Chapter 51 – Wave
Wave slept most of the next day. Every now and then, someone roused her to eat or drink and carried her to the bathroom. It was almost like her mate, Claimed, and ex-fake-boyfriend had made a time-share schedule.
She was too tired to get annoyed. Even when Hellion woke her up in the middle of a sex dream. He came bearing cheeseburgers. She just couldn’t stay mad while eating Lark’s cheeseburgers. And she would die before admitting that Irishen made better ones. Her mate had a large enough ego already.
Sunday morning, she woke feeling almost—well, not human, but not dead. Jarred snored softly on one side and Irishen played with her hair on the other side.
“Good morning, mate,” Irishen said softly. “Feeling better?”
Wave nodded. “It was the cheeseburgers,” she said and felt him groan. That made her giggle. “So, what’s on the agenda today?”
“If you are up to it, your friends would like to visit,” he replied.
“Of course!”
“Let’s let Ilijas look you over first.”
“I feel fine,” Wave immediately argued.
“Humor me, mate.”
“Fine,” she huffed. “Anything else?”
Irishen hesitated a second before speaking. “The attack on your father… I could try to use my contacts if I can find out anything about it,” he said quietly.
“You think what happened is linked to that?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but it’s a possibility we can’t rule out.”
She took a moment to mull that over and sighed. “I hate this.”
“I know,” he replied and leaned in to kiss her forehead. “I know you want answers, but you can’t go digging now. There are too many eyes on you and we don’t know who is after you. It’s safer to use other channels.”
“But…” Wave trailed off. He was right. She hated that he was right, but he was. If she went around asking questions now, it would draw attention to her and the incident.
“Morsel?”
“So, you’d what? Hire an investigator?”
“I wouldn’t need to hire anyone.” Irishen chuckled. “I have a trusted associate who could look into the matter discreetly. Someone who has no ties to my family or yours.”
“Really?”
“Really,” he reassured her.
“You have a frigging spy on your payroll, don’t you?” Wave accused him. “That’s how you knew my coffee order!”
“A prince never tells his sources,” Irishen replied haughtily, but his eyes twinkled.
“So unfair,” Wave griped. “I want my own personal spy too!”
“Spy what?” Jarred mumbled and pulled her closer.
“Irishen has his own spy! I want one too,” Wave replied and twisted to face him.
“Mmh. Do you now?” Jarred purred. He got a gleam in his eyes as he looked down. “I spy a needy Claimed in my arms. What should I do about that?”
“Jarred,” Wave huffed and then laughed when he rolled her under him.
“Tell me what you need, love.” He nudged her nose and kissed her softly.
“You are distracting me,” Wave complained while twining her legs with his. Jarred leaned to kiss his claiming mark and then he tickled her.
“Pet, stop it!” Wave shrieked, laughing helplessly. His fingers moved between her legs.
“Are you sure you want me to stop?”
“Your pet is a brat,” Irishen commented, humor clear in his voice.
“I know,” Wave groaned as Jarred rubbed her pussy.
“And you are letting him get away with it.”
“Hey, stay out of this, Your Highness,” Jarred huffed, the corner of his lips twitching. When he was about to continue, the door opened and Marc walked in, carrying a tray laden with food.
“Breakfast is served,” he said and then stopped in his tracks when he took in the position Wave was in. A slow smile spread over his face. “It’ll hold a minute, though. Carry on.”
Jarred didn’t wait for more instructions before diving under the covers. Irishen stroked her hair, clearing it out of her face. No one said a word about Marc leaving the room. Wave couldn’t tear her eyes away from him.
“Beautiful,” Marc mouthed when she came. Then he snapped into action, like nothing had happened, unloading the food on the table. “Here, blueberry waffles,” he said, handing Irishen a plate. “Feed her while I go get the coffee.”
It took a couple of hours before Wave made it downstairs. She didn’t want to admit it, but morning orgasms and breakfast in bed had tired her enough to need another nap. Ilijas had cleared her for the visit, though.
Salis strode through the front door, quickly followed by Ginny, Diana, and Chrissy. They swarmed her the moment they saw her and Wave moved from one hug to another, reassuring them that she would be fine.
“The bigger living room is empty,” Sinister said as he closed the door behind him.
“Thanks for getting them, Sin,” Wave said and he smiled.
“No trouble, shrimp.”
“I’m not that small,” Wave muttered under her breath.
“Yeah, you are, shrimp cocktail,” Salis immediately said and ruffled her hair.
“Maybe we should sit down. Wayla looks pale,” Diana said and everyone’s attention zeroed in on her. Wave wanted to groan but then relented.
“Yeah, sitting down would be good.” Before she could say more, Marc appeared in the foyer and swept her up in a bridal carry. When Wave didn’t object, Salis lifted a brow.
“So, you’re talking to him again?”
