Chapter 41
Five voids, and another corpse I’d raised, and I hit the floor. Angel wrapped himself around me in our little borrowed office until I came to. He vibrated with anger, snapping at anyone who approached without food or medical knowledge.
It was my fault. The voids didn’t seem as draining as the ones with some piece of their spirit tethered.
The second zombie, though he hadn’t been anything more than pieces of ligaments attached to bones lying beneath a sheet, had only the barest spark of memory.
Not a soul, at least, not like Roan had been.
It left me with a brutal migraine and a lot of questions.
“Sorry,” I muttered.
“Rest,” Angel said. “I’ve got food coming.”
I sighed, not hungry, as the migraine made my stomach swirl with nausea.
“Did I give you his name?”
“Yes,” Angel said. The room sat in eerie darkness as the overhead had been shut off and only the glow from the computer buttons illuminated anything. “Bobby and Wade are pulling everything they can find on the two we identified.”
“I wanted to help more.”
“You have helped. More than anyone else,” he snapped.
I cringed, and tried to move out of his lap, which made me almost vomit.
“Stop. You’re fine. I’ve got you,” Angel said, rubbing my back.
“Not if you’re mad at me.”
“Why would I be mad?”
“Because I wanted to keep going. It was my fault.” I wasn’t dumb. A decade in homicide hadn’t only taught me how to study a scene; it taught me how to read people better than most. Angel’s body language read pissed, with a capital P.
“I wish you wouldn’t have pushed yourself.”
“And?” I prompted. “I didn’t know the last one would be one I’d raised and have something still attached.
At least it wasn’t an actual soul this time.
Not even a ghost. Just a memory. Poor guy.
” And if I wasn’t feeling like I needed to nap for a week, I’d have written up a profile already.
Consistencies meant they had a type, and we could put out a warning.
“I knew,” Angel sighed. “I could sense your magic waning.”
“Okay?”
“It means I’m not mad at you. I’m angry at myself.”
“Well, that’s not exactly productive, is it? I’m more of a ‘note the mistake, adjust, and keep moving’ kind of guy. Next time, we query one less corpse. Mental checkbox ticked—ding!”
He swallowed a half-laugh. “How can you joke when you look like death warmed over?”
“Warmed over? Damn, I was going for full ‘corpse chic.’” I weakly pumped my fist. “Necromancer Ken” superpower unlocked. Who do you think would win the ‘most pale’ contest? Me, or Victor?”
Angel huffed, his arms tightening around me. “You’re impossible.”
“And yet, you like me.” I let my head fall against his shoulder, closing my eyes. “Tell me you have more cake.”
“How about I make you cake?”
“Not sure I’d stay awake for it.”
“What if I come home with you, put you to bed, make cake, and then crawl in with you later with said cake?”
Oh, what a tempting devil he was. My brain, despite its exhaustion, perked up like a cat hearing the crinkle of a treat bag. “You and cake?” I cracked an eye open.
“Together, if you want.”
“That’s the most romantic threat I’ve ever heard. Don’t you dare spoil me this much, I’ll get used to it.”
Angel snorted, shifting his grip to help me sit up. “Come on, then. Time to get you home.”
I let out a dramatic sigh but allowed him to haul me to my feet. The room spun for a few seconds as I blinked through the vertigo. Angel held tight, steering me toward the door. He peeked out, then dragged me into the bright hallway, which made me wince and cover my eyes.
A set of dark glasses were adjusted over my ears, and I opened my eyes carefully to find darkening shades.
Angel tucked my hair down over the sides to block out some of the light at the edges, but I could see Victor lingering a few feet away.
He only glanced at me, his gaze lingering on Angel a few seconds longer before heading down the hall.
“Are these Victor’s?” I hissed, not wanting to borrow anything from the grumpy vampire who had a thing for my boyfriend. Was Angel my boyfriend? Holy fuck, everything was spinning again.
“Up,” Angel warned a half second before he lifted me in a bridal carry. “Tuck your face against my shirt to block out the light.”
If my gut hadn’t been twisting in knots, I might have protested. The cold night air bit into my skin as we stepped outside. Where had the day gone? Right, talking to dead people. I was going to have to get used to that.
