LAILAH
THIRTY-TWO
The boys didn’t return before I went to bed, but I woke up with an arm wrapped around my waist, making me smile.
Rolling over, I opened my mouth to wake Brayden up but found Micah’s sleeping face instead.
I paused, giving my brain a moment to catch up to the fact that someone new was sleeping in my bed.
The scowl that was on his face ninety percent of the time was gone, and he even had the hint of a smile on his lips.
Gently, I took a finger and brushed his chocolate locks out of his face to get a better look.
He’d always been handsome to me, but after what we had been through this past week, I saw deeper than face value.
The man he kept trying to hide from the world was far more attractive to me than his outward appearance, as wonderful as it was.
At my touch, he began to stir, so I rested my head on my arm and just studied him while I could.
All too soon, his eyes fluttered open, and in the soft morning light, the sapphire color of them was breathtaking.
“Good morning,” I whispered, not wanting to break the moment.
He grunted, shifted to pull me closer to him, and buried his head further into the pillow.
“Not that I really mind waking up to find you in my bed, but what brings you to these parts?” I asked, running my fingers through his thick hair.
“Nope, too early, come back later with your questions,” Micah said, his voice muffled from the pillow.
I giggled and relaxed into the bed, enjoying the moment. A few minutes later, Brayden walked into the room with a wide smile on his face as he saw us together and walked over to me, placing a gentle kiss on my lips. “Good morning, Angel.”
“Hi,” I said, rolling over to give him another peck on the lips. “You guys made it back late last night. Have too much fun without us?”
“I could say the same about you,” Brayden said, his smile shifting into a scowl. “Don’t think we didn’t notice the purification rites you did around the property. What happened, and why didn’t you call me?”
I snuggled farther into the bed to get away from the wave of disappointment and hurt that Brayden was sending me through our connection.
I knew he might be irritated that I didn’t tell him right away what happened last night, but I didn’t want to cause any more problems when he was with his family.
Once he knew, he would have left and come back to the house, and there was no reason he needed to do that.
Micah and I had managed just fine on our own.
I had maneuvered myself so I was hidden by the blanket and back shrouded by Micah’s body.
Feeling Micah shift, I was caught completely by surprise when he planted his foot in the middle of my back and shoved me out of bed.
I landed on the floor with a thud and a yelp, while Brayden smirked down at me.
Micah’s face appeared over me from the bed, his scowl in full form. “Don’t you dare use me to hide from your problems. I was the one who said we needed to call them; you told me not to.”
Gaping at Micah, I sat up, irritation bursting through me. “You agreed that we had it handled! There was nothing they could have done once we fixed everything the Dark Lord had burned.”
“What?” Brayden barked, drawing both our attention to him. “Get dressed now,” he said, turning on his heel and leaving the room.
“Oooh, someone’s in trouble with Daddy Brayden,” Micah chuckled.
I scrunched up my face. “Don’t ever call him that again—ew.”
Picking myself up off the floor as Micah laughed at me, I grabbed my clothes and headed for the bathroom to get ready.
After scrubbing my face, I looked in the mirror and studied my reflection.
Was it really that wrong of me not to tell him right away?
It wasn’t like I hadn’t planned on sharing, I just wanted to do it when they got home.
They were the ones who got back so late.
Making my way to the kitchen, I found them all standing around the counter, arms crossed and frowning.
Parker even seemed upset with me as he held one of the cookies I’d made last night for him.
I needed tea if we were going to start the day like this.
Ignoring them, I bustled around until I had a steaming mug of chai made.
I sat at the kitchen table and turned the chair to my jury.
“Okay, I’m ready; let me have it.” I sighed.
I could see Brayden fighting to keep control, his jaw clenched and eyes narrowed at me. Micah just looked bored as he sat at the counter, sipping his coffee and watching the other four. Jay, of course, was the hardest one to read, but there was a slight downturn to his lips that spoke volumes.
Hudson, as always, took the high road and stepped forward to break the silence. “Having been newly introduced to our world, I’m not sure you understand the implications of what it means that the Dark Lord showed up here yesterday.”
