“Well, I was…ugh…” Nix stuffs two squares into his mouth.
“Glowed up,” Leo whispers.
Finn’s soft, capable fingers are pressing around Leo’s head.
“Well, yeah. Makes it easier to see that shit.” Nix offers the rest to Grayson and wanders away, following his nose into the shrubs behind the car.
Glowed upmeans open to the Goddess’s access to The Plain. He’d have needed it not to get sucked into whatever the other guy had been rolling out.
Grayson eats two pieces, wondering if he shouldn’t make sure someone isn’t lurking, or that Nix hasn’t chased down the SUV, anyway.
“Jaybird, can you help him lie down?” Finn asks.
Jay gets out of Finn’s way, and his eyes find Grayson. He crosses the space between them in three strides and cups Grayson’s face, thumb sweeping along his jaw like he is checking for damage without letting himself panic.
“You okay?” Jay asks.
The words catch on the truth. His ribs are on fire, and the whole debacle flashes through his mind. Another prophecy, another crazy villain they don’t know about. Another chance for someone to interfere with Grayson’s family.
“No,” he says honestly.
Then he looks past Jay to where Gideon is walking in the parking lot. Tracking the SUV, every blood trace, occasionally sticking his nose in the air. He’s examining the empty lot that could have been a graveyard, and something in him straightens, anyway.
Thunder and petrichor ride the breeze ahead of Gideon as he strolls toward them. His face is serene, but his scent says he is all the way pissed off.
“You let them leave,” he says finally, voice flat.
Jay doesn’t flinch. “We let them run.”
A sharp narrowing of Gideon’s eyes. “Semantics.”
From somewhere near the shrubs, Nix makes a little offended noise, and then—before Grayson can track him—he’s there at Gideon’s side like he was poured out of the sunlight. Cheeks still flushed from the fight, grey eyes bright as hell, hair slightly mussed, a faint smear of grime on his jaw that makes him look pleased with himself.
Toopleased with himself.
When Gideon’s gaze drops to him, the tension in his shoulders shifts.
Nix opens his mouth.
Without looking away from the street, Gideon holds up a finger. “No.”
Still staring at the road as if the SUV might reappear if he glares hard enough, he adds, “Quiet, Kitten.”
Nix’s eyes widen, delighted. This is Nix’s second favorite game.
Dry as dust, Finn says, “Oh, come on. Now? Seriously? Leo needs a CT, and I haven’t even looked at Grayson yet.”
Gideon ignores him. He points, sharply, toward where the SUV had peeled out. “They were here. In my territory. In broad daylight.”
Jay’s voice is low, controlled in a way Grayson has learned to fear and adore in equal measure. “They thought we’d just hand him over. That we’d be scared.”
A slow breath out through Gideon’s nose. “They thoughtyou’dbe scared,” he corrects, and his gaze flicks to Grayson, just for a heartbeat. “Which is cute.”
Grayson huffs a laugh that turns into a hiss of pain. Jay is immediately there, a hand at his side, fingers spread so that warmth pours through his ruined shirt.
“Ribs,” Grayson gets out, breath tight.
“I know,” Jay murmurs, attentive in the way only Jay can be. “I’ve got you.”
