Chapter 14
Zaos
To say I was freaking out would be a massive understatement. I wasn’t sure I’d ever been so terrified in my life. Perhaps when Hugo had been kidnapped a few months ago, but at least then I’d known what was going on. I’d known who our enemy was.
But now? Now, I had no fucking clue, and one of our friends was already dead. Gone. Just… fucking gone.
It could’ve been Hugo. For all I knew, the assassin was a terrible shot and had been aiming for Hugo in the first place.
I knew that wasn’t rational.
The shot that’d killed Phia had been right smack in the very center of her forehead. There was no way she hadn’t been the target.
But still… she’d been standing right next to Hugo.
What if the gunman had missed? What if Hugo had unknowingly stepped in front of Phia, blocking her?
Would he have been shot just to get a clear view of the real target?
Did the gunman even care who he shot as long as somebody died?
What if she’d been chosen at random? What if she was shot for some terrible reason, and now that the gunman saw Hugo with her, he’d be next?
Or if the gunman thought she gave Hugo information—since she was likely killed to keep her quiet—and now Hugo was on the hit list?
Did the gunman have their sights on my viramore?
That thought sent a cold chill down my spine, and I actually shivered.
“Hey.” Hugo’s soft voice snapped my attention straight to him.
“You okay?”
He patted my chest and snuggled into my side even farther. “I’m fine. Really. I’m not even injured.”
“Maybe not physically.”
He gave a dip of his head in acknowledgment, perhaps agreement. “Well, let’s just concentrate on that right now, okay? We’re both okay. We’re safe. We’re together.”
I wasn’t sure I’d call riding in a car safe exactly, but considering who was in the car with us, I supposed we were.
I sucked in a deep breath, then decided I needed more Hugo smell and buried my nose in his hair as I breathed deeply and nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I’m having… a hard time…”
He patted my chest again. “It’s alright, love. We’re all shaken up. Let’s just…” He trailed off and hugged me tighter, so I tightened my hold on him too, watching the streets pass by.
My grandparents were in the front seats with Grandpa driving—probably so Granddad could keep an eye out and blast anything that even looked at us funny—and I knew they were just as freaked out about the situation as I was. But Hugo was right. We were alright. We were together.
We were as safe as we could be.
And in about two minutes, we’d be a thousand percent safe in our wards with no way for anyone bad to get to us.
Now, if only I could convince Hugo to stay inside the wards forever and ever and ever.
I held him tightly the rest of the way, and as soon as we passed through the wards, I was pretty sure everyone in the car, even Hugo, breathed a sigh of relief.
I kept holding onto him as we got out and walked into the house. Usually, he was so independent that he’d push me off playfully and say he could walk himself. But he was leaning on me, actually accepting the help, and as much as I appreciated that he was letting me help, it was making me worried.
He must’ve been feeling… all kinds of things right now, and I hated that he’d been there when someone did that to poor Phia.
Hugo and I sat on the couch, cuddled up in the corner, and Granddad and Grandpa took the loveseat, both of them staring at us for a long time.
After about five minutes, I was surprised it was Grandpa who broke first. I’d expected Granddad to freak out on us and start demanding answers.
Grandpa’s voice was quiet and calm as he asked, “Hugo? Do you think you’re up to telling us what happened?”
Hugo swallowed hard before sitting up a little to face them, but he stayed squished right against me.
“Um… yeah. I… uh, I was cleaning up at the bar and saw Phia standing outside the window. I thought it was weird, but when she waved me out, I figured it was important. So I went to meet her out there, but when I got there, she was kinda running around the side of the building. I followed her to the, uh, to the alley where…”
He trailed off and swallowed hard again. “She was crying, so I asked her what was wrong and if Key was okay. She said he was fine but that she only liked him as a friend—that she wasn’t in love with him. I thought she was trying to get me to break up with him for her or something, but she wasn’t.”
He swallowed hard and a tear leaked from his eye.
He wiped it away absently, but more came as he continued to speak.
“She… she said something about being tired of pretending and that they made her do it even though she didn’t want to.
