shifted and loped off in the direction of the main pack house. With a wave, Sasha and Syl did the same.
Rys walked over to us, and I did my best not to let my gaze drift over his stillvery nakedbody, but I wasn’t made of stone. And Rys Calder was an impressive sight.
Talis huffed beside me, obviously noticing where I was looking.
I poked him. “If you don’t want me looking at Rys, then shift back and give me something else to look at.” I’d barely got the words out before the air shimmered beside me, and I stumbled back a little as Talis did as I suggested and shifted back into his human form.
Wow.
Dathal laughed but I ignored him.
Rys’s bare form forgotten, I took my time appreciating Talis’s nakedness.
Goddess, he was the hottest thing I’d ever seen. When I dragged my eyes up to meet his, he was watching me, an uncertain but hopeful smile on his face. How had I ever thought I could let him go so easily?
I didn’t notice Rys slip away, or Dathal, but when I took Talis’s hand and led him towards my house, they’d both gone.
We didn’t speak until the French doors clicked shut behind me.
