31. Everything’s Fine Now, Right?
Everything’s Fine Now, Right?
Idon’t get the chance to find out from Micah why Selene seems to have a vendetta against me.
When I wake the next morning, disoriented for a moment before I remember where I am and whose bed I’m in, there’s a Werewolf standing over me.
Well, a Were in human form. I’m even more confused to see my boyfriend in Micah’s bedroom than realizing I am. My heart jolts as I sit up, words caught on my tongue as I shove away the cover and sheet tangled around my legs.
Then I’m in his arms, and he’s lifting me against him, shaking.
‘God, Eve, I’ve never been as afraid in my life as when Micah told me you were missing and who had you.
And I’m sorry I left you there. I should have stayed.
’ His hand buries itself in my hair, my legs clamping tightly around his waist as I press my face into his neck. He’s not the only one shaking.
‘You were right to go after Selene. Did you…?’ I leave it hanging, my voice muffled as he holds me tightly. I assume if she were dead, Micah would have informed me.
Jake pulls back, my arms and legs wrapped around him as he holds me up.
‘Gone.’ It comes out as a frustrated growl, his eyes flaring green and amber. ‘I promise you, I’ll find her.’
‘About…,’ the words stick in my throat. He’s looking at me with a huge smile on his face and so much love in his eyes. ‘About this.’ I nod my head at the bedroom that’s clearly not the guest room.
‘If I didn’t trust you, Eve, I never would have gone after Selene. I wouldn’t have left you with him. And…I’m glad the bloodsucker survived. He looked in pretty bad shape.’
I can’t tell him I gave Micah my blood. It’s too private, too personal, too raw and intimate, and infinitely dangerous.
‘He was. We had to get him to blood fast,’ I tell him instead. It’s the truth, and I hope he can’t read the half-lie in my eyes.
‘It’s a good thing the Coven stocks it then.’ Jake lowers me to the ground, and I take him in. He’s wearing a black t-shirt with a band he loves, and faded jeans with rips in the legs. I don’t see any cuts or bruises, but he is a Lyco with fast healing.
Jake bends down and tilts my chin up with one hand, pulling me against his muscled frame with the other. I see happiness, relief, and desire mingling as he grips my waist and leans in to kiss me.
I reel away from him in a knee-jerk reaction. But I can’t kiss Jake here, in Micah’s bedroom. My emotions are a tangled mess. To cover them, I grab his hand and pull him out of the bedroom, down the hallway, and into the living area.
‘Is there any coffee around here?’ Jake asks, setting himself up at the breakfast bar.
I’m surprised he’s so relaxed. He’s a Werewolf in a Coven full of Vampires.
That he came here for me speaks volumes.
He hasn’t even commented on what I’m wearing.
It’s not indecent, but the silk clings to me, sliding over my skin as I move.
A smile spreads across my face, hope a warm glow radiating through my veins.
Maybe the past few weeks were just a bump in the road for us.
‘There’s always coffee.’ I turn on the automated espresso machine and push a few buttons.
Vamps may not eat, but they enjoy vices such as caffeine and alcohol. It just doesn’t have the same effect on them as it does on humans.
I’m breathing in the sweetest fragrance on earth when the apartment door opens.
Micah hands me a shiny carrier bag with new clothes inside, his eyes traveling over me.
If Jake notices, he ignores it. It means a lot that he’s trying so hard to make it work between us.
After everything the three of us have been through in the past twenty-four hours, jealousy feels like a wasted emotion.
‘I’ll just…get dressed.’ Still, I’m feeling awkward and unsure, blushing like a teenager with my first boyfriend, not wanting to leave him alone with my father. Except I have feelings for both of them, and although they seem to have a truce going, I doubt it will last.
I quickly pull on skinny jeans and a short-sleeved silk shirt over new underwear.
It’s ridiculous for me to blush as I shimmy into a thong and matching bra that fit perfectly.
I doubt Micah went out and bought them himself.
But this is the second set he’s procured for me, and clearly he knows my size.
The Vampire is leaning against the kitchen counter when I reenter the living area, while Jake is standing with his hands clenched at his sides, coffee mug forgotten.
The silence is loaded, the atmosphere screaming with testosterone and predator.
I look with visceral longing at my own abandoned coffee before deciding it’s safer to leave it and the Coven behind.
With a sigh and a censuring glance toward Micah, I head for the door.
