Chapter 13 Mona
I have a vastly different experience entering the jail from the first time I was in here. It smells the same. Everything still creaks, and it’s dark. The floor is dirty cement, and at the end of the long, winding hallway, there’s a small room with a cell.
Andrea’s scent hits me first. Apple and mint.
Once tormenting, now I only feel deep relief that she’s okay.
It wasn’t a long car ride, but being chained beside someone kind of bonds you.
“Grayson, let her out right fucking now!” I shout, too angry to look at him. How could he do this?
Andrea leans against the back wall of the jail cell, arms crossed. She’s lean, in a fitted ribbed tank top and cargo pants, looking like some badass GI Jane. Her long blonde hair is in a braid, but it’s missing a tie, and the end is shaggy.
“Did they feed you? Are you okay?” I ask, almost clutching the bars before remembering they’re silver. She raises one eyebrow, looking slightly amused. Grayson finally enters the room, having taken his sweet ass time. Coward.
I hold my hand out for the key. They both look at me like I’m ridiculous.
“Hello! Woman falsely imprisoned here.” I tap my foot, waiting for some urgency.
Grayson sighs and walks over to the other side of the room.
There’s a small built-in shelf. I was too messed up to notice it last time.
Andrea had beaten me so badly, one eye wouldn’t open all the way.
Not that I could have snuck out to steal the key, even if I could see straight.
Thank god I didn’t. I’d have left this town so fast, and I’d never have met my mates.
Met all these people who make this place home.
I narrow my eyes at her, but she’s still lazily smirking, totally unperturbed.
“Andrea,” Grayson greets casually, with a key in hand. Andrea pushes off the wall and plants her feet wide, arms clasped behind her back like she does.
She dips her chin. “Lune.”
I glare at Grayson until he finally opens the door. When it swings ajar, I push inside and throw my arms around her.
“Why are you hugging me?” she asks stiffly.
I squeeze tighter. “I’m just really glad you’re okay.”
She softens marginally. Then I turn on Grayson. “Seriously, how could you just lock her up? What is wrong with you?”
“Mona—” Andrea starts, but Grayson cuts her off.
“Your human is showing again,” he says to me.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re acting like you’re human. You keep forgetting. We are shifters. This is how we operate. You need to calm down.”
Andrea sucks in a breath, then lets out a low whistle.
“Calm down?” My chest puffs up with air. I inhale, feeling my nostrils flare. Even his lovely cinnamon scent isn’t enough to quell the fire. “Calm down?” I repeat.
He winces. “It’s not a big deal, is all I’m saying.”
“How can locking up an innocent woman not be a big deal? You already punished her enough, don’t you think?
What happened before, that was because she thought I was working with the witches.
Guess what, Grayson! I was! I mean, not on purpose, obviously, but Andrea was right all along.
I don’t understand how you can be so fucking—”
Before my tangent spirals too deep, Andrea cuts me off. “Mona, Gray’s right. We’re not human. You have to stop treating me like I am.”
I gasp. “Et tu?”
She almost succeeds in hiding her chuckle, but then her face settles into something grave.
“Mona, do you think I’m weak?”
“No, of course not—“
“Is it because I’m a woman, then?”
“What? No, of course not! Be he can’t just—“
“I am a soldier. Our Lune wouldn’t be a great leader if he didn’t treat me as equally as he did everyone else.
He exiled Stance, remember? I’d have done worse than lock me up if I were him.
Stop defending me, it only implies you think I’m weak.
” Andrea turns to Grayson. “Lune, I’d like to resign as a lead enforcer. ”
“I already fired you,” Grayson deadpans.
She continues unperturbed, “And I’d like to become Mona’s full-time bodyguard.”
“What?” I whip toward her.
“Interesting,” he says, rubbing his chin.
“No, not interesting,” I say.
Andrea and Grayson continue to have a conversation like I’m not even here. “She gets into a lot of trouble.” Andrea points to one finger as she counts off all the reasons it’s a good idea. “The witches, I assume, are still a problem?”
Grayson nods, and I try to interject, to tell them both this is a terrible idea, but they ignore me.
Andrea keeps counting. “The witches seem to want her, and her alone, so she needs someone to watch her back. She also is weak and needs someone willing to punch her in the face to help her improve her fighting skills.”
“Woah, woah, woah. I don’t think—”
“I accept.”
“What?” I turn on Grayson. “What happened to, she’s a traitor?”
“You made your case. And I trust you, Mona. You were absolutely right. So was Andrea, though. I’m not sorry I locked her up, I did what I thought was necessary when we were under attack.
But I wouldn’t have harmed her unnecessarily, and not without proof.
You proved I was in the wrong, so she is now free to leave.
And Andrea has made excellent points about you needing a bodyguard.
A more consistent one than the enforcers rotating on duty. ”
He crosses the room and sets the key back on the shelf. “Wait until morning, then you can come by and establish a schedule. Mona won’t be without Orion or me before then, though we’ll need to make a plan for the witches, so it’ll be good to have you around.”
“You guys—” I start, but neither of them is listening.
“Okay, I will be there. And thank you, Lune. I will not let you down.”
“I know you won’t.” He salutes her casually, to which she stands taller, snapping her heels down and standing at attention like a good little soldier.