I knew Hudson wasn’t trying to make me sound stupid, but having them all turn on me like this was getting my feathers ruffled. “Oh? So you’ve met him before?”
Hudson’s brows furrowed at my remark. “No, no one has seen the Dark Lord since Aiden Ryevick’s time.”
“Then let me just tell you that he certainly leaves an impression on you,” I snapped.
“Apparently, he gives you nightmares too,” Micah added. “I could only get you to calm down by holding your hand—that’s how I ended up in your bed, FYI.”
“Let’s back up and start with what happened after we left,” Hudson said, sitting down at the table with me and motioning for the others to do the same.
I huffed and took a sip of my tea before I got into it.
“Micah and I watched some TV, drank, and ate snacks. Then out of nowhere, the Dark Lord popped out of the TV and started to brainwash me into turning to the dark side. It was almost as if he was planting ideas and thoughts in my head. Just when he was about to place some crazy hex on me, my power freaked out and blasted him across the room. Then I got pissed and started yelling at him, so he threatened me and lit the room on fire.” I paused a moment to take a deep breath.
“Micah managed to turn the demon fire into normal fire and control it. We combined our powers together and apparently purified the whole mountain. I didn’t even know that was a thing. ”
“Wait, the Dark Lord tried to burn down the house?” Parker interrupted. “How come there's no sign of that even happening?”
“It would seem that when you fix things that a demon ruined, it brings it back to its original state or better. We managed to fix any problem that was caused by a demon anywhere on this mountain,” I answered, grinning because it really was kind of a cool trick.
“Why haven’t we been able to do that before?” Parker demanded, looking at Hudson.
Hudson removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, ignoring Parker before he looked at me.
“I can see that you have no idea how close you came to dying or even being turned into a demon-possessed puppet, Lailah. This is not something you should have kept from us; we deserve to know if anything this important happens. We are a team, and that means we have to do this together.”
“You guys are acting like I wasn’t going to tell you at all. If you guys gave me a minute to explain myself without jumping down my throat, I would have shared what else we figured out last night,” I grumbled, slouching in my chair.
They all looked at me expectantly.
“Oh, now you're ready to listen?” I asked, raising a brow at them. “Fine, while you guys were working on stuff at Brayden’s house, Micah and I looked into things ourselves. We took all the data that you guys gathered and added in the information that the Dark Lord slipped up and gave me. Mainly, the point where he said the Elementi are not as impenetrable as we think.”
Hudson froze and then looked at Brayden over his shoulder.
“Care to share with me what you guys found? Because I have a feeling that it might be tied to what we know,” I said, resting my chin on my hand.
Brayden came to sit on the other side of me, and I turned my focus on him. “Remember that Charlotte told us that Mom was working on a new project? Well, Hudson was able to sneak into her office and get a good look at what it was.”
“And…” I encouraged when he stopped talking.
“It’s a new drug that helps make the brain more open to suggestion,” Hudson answered.
“Wait, what?” I said, jerking back from both of them. “I was going to tell you guys that Ms. Tabitha was the spy in your house. Now it makes sense why they need her to be there, though.”
“Back up, what do you mean Ms. Tabitha is a spy? For who?” Brayden said, grabbing my arm.
“The Dark Lord told me that his plans were set in motion and that the Elementi were not as powerful as they thought. What he didn’t know is that he let the thought slip that someone was in place in one of the families,” I said.
“That still doesn't add up to it being Ms. Tabitha. She was checked out by the Elementi and has been with our family for two years now,” Brayden challenged, his eyes wide with fear.
“Think about it. When did your mom start to lose it? I know your brother’s death was the trigger, but your mom—from what everyone has told me—seemed to be able to manage her mental illness with medication.
Now she is totally losing it. That, and when we asked to go sledding, your mom was so involved in her work that she didn’t even notice that Charlotte and I were in the room.
Ms. Tabitha told us to go have fun, and she would make sure your mom knew where we went,” I said and watched the understanding light in his eyes.
“Ms. Tabitha must have also been the one to tell Mom what happened. I couldn’t figure out who would have told her or why. None of us would have, and she also could have sent the demons after us while we were there,” Brayden said, finally connecting the dots.