Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Mum was happy to see me, even though I was late.
‘Long shift?’ she asked, kissing me on the cheek.
‘Very. Sorry I’m late. I caught one just before my shift ended. I haven’t had dinner yet,’ I confessed as she hustled me in.
‘It’s 9pm!’ She frowned at me. ‘Stacy, you must keep yourself fed and looked after or you won’t be able to catch the bad guys.’
I thought of my attacker, now dust and ash. ‘I still do okay.’
‘Polly!’ my cheeky caladrius called out to my mum piteously. ‘Loki starving.’ He flew to Mum’s shoulder. ‘Wasting away.’
Mum stroked his white plumage, careful to hide her smile. ‘We can’t have that. How do you feel about some beef?’
My avian friend gave an enthusiastic trill, leaning into Mum and nuzzling her neck. ‘Please!’
Loki and I had agreed not to mention the attack, and I was pleased I was still steady on my feet. My hands weren’t shaking from the adrenaline dump yet, but they probably would soon, now that I was safe.
‘You got any Dr P?’ I asked. The sugary drink would stave off the shakes or at least give me something to hold to disguise them.
‘What do you take me for?’ she clucked. ‘Of course I have your Dr Pepper.’ She bustled into the kitchen with Loki and I went to join the others for Sunday dinner. Julian and Grant had called the family get-together, insisting it had been too long since we’d all been together.
A stab of disappointment hit when I saw that Robbie wasn’t here yet either.
The two of us didn’t exactly keep regular hours.
I pulled out my phone and texted him to let him know I was there and asked if he would be coming.
I found myself longing for his warmth, his arms around me.
I didn’t need him to fight my battles for me, but it was nice to have him by my side all the same.
‘Hey, Stacy!’ Ava said brightly. She was sitting next to Rupert, her hands entangled with his.
Her nails were salon-fresh – wine-red with gold crackle – and her outfit matched them so completely that it was clear she’d gone to some effort.
How anyone – why anyone – would spend so much time and energy on looking so perfect was beyond me.
‘Hey, Ava. You okay?’
‘I’m great, thank you. You?’
I let my vague smile be my answer. No need to get into dead bodies and vampyr attacks at the dinner table. Mum would be cross.
The men gave me nods in greeting, all three looking as tired as I felt. We all pulled long shifts, Grant and Julian as medical professionals, and Rupert and I on the side of the law, though Rupert’s side of lawyering was clearly the poor relation to the superior job of law enforcement.
‘Just got off shift?’ I asked Grant and Julian.
‘Yeah, we both had 6-6’s which ended up running over,’ Jules said.
Grant rubbed his eyes. ‘I didn’t get done until 8pm.’
‘But we were not going to miss this for anything,’ Julian said, taking Grant’s hand. The two of them exchanged a private smile.
‘You’ll both stay tonight too,’ Mum said firmly to Grant and Julian as she came in with a plate laden with food for me. ‘You’ll be in no fit state to drive.’
‘She’s right,’ I threw my weight in, for whatever it counted for.
Julian and Grant exchanged looks.
‘Thanks,’ Jules finally said. ‘We’d love to stay. That means we can have a drink or two.’
‘Wonderful.’ Mum beamed. ‘Red wine?’
‘Please.’
‘Thanks, Mum,’ I said as she set the huge plate of food in front of me with a can of Dr Pepper. ‘You’re the best.’
She looked at me, frowning as she touched my jaw lightly. ‘You’ve got some redness here, and it’s starting to bruise. Did you get hit today?’ Her lips were pinched, her disapproval and concern showing in equal measure.
I gave her my best reassuring smile. ‘Yeah, but it’s no biggie.’
‘You want me to heal you?’ Grant offered.
I shook my head at my brother-in-law. ‘Thanks, but I can see you’re dead on your feet. It’s no big deal. I’ve got some healing paste at home. I’ll sort it later.’
I buried myself into Mum’s roast beef, throwing it down my gullet with relish as I realised how hungry I was.
‘You’re supposed to chew your food, Stace,’ Rupert sniggered. ‘Christ, you’re like a penguin, chowing down a whole fish at once.’
I showed him two fingers and continued eating at the same rapid pace.
Mum poured Julian and Grant generous glasses of wine each.
‘Is Robbie coming over?’ Grant asked with a deceptively casual air as he sipped at the large glass.
I checked my phone and saw my text had a thumbs-up in response. ‘Yeah, I think so.’ I paused. ‘Why?’
‘It’ll be nice to see him,’ Julian said evasively. ‘That’s all. He’s been busy since your engagement, and I know Mum is dying to talk about venues and dates.’
‘Who isn’t!’ Ava exclaimed. ‘Robbie has such good taste. I can’t wait to see where he picks.’
‘Where we pick,’ I corrected.
She flashed me a perfect smile. ‘Sure. It’s going to be huge. Ogre weddings are a big deal, and he’ll need to invite all the movers and shakers too.’
I suppressed a grimace. I didn’t want all the movers and shakers.
I wanted him and me. And yeah, Mum and the three stooges too, I guessed.
And Ava. Even though she’d probably show me up on my own wedding day.
It was clear that Rupe was beyond enamoured with Ava, and I’d bet a month’s salary that Rupert was currently saving up his salary to buy Ava a rock to propose with.
I was halfway through dessert when Robbie walked in.