Jake exits first, and I pause, turning back to Micah and his inscrutable expression.
‘Thank you, Micah.’ It seems inadequate with all that’s between us.
The door closes, and the Vampire is across the room, holding my arms before I can think about the fact that my boyfriend is now trapped on the other side of it.
‘I saved your life. Now you’ve saved mine.’ His seductively low voice is predatory, possessive as he backs me against the door.
‘So, what? Now we’re even?’ I let a hint of a smile show, trying to defuse the tension that’s ratcheted up. His hands are a cold fire where they rest against my exposed skin.
‘Oh no,’ Micah bends close, and I know exactly why he shut my boyfriend out. ‘You still owe me dinner, Evangeline.’ His hands slide up my arms to the nape of my neck and into my hair.
I know I should object, should move out of his embrace, away from his electric touch. But I don’t want to. Words stick in my throat as my heart pounds a relentless beat he’s all too aware of.
‘Saturday. I’ll send a car for you.’ His eyes are the night sky filled with stars, his voice a velvet caress against my skin, vibrating through me.
Before I can answer, his hands move from my hair to the door, as he towers over me, so close we’re almost touching, as I try my damnedest not to react.
Jake and I are back in a good place. We have some work to do, but what couple doesn’t? I never thought Micah was the type to play games, to toy with my heart. He didn’t want it when I offered it to him on a silver platter, and I should tell him to stop whatever the hell this is.
‘I have to go.’ Wow, that was the height of a good comeback.
Micah only smiles, fangs flashing. My treacherous body remembers exactly what they felt like inside my neck. His smile widens as he leans down. His mouth on my throat is cool, and it takes everything in me to stay perfectly still as his teeth scrape over the sensitive skin there.
Then he’s gone.
I push away from the door and wrench it open.
Jake is waiting for me on the other side. He stays silent when he sees my frown, and somehow I can’t bring myself to tell him about dinner with Micah.
The next few days are hectic, with tying up loose ends, explaining, and placating.
The last is mostly to Vincent Rodriguez. He wanted to take vengeance himself, but Tim convinces him to see reason.
Nahaz is dead at the hands of Jake; Ashrael isn’t coming back to this dimension, or plane of existence, or whatever; and Selene may have escaped, but Micah will eventually deal with her, even if it takes centuries.
The Vampire has placed a death mark on her.
There’s no city in the world where she can safely go.
In the meantime, what can the Cartel do?
Hunt her down? They may have power in this city, but I can guarantee she’s no longer here and won’t be back anytime soon.
Finally, Vincent seems satisfied. I think it was when I told him he would have to stand in line behind me.
Murdering my parents trumps great-nephew or whatever Jason was to him.
He offers to help with a calculating smile, and we shake on it.
He will go back to running his illegal enterprises, and Vice can try to shut him down. The status quo is firmly back in place.
Janus still wants Jake’s Pack, but he’s pulled back now that Jake is a hero to all the Weres. He doesn’t like to talk about it, but word got out that he tore apart the Necromancer. So, no Pack war for now.
Captain Butch Buchanan is thrilled with the outcome.
There’s a press conference with the Mayor, which Jake and Micah decline to attend, but I have no say in.
I receive a medal, and I insist they give Tim one as well.
All I did that he didn’t was get kidnapped as bait for a vendetta forged thousands of years before I was born.
As far as I’m concerned, we solved this case together.
I also make sure Ruby gets props for her stellar autopsy results and finding integral pieces of the puzzle.
Green and Gold get a shout-out, and that makes the department even happier because they’re already legends.
It’s a win for both Homicide and the PPS.
The higher-ups are just relieved that the case is now closed.
They gloss over Selene’s part in the murders, focusing on Nahaz as the villain.
His turning to Death Magic through necromancy is downplayed.
Raising a Daemon would instill too much fear, even after the fact, so the official story is that he used Magic to grow claws and commit atrocious murders for some unknown reason.
The media loves a juicy story; they don’t care if it’s accurate.
The emphasis is now on how Witches need to be forced to sign the World Treaty for the safety of humanity. New Orleans is under immense pressure from the President and the World Council, along with multiple other world leaders.
My partner and I ignore all the bureaucracy. We’re ready to move on to our next case.
Ruby and I go out one night in honor of Lila, drink too much, dance our asses off at her favorite club, and end up crying on the Skyway in an autocar high above the city on the way home.