She didn’t say who they were, but she started to say, um, I think that maybe she was saying she isn’t—wasn’t—who we think she is—was.
But she, um… well… it happened before she could finish. ”
I pulled Hugo back into my arms as my grandparents absorbed the information. Eventually, Grandpa said, “Thank you for telling us, Hugo.”
Hugo nodded.
Granddad cleared his throat and asked, “You said she was crying, right?”
Hugo nodded again.
“Did she look sad or scared? Or both? Could you tell what her mood was?”
Hugo thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. “She looked mostly sad, but she kept glancing around like she was afraid someone else would hear her, so I guess she was scared too.”
Granddad nodded. “So she knew they were after her, but she probably didn’t expect to be assassinated.”
Hugo flinched at the word, and Grandpa tapped Granddad’s knee before he stood and pulled him to his feet. To us, Grandpa said, “We’re going to check in with the others and figure out where Kian is. You two stay right here and relax.”
“You’re bringing Key here, right?” I asked, knowing Hugo also wanted to see my brother.
Grandpa nodded. “Yes. He needs his family.” I nodded, and he hesitated, then asked, “Do you want something to eat?”
Hugo shook his head, so I did too.
Grandpa sighed. “Alright. I’ll bring you both some water at least.”
Only a minute later, he had glasses of water and a handful of snacks from our pantry in his arms. He put them on the coffee table, then gave us each a shoulder squeeze before rejoining Granddad in the kitchen.
“Do you need anything?” I whispered to my viramore.
He shook his head. “No… just… stay with me.”
“Always.”
It took another hour to find Kian. He’d been out on a mission with his BCA team, and even though my granddad called Key’s boss, they hadn’t wanted to pull him in the middle of some top secret… thing.
I had no idea what he was involved with, but it was pretty shitty that he hadn’t been pulled for a true emergency, and my grandparents were pissed.
Both of them made a bunch of calls and yelled at a ton of people—even Grandpa yelled, which was weird and so rare to see—and I didn’t blame them. I was pissed too. It was bullshit.
He should’ve been pulled immediately, unless he was in the middle of a literal battle, which from the sounds of it, he hadn’t been. His girlfriend had been murdered, for fuck’s sake.
When Granddad finally got hold of Kian, he told him to come here as quickly as he could.
He hadn’t wanted to tell him over the phone because Kian was alone.
Well, he had his team there, but he didn’t know any of them well since he’d only just started working with them.
Granddad and Grandpa knew Kian wouldn’t want to break down in front of those people, and they knew he’d need support.
So now we were waiting for my brother to come through my kitchen door. He had to drive back to coven land and walk through the portal, so we knew it was going to take at least twenty minutes, but those twenty minutes felt like a lifetime.
Luckily, my dads were with my brother, having met him at the office or something. So I was sure he was suspicious as hell, but I was glad they’d met up with him before coming here.
The second Kian came in, Hugo surprised me by jumping up and rushing over to him. He threw his arms around Kian’s waist—probably because Key was so much taller. To my brother’s credit, he looked surprised but didn’t hesitate to hug Hugo back.
Both my dads came to stand on either side of me with an arm around my back as we watched the two of them.
Hugo sobbed out, “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so, so, so sorry, Key. I couldn’t… there wasn’t anything… I’m so sorry.”
Now Kian looked worried. “What? What happened? Are you okay?”
“Phia… they… they shot her.”
Kian stiffened, and for a second, I was worried he was going to push Hugo away and shift or something, but all he did was whisper, “Is she… is she… okay?”
Granddad stepped forward and wrapped his arms around both Kian and Hugo as he said, “No, Key, she… she didn’t make it.”
Kian’s eyes watered. “Wh-what? What do you… no. She’s not… she can’t be…”
Hugo let out a loud sob, and something about it must’ve made Kian realize Phia was really gone because a loud whine came out of his throat, and he tucked his head down on top of Hugo’s as he began to sob.
Granddad held them both, and even though he wasn’t sobbing the way my brother and viramore were, there were tears running down his cheeks.
Grandpa joined the hug clump, so I walked over and inserted myself in there too, making sure I had one hand on Hugo and one on Kian.