He looked unfairly good. God, he was the kind of man who could ruin your focus without trying.
Dark hair, dark shirt, calm expression that suggested he’d assessed the room and knew there was no danger here.
When his silver gaze met mine, the edge I’d been carrying since the attack eased.
Just as quickly, his eyes narrowed. In three large strides he crossed the room. His fingers were gentle as he lifted my face to admire the blossoming bruise painted across my face.
There was nothing gentle in his voice as he ground out, ‘Who did this to you?’
I shrugged like it didn’t matter a damn. ‘A dead man.’
I ignored Mum’s gasp of shock, focusing on the behemoth man in front of me who was vibrating with tension.
‘He’s dead?’
‘Yup.’ I deliberately took a noisy slurp from my can.
‘One minute,’ Robbie said. He turned on his heel and marched out.
‘Do we need to alibi you?’ Rupert asked into the silence.
‘No, I’ll report it in the morning. It was a stray vampyr. Self-defence. No evidence. No witnesses. No big deal.’
‘She’s so badass,’ Grant murmured to his husband.
‘Yeah.’ The pride in Julian’s voice warmed me.
Robbie returned with his duffel bag in tow. He slung it onto the table and rifled through it. ‘Here.’ He took out a jar of something. ‘Amber DeLea brewed it.’
Because I could still see the tension I’d injected into his frame, I took the jar without complaint. I paused. ‘Rupe, can you take some photos of my face, for the record?’
‘You got it.’ All hints of jocular charm were gone as he took various photos from various angles and distances. Rupert knew how to prepare evidence. ‘I’ll send them to you.’
Once my injuries were all neatly documented, I opened the jar and swiped the cool paste across my face. The relief was instant. I hadn’t been aware of the low-lying hum of pain until it was gone.
‘Thanks,’ I told Robbie as I screwed the lid back on.
‘Since when have you taken to carrying potions around with you?’ Ogres didn’t believe in healing potions, runes, or healing wizardry.
Maktel had said that carrying their pain was an odd pride thing, but Hanlon had confessed that with their fast healing, there was no point in paying through the nose for twenty-four hours of discomfort.
‘Since my fiancée is human,’ Robbie replied, looking me over.
‘I’m all right, Robbie.’
He moved closer, large hands cupping my face. He kept his voice whisper-soft, for my ears alone. ‘I still see the traces of fear in your eyes, Inspector. So don’t play it down, not to me.’
My throat tightened despite myself. ‘It wasn’t the attack that put the fear there.
I was walking on the same road I was kidnapped from.
It called back some daemons, but I stomped on them.
I was just putting it to bed when I got attacked.
I knew the attack itself was nothing I couldn’t handle,’ I said firmly.
‘But it … called back old memories.’ Old memories that still brought up visceral fear in me.
The fear was how I’d felt then, and no matter how strong I was now, that fear lingered in my memories, my nightmares.
‘My kaerasta. So strong,’ he said reverently. ‘So fierce. My hersmóeir.’
It was faintly weird for him to call me mother in any context, but mother of war wasn’t a maternal title but an honorary one. A reverential one.
The announcement of my new title, given and accepted, had shocked the ogres, but no one had challenged me yet, as Robbie had feared, and the number of challenges he faced had died down completely. Finally, he was giving them a mate. A human one but a mate all the same. A queen to his king.
It still felt unreal.
We just needed to set a date.
‘Robbie,’ Mum said, drawing his eyes to hers. ‘Do you need anything? Food? Drink?’
‘I’ve eaten. Thank you, Mrs Wise.’
‘Polly,’ she said sharply. ‘Or Mum, if you’d like.’
He stilled utterly.
‘Mum!’ I said, wincing in embarrassed consternation. ‘Ugh. Robbie, you don’t have to—’
Robbie crossed the distance to Mum and pulled her into a giant hug, lifting her off her feet as he held her closely. ‘I would like that,’ he said, voice muffled against her. ‘It may take me time to be able to say it, but I would like that – one day.’
She wrapped her arms around him. ‘No pressure, Robbie. Whenever you’re ready.’ She squeezed him. ‘I always wanted more children.’ Her eyes found Grant’s and Ava’s, her other potential in-law children. ‘And I’m truly blessed in the new ones coming to me now. My children have excellent taste.’
Grant and Julian exchanged glances, and as Robbie set Mum down, Grant cleared his throat. ‘Talking of children, Julian and I have an announcement we’d like to make.’ He pulled out his phone. ‘Let me get my parents on a call too.’
He video-called his parents in Australia.
‘Good morning, Grant!’ his mum sang as the phone connected. ‘Oh well, I guess it’s evening for you, isn’t it? Being from the future is so hard.’ Her tone was teasingly warm. She started to chatter about her choir group before his dad interrupted.
‘Hush and let the boy speak, Mary,’ Darius rumbled. ‘He’s at Polly’s house. He’s calling for a reason.’
‘That’s right! We have news,’ Grant said quickly. ‘We wanted to tell you all together, all at once.’ He absolutely beamed.
Jules leaned in and together they blurted, ‘We’ve passed!’
Grant continued, ‘We’ve been approved by the panel to become adopters!’
The room exploded into excited congratulations. Hugs were tossed around like confetti.
Through it all, my heart warmed. They’d waited until Robbie had arrived to share the good news with us all.