“You drive,” I grumbled.
“I was going to anyway,” Angel said, walking to my car. “I don’t trust you not to fall asleep mid-turn or cruise through a red.”
“My confidence is soaring,” I deadpanned as he belted me into the passenger seat.
“You did amazing today. Five stars. Do you want gold stickers or cake?”
“Cake, duh.” Who would pick stickers over cake? Though, I could imagine Angel covered in stickers. That might be fun.
Angel shut my door, got in on his side, and started the car.
Linkin’ Park filtered through the radio, barely above the sound of the purring engine, but I closed my eyes, relaxing into the familiar alt-rock ballad.
I must have fallen asleep fast because the sudden buzz of my phone jolted me awake.
I blinked groggily at the glare of headlights streaking past as Angel navigated through rush-hour traffic.
My brain felt foggy, my limbs heavy, but something important nagged at me.
With a lot of uncoordinated fumbling, I wrestled my phone out of my back pocket, nearly dropping it in the process. When I finally got a look at the screen, my stomach lurched.
Ivan.
“Oh, fuck,” I muttered.
Angel shot me a quick, alarmed glance. “What?”
“I forgot about Ivan.”
His shoulders relaxed a little, the tension easing as he processed my anxiety. “One of Xavier’s guys can bring him home.”
But the text wasn’t from one of Xavier’s guys, it was from Ivan himself:
Staying with Xavier tonight. That okay?
Was it? Ivan was still a kid. Should he be staying the night with Xavier, who was basically a supernatural powerhouse?
“Is Xavier safe?” I asked, frowning at my phone.
Angel made a thoughtful noise. “Depends on what you mean by ‘safe.’”
I turned to him, my concern growing. “Safe, as in… he’s not some kind of creep that I shouldn’t trust with my baby brother overnight, right?”
Angel snorted. “Oh, he’s definitely a creep, but not that kind of creep. Ivan’s fine with him, I promise. If it makes you feel better, I can have Wade check in on him.”
That helped a little. I exhaled, then typed out a quick reply to Ivan:
Call if you need me. Be safe.
A moment later, my phone buzzed again. Ivan had responded with a cat face emoji.
I stared at it for a second. “I have no idea what that one means.”
Angel barely held back a laugh, glancing at my screen. “He’s fine.”
I sighed, letting my head thump back against the seat. “This is why I never planned to be a parent.”
“At least this kid arrived mostly grown,” Angel teased as he exited the highway and turned onto the ramp toward my place. “Since the kid is gone, it’s okay for me to come up?”
“You promised me cake.”
“With, or without me covered in it?”
My cock went from zero to six hundred percent ready at the image he conjured up. “No fair, teasing when I’m headachy and exhausted.”
“You can nap while I bake.”
I sighed and relaxed back into the seat.
“Sleep. I’ll wake you when we get there.”
“It’s hard to stay mad at you,” I grumbled, closing my eyes.
“Why would you be mad at me?”
“For not telling me the bonding is dangerous for you.”
He breathed out a long breath. “You’re pretty skittish. The last thing I want is to scare you away before we get a chance to try.”
“If you keep being this nice to me, I just might fall for you,” I admitted. Though it was a partial lie as I was already falling hard for him.
He threw me a soft smile. “Close your eyes, baby.”
I sighed, and shut them, thinking to ease the headache, but must have fallen asleep that fast because he was rousing me what felt like seconds later.
“I can carry you if you want,” he offered.
I grumbled something I wasn’t certain I understood, but got out of the car to lean on him all the way up to my place. The thought of lying down without him made my anxiety rise. “Come to bed?”
“What about your cake?” he asked as he locked the door behind us and helped me kick off my shoes.
“Later.” Would it sound too needy to say I wanted him to hold me while I slept? Thankfully, he didn’t make me say it. He guided me to the bedroom, stripping me of everything except my boxers and tucking me under the blankets before undressing himself and crawling in beside me.
Sleep tugged me down before he’d completely settled next to me, Peanut Butter chirping with happiness at him as I drifted off, feeling safe and hopeful to keep the man currently wrapped around me.