Then my dads joined in on the hug pile, and Key cried even harder.
Hearing him cry like that made my own eyes water fiercely.
I hated hearing my baby brother in pain. Hated it so fucking much.
I had no idea how long we stayed there like that, crying and trying to comfort each other, but it was a while before we finally parted. As soon as we did, I couldn’t help but pull my baby brother back into a hug.
He clung to me so hard, and it broke my heart all over again.
I held him even tighter and rubbed his back and just… made sure he knew I was here for him. I didn’t know what else to do. There really was nothing else to do.
After a bit, we parted, and Kian looked around at us all, asking, “What happened?”
Hugo started to respond, but Grandpa draped an arm over his shoulders and told the story himself so Hugo wouldn’t have to.
Since my viramore was safe and seemed content with Grandpa, I joined my dads and brother and concentrated on Kian and then held him tight after he’d heard the whole story and began crying again.
As soon as I released him, our dads held onto Kian for a long, long time, and I felt helpless. There was nothing I could do to help him, to make him feel better.
As soon as I had the thought, my pops reached over to grab me, pulled me into his side, and kissed my temple, whispering, “We’ve got you… all of you.”
I nodded against him and let him sweep me back into a group hug with Dad and Kian.
My little sister, Virion, showed up with a group of our cousins and a ton of food in hand.
Virion took Kian from us, hugging him for a long time.
So I let them have their moment, and after pressing a kiss to the top of each of their heads, I walked across the kitchen, leaned against the counter, and pulled Hugo in front of me.
I pressed his back to my chest, wrapped my arms around his waist, and the two of us watched the chaos unfold as more and more of our family showed up.
Someone set up a bunch of chairs in the living and dining rooms, and more people put up a ton of tables and chairs in our backyard after Granddad and Grandpa did their wild magic stuff to make sure the weather wouldn’t mess anything up, blocking the rain that was sure to come in the morning… which was only a few hours away.
I wasn’t surprised in the least by my family stepping up like this for both Hugo and Kian, but it was clear that Hugo hadn’t expected it at all. His eyes seemed to grow wider with every passing second as more people filed into our home.
Jett and Ward came over straight from the bar—they’d been held back to be interviewed by the police and BCA agents, so they were there for a few extra hours.
They both walked into the kitchen and settled in beside us, and after a minute, Jett said, “Wow. I… did not expect all of this.”
“Me neither,” Hugo said.
“Well, at least they brought a ton of food with them.”
“Don’t they always?”
That made me snort, and Hugo cracked a smile. I kissed his temple and shot Jett a grateful look.
Ward quietly asked, “How’s your brother doing?”
I let out a long sigh. “He’s hanging in there, I think. I’m not sure it’s quite hit him yet.”
Hugo said, “He’s going to be so heartbroken when it finally does… especially if… especially if he finds out what she said.”
I kissed the side of his head and gave him a squeeze. “Let’s not worry about that right now, yeah? We’re all here, we’re all safe. Let’s let our family take care of us for a while and let everything else go.”
He sighed out a loud breath. “I’ll try.”
“Good.” I kissed him again. “Let’s grab some food… if you think you can eat?”
He nodded. “I haven’t eaten anything in about a million hours, so it’s probably good to try.” He turned his head to face me. “But it’s the middle of the night, aren’t they all going to want to sleep at some point?”
“Well, most of the little kids are already set up in our guest room having a sleepover type of thing, and I’m sure some of the adults will crash in the living room, including my grandparents—”
“Your grandparents can’t sleep on the sofas. Aren’t they like a million years old? Won’t it hurt them?”
I couldn’t help but snort at that. “They’re not that old, and we have a few air mattresses they can set up.
It’ll be fine. Most of them will go back through the portal and stay at their homes or in the big house, and they’ll come back over as soon as they wake up.
There’s nothing you or I need to do or worry about right now.
Like I said, let’s let them take care of us for a while, okay? ”
He blew out another breath. “Yeah… yeah, okay. Um… can we go sit with Key?”
“Yeah, isa mezelie, I think that’s a wonderful idea.”