Epilogue
EPILOGUE
Olivia adjusted quickly to life in Babel Tower, and Leo overnight became a girl-dad, which meant she had him wrapped around her finger. Not that he really spoiled her—Tower took care of that—but if she said, “Wanna play?” he played. If she wanted a story, he read. Snuggling to watch a cartoon movie? He’d been missing out.
Even better, Ruth stuck around.
He’d not been sure she would. After all, with the relic taken care of, she had no reason to stay. He’d been a coward, though, and not broached it for a week after their return. In his defense, she didn’t bring it up. On the contrary, when Ruth wasn’t hanging out with him or Olivia—who’d taken a shine and opened up about her experience—she was in the library, usually talking to someone.
Not warriors, he should add. Tower had chosen to send her some of the other usually invisible inhabitants. Apparently, Tower collected people who didn’t fit in with modern society—those traumatized by a monstrous event, hybrids that didn’t have enough humanity to fit in, the specially gifted who struggled to cope—and many of them had issues that benefited from having a resident shrink.
Still, he had kind of kidnapped her from her old life, hence why he broached the subject finally after Olivia went to bed.
“So, I guess you’ll be wanting to go home.”
“You want me to leave?”
“No!”
She arched a brow. “Would you like me to stay?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He frowned. “That’s it. What about your house and stuff? Your practice? Your life?”
“My house is not a home. It can be rented or sold. As for my patients, I can recommend them to other therapists. My life…” She paused. “I didn’t really have one until you came along.”
“You want to stay?” He hesitated. “With me?”
“Yes. I love you.” She stated it baldly, and he stared at her in shock.
“You do?”
“I know it’s hard to believe. After all, you did kidnap me, and you do snore, but I love you in spite of the fact we’re complete opposites.”
“I love you too,” he blurted out.
“I know.”
“But I’m still messed up.”
“With good reason. We both are, but together, you and I can do anything.”
“Anything?” he repeated with a mischievous grin.
Which was how he got his Buttercup playing paintball—and lost.
In his defense, she flashed her tits, and while he ogled, she blasted him.
Then felt so bad she kissed him better.
Best loss ever.
Capricorn kind of knew what to expect when Aries called him into his office. Sage already sat in a chair, hands resting over her rounded belly.
“So, we have a mission for you,” Aries started to say.
“Hell yeah. My turn to Indiana Jones the shit out of the next artifact. Yeehaw.” Capricorn rubbed his hands together.
“Not exactly,” Aries replied. “Seems like Cetus already has it in their custody. Your job is to extract it from their secret base in Area 51.”
The statement raised Capricorn’s brow. “Um, isn’t that like an old military installation, meaning I can’t beam in—or out?”
“Yes. Plus, it’s going to be guarded to the nines.”
The info brought a frown. “Then how exactly am I supposed to retrieve it? We going in with the whole gang?”
“No, just you,” Aries stated.
It was Sage who next murmured, “I’m afraid, for this next task to work, you’ll have to be captured.”
His jaw dropped. “You want me to lose on purpose?” The very idea made him cringe.
“It’s the only way to win,” Sage replied. “Yours is the most important task, because if you fail, the world dies with you.”
No pressure.
Fuck.
Will Capricorn succeed on his quest? What will happen if the third relic is released? Find out in the next book, Capture of Capricorn .