Chapter 17 #3
“There was a magic user. She was cuckoo as cocoa puffs. When she was running away, there was a slash of green light.” Nix volunteers the information while digging around in Finn’s medical bag. He comes up with a bar of Grayson’s favorite chocolate.
“You didn’t say that you could see magic!” Jay accuses.
“Well, I was…ugh…” Nix stuffs two squares into his mouth.
“Glowed up,” Leo whispers.
Finn’s soft, capable fingers are pressing around Leo’s head.
“Well, yeah. Makes it easier to see that shit.” Nix offers the rest to Grayson and wanders away, following his nose into the shrubs behind the car.
Glowed up means open to the Goddess’s access to The Plain. He’d have needed it not to get sucked into whatever the other guy had been rolling out.
Grayson eats two pieces, wondering if he shouldn’t make sure someone isn’t lurking, or that Nix hasn’t chased down the SUV, anyway.
“Jaybird, can you help him lie down?” Finn asks.
Jay gets out of Finn’s way, and his eyes find Grayson. He crosses the space between them in three strides and cups Grayson’s face, thumb sweeping along his jaw like he is checking for damage without letting himself panic.
“You okay?” Jay asks.
The words catch on the truth. His ribs are on fire, and the whole debacle flashes through his mind. Another prophecy, another crazy villain they don’t know about. Another chance for someone to interfere with Grayson’s family.
“No,” he says honestly.
Then he looks past Jay to where Gideon is walking in the parking lot. Tracking the SUV, every blood trace, occasionally sticking his nose in the air. He’s examining the empty lot that could have been a graveyard, and something in him straightens, anyway.
Thunder and petrichor ride the breeze ahead of Gideon as he strolls toward them. His face is serene, but his scent says he is all the way pissed off.
“You let them leave,” he says finally, voice flat.
Jay doesn’t flinch. “We let them run.”
A sharp narrowing of Gideon’s eyes. “Semantics.”
From somewhere near the shrubs, Nix makes a little offended noise, and then—before Grayson can track him—he’s there at Gideon’s side like he was poured out of the sunlight.
Cheeks still flushed from the fight, grey eyes bright as hell, hair slightly mussed, a faint smear of grime on his jaw that makes him look pleased with himself.
Too pleased with himself.
When Gideon’s gaze drops to him, the tension in his shoulders shifts.
Nix opens his mouth.
Without looking away from the street, Gideon holds up a finger. “No.”
Still staring at the road as if the SUV might reappear if he glares hard enough, he adds, “Quiet, Kitten.”
Nix’s eyes widen, delighted. This is Nix’s second favorite game.
Dry as dust, Finn says, “Oh, come on. Now? Seriously? Leo needs a CT, and I haven’t even looked at Grayson yet.”
Gideon ignores him. He points, sharply, toward where the SUV had peeled out. “They were here. In my territory. In broad daylight.”
Jay’s voice is low, controlled in a way Grayson has learned to fear and adore in equal measure. “They thought we’d just hand him over. That we’d be scared.”
A slow breath out through Gideon’s nose. “They thought you’d be scared,” he corrects, and his gaze flicks to Grayson, just for a heartbeat. “Which is cute.”
Grayson huffs a laugh that turns into a hiss of pain. Jay is immediately there, a hand at his side, fingers spread so that warmth pours through his ruined shirt.
“Ribs,” Grayson gets out, breath tight.
“I know,” Jay murmurs, attentive in the way only Jay can be. “I’ve got you.”
Gideon’s eyes slide to Jay’s forehead, where the blood has dried dark in his hairline. Then, to the bruise rising on Jay’s cheekbone. Then to Jay’s hands, knuckles bloody and scraped raw.
He scoffs. “So. You finally learned how to hit like you mean it.”
Jay’s mouth curves. “You know better than that, love.”
Nix takes that opening like a man who has never met restraint in his entire life.
He launches himself into Gideon’s arms with a soft, breathy sound, wrapping around him like a baby koala. Gideon catches him without staggering.
“Kitten,” he says, and the single word is both a scold and a claim.
Absolutely shameless, Nix beams. “Hi.”
Fingers find the back of his neck, slide up, thread into his hair—thunder and lightning clinging close like a possessive scent. When Gideon speaks again, his voice has gone smooth like silk.
“Did you leave the big guy for Jaybird?” Gideon asks conversationally.
Jay makes a sound that might be a laugh if it wasn’t edged with lingering enigma outrage. “He did not—”
Nix’s eyes go wide and innocent in a way no one should trust. “I didn’t leave anyone. I…um…redistributed resources.”
Gideon’s gaze flicks to Jay, slow. “And he was…forceful?”
Jay’s smile is a flash of teeth.
Nix sighs dramatically, one hand splayed over his chest like a man recalling a romance novel cover. “Rawr,” he says, dead serious.
Grayson chokes on air and immediately regrets it. His ribs send up a vicious complaint. He presses a hand to his side, teeth clenched.
“Easy,” Jay murmurs, voice low.
Finn looks up at the sound, gaze sharp. “Grayson.”
Grayson lifts his free hand in surrender. “I’m—”
“Don’t,” Finn says. “Don’t ‘I’m fine’ me. I have eyes.”
Grayson swallows. The adrenaline is gone now, leaving behind the shaking, the ache, the heaviness of what almost happened.
“Pretty. Hey.” Gideon sets Nix on his feet and cups the back of Grayson’s neck.
“It’s bad, Gid. Same shit. Difference villain,” he finally confesses. “They thought it was better to try this now rather than wait for the tribunal. I’m worried that this time we’re not going to be able to outrun it.”
“We just need to outsmart them.”
Grayson feels something squeeze around his heart as seven threads of fate and love hold him together.
“Okay?” Gideon asks.
Grayson meets his gaze. “Okay.”
Gideon nods once, satisfied by the promise in it. Then he presses his mouth to the top of Nix’s head like punctuation.
“Good,” Gideon says. “Because next time, we’re not letting them drive away.”
Grayson heartily hopes there isn’t a next time.
Nix hums, pleased, and snuggles closer. “Can we still call it a redistribution?”
Gideon’s eyes cut to him. “Kitten.”
Nix grins. “Yes, sir?”
Finn exhales, long-suffering, and closes his med bag with a snap. “We’re going to the hospital.”
Leo’s eyes widen in horror. “No.”
Finn’s gaze goes flat. “Yes.”
Jay’s arm tightens around Grayson, steady and unyielding, and his voice drops into Grayson’s ear like a vow.
“Let them try again,” Jay murmurs, quiet as a knife. “Next time, we won’t be so polite.”
Grayson’s wolf bares its teeth in agreement, but not in triumph. They didn’t win. Not really.
Whoever they were may have retreated, but now they knew what he was capable of. They knew he had been hiding the full extent of his power—and what he was willing to do to protect himself and his family.
The ball is in their court, and now all they can do is wait.