“Mmh, sort of,” Wave hedged.
Marc’s arms tensed around her, but he kept walking until they were in the largest living room. It held six massive couches, a huge TV on the wall, and overall screamed of ‘male cave’ with leather, dark wood, and blue walls. Tastefully done, but still, not a plant or throw pillow in sight.
“Where do you want to sit, sparkle?”
“The pink couch,” Wave teased him.
“Say no more,” Chrissy said and rushed past them. With a trail of her hand, she attacked the fluffiest couch and in time, it turned from dark brown into dark pink with purple accents. “There. That’s better!”
“Don’t worry, she can change it back,” Wave tried to say, but Chrissy crossed her arms.
“I won’t, though.”
“Chrissy!”
“Leave it.” Marc chuckled and settled her on the couch carefully. “Call if you need anything.”
As soon as he was gone, Salis rounded on her.
“Spill!”
“There’s nothing to spill.” She tried to evade.
“Uh-huh, cherry pie. Your ex-boyfriend just carried you here and you didn’t try to zap him. I need details!”
“Well, he did apologize,” Wave muttered.
“Oh my gods, you still like him!” Chrissy half-shouted.
Ginny plopped on the couch next to Wave and crossed her arms. “Was it a good apology? On his knees? Ash thrown all over him?”
Frantically, Wave glanced at the door. “Hush. Don’t give him any ideas! That would be mortifying.”
Ginny seemed mollified by that. “Little groveling tends to do powerful males some good.”
“He’s trying to show me he can share.” Wave sighed.
Salis gaped, but Diana slapped a hand over his mouth and smiled at Wave.
“And how are you dealing with everything else?” she asked gently.
Wave shrugged. “It’s not like I’m not used to looking over my shoulder.”
“That’s not an answer,” Ginny said, frowning.
“But it’s true,” Wave replied. “We don’t know who was behind the attack, so there’s really nothing much I can do.”
“What’s the plan with classes? Are you coming back tomorrow?” Chrissy asked.
Wave nodded. “If Ilijas says I can. And the plan… I don’t know if it’s that much of a plan, but if I’m going out of the house, someone is going to be with me at all times. And since we were kinda doing that already, nothing has really changed.”
“Except that now you have the Powerhouses following you around,” Salis stage-whispered, breaking the tension.
Wave chuckled with the others. “Yeah, well, potayto potahto.”
They talked for a while and the girls filled her in about their move. Apparently, Irishen’s apartment was now theirs and Chrissy in particular wasn’t moving out. Ever.
“He has not one but two walk-in closets. I’m in heaven. Or will be as soon as those are filled with my clothes and not his.”
“He did clear one of them for you,” Diana pointed out.
“Yes, yes, like I said, heaven.” Chrissy grinned.
They ended up watching a movie and halfway through, Wave’s eyes started to droop. She tried to fight to keep them open but lost the battle.
When she blinked her eyes open again, the movie was shut off and her head was in Irishen’s lap. He was quietly talking with Salis.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Irishen said quietly. “Nothing from the heaven’s side either?”
“Nope. It’s like everyone is just content to watch where this goes and not make a move.”
“But someone did.” Irishen’s fingers stroked through her hair. Wave yawned and reluctantly pushed herself into a sitting position, dislodging his hand.
“What about the brick?” she asked.
“What brick?” Salis asked.
“The spelled one that was thrown through my window? Any traces on that?”
Salis and Irishen shared a look.
“I don’t remember hearing anyone finding a brick in your room,” Salis said.
“That’s because there wasn’t one,” Hellion said from the doorway. He walked in carrying a tray and placed it on Wave’s lap. She looked at the soup, at the demon, and then at the soup again. It was covered in croutons.
“Um, thank you,” she said and picked up the spoon.
“You’re welcome. And there wasn’t a brick in your room. Grant and Justin went over every inch of it. So did I once I got back. It wasn’t there.”
“But I saw it,” Wave protested.
Hellion hummed. “I’m sure you did. That means someone went through the effort of retrieving it.”
“Well fuck,” Irishen sighed.
“Yeah. And not to pile on bad news, but since the attack, there hasn’t been a trace of Elena or Kelsey either,” he grumbled.
“You think they tried to grab me again?” Wave asked, shuddering.
“I wouldn’t put it past them. Something doesn’t add up and dear old Dad is stone-walling me,” Hellion said. “Eat,” he ordered her when Wave set her spoon down.
“But—”
“You need to eat,” Hellion insisted.
Wave glanced at Irishen, who nudged her hand toward the spoon.
“Fine, fine.” Wave spooned some more soup and rolled her eyes. “Happy now?”
“I’ll be happy when you can eat your fucking soup without your hand trembling,” Hellion muttered. Then he walked out of the room, leaving a stupefied Wave behind.