My mouth drops open, and she just winks at me and follows Grayson out. I’m the last to leave the building, and when I finally make it outside, dumbstruck at how that all backfired so quickly, I find Grayson alone outside the building, waiting for me.
“What just happened?”
Grayson spins on me, and even if I was mad a minute ago, it’s all forgotten when he pushes me up against the wall. “I fucking missed you, mate. I can’t tell you what it did to me to have you gone.”
His lips crash onto mine. I want to be angry, but I’ve momentarily forgotten why. He holds me like that, and I melt into his kiss until a familiar red truck rumbles down the road. I scent Doc before I even hear him, and Grayson sighs, reluctantly letting go of me.
“I guess I have to share you now.”
He didn’t mean with my other mates, but that’s right where my dirty mind goes. And he knows it too, his eyes lighting up with mischief. “Later,” he promises.
And then I’m bombarded by my found family—starting with Doc and Hilde—and it takes us over an hour to make our way home.
It feels strange to be back. Like a lifetime has passed in only a few days.
Doc and Hilde walk us back through the heart where a dozen locals do their best not to overwhelm me with hugs. Grayson, sensing my exhaustion, sends everyone off, and we finish our walk back to the cabin just ahead, holding hands, not talking.
The anticipation of it all is almost too much. Just being home with Grayson and Orion again. Seeing Silas back in his old environment. Wondering how long he’ll stay.
I haven’t seen or heard Ghost since we last parted. It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell Grayson who he is to me. I’m not sure why I don’t.
Grayson watches me intently, but says nothing, and I appreciate that. I can tell he has questions. Instead, he runs his fingers over my arm, then tugs my hand tighter. “I missed you, mate.”
A smile pulls at my lips. Like a curtain drawing back, a peek of sun shining through, it lifts my mood right along with it. “I missed you too, Grayson. So much.”
He sighs, and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen Grayson be unsure.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
Around the bend, the cabin comes into view. We both pause at the same time. Taking in the structure, knowing what awaits us.
“We shouldn’t have left you,” he says finally.
I shake my head. “I don’t know about that, Gray. You did what you had to do. You couldn’t have known—”
“Couldn’t have?” he rasps, stepping in front of me, blocking my view of the house with his giant frame. “Fucking should have. I should have known. The witches were already on our land. I should have killed Stance. I should have stayed—”
“You can’t get lost in should-haves, Grayson. Regret is useless.”
He’s quiet for a moment, then lets out a harsh laugh, scrubbing his face. Then he wraps his arm around my shoulders, tucking me close. I breathe him in deeply. The cinnamon fire warms my heart.
“Kendrick said something similar to Orion the other day.”
“Kendrick?” I tilt my head up. “Everyone keeps talking about this guy. Am I going to meet him?”
Gray goes still for a moment. His expression shutters, but he shakes it off. “Yeah. Yes, you’ll meet him.”
I nod, just as the front door swings open. Orion emerges in faded jeans and a threadbare white t-shirt. His blond hair sticks up at odd angles, like he’s been running his fingers through it. When he breaks into that grin of his, I nearly melt.
“Firefly, you’re home,” he says with so much conviction it makes my heart squeeze.
“I’m home,” I agree. “Finally.”
He leaps off the porch and rushes closer, pulling me into a hug, lifting me right off the ground. My legs swing and I giggle into his chest.
“You smell so good.”
“I need a shower,” I counter. “Badly.” I’m almost as bad as I was the last time I showed up in Silent Peak, only this time, I’m pretty sure there’s still dried cum on my legs. I wonder if they can smell Silas on me. Or if it’s overpowered by our bond.
“Is… are the others here?” I ask tentatively.
Orion’s smile tightens, and my heart sinks. “Silas wanted to check in on Lily, and they needed to report to Kendrick.”
I nod, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from overreacting. From showing that I feel sad for no reason at all. Of course he needed to check on Lily. After everything they’ve been through together.
Holding Orion’s hand, with Grayson at my back, I follow him in. Down the hallway, into the kitchen, we find a half-empty pot of coffee and Silas’s lingering scent.
The guys talk around me, likely trying to ease my anxiety, even if they only partly understand it. This is enough. They are enough. I love them.
Orion makes food, and Grayson brings me upstairs to my bedroom. I get undressed and shower. Gray waits beside me the entire time, and when I climb out, wraps me in a towel. He doesn’t push for anything more, but suddenly, I’m ravenous for him.
His mouth meets mine, teeth grazing my lower lip, and I dig my nails into his shoulders, my breath hitching as the pressure builds. Frantic hands rip off my towel, and we both exhale with deep relief as he enters me. It’s fast and desperate, and I’m nearly brought to tears before my first climax.
Orion’s shadow falls across us. When Grayson’s knot finally releases me and he pulls away, I’m left empty for only a moment before Orion fills the space, his skin fever-hot against mine. My legs tremble around him.
My omega whimpers urgently as we come together. Later, I drift to sleep between them, steadied by their uneven breaths. Grayson’s arm drapes across my waist, Orion’s leg entangled with mine.
I fall asleep in their arms, feeling so much relief having them close, being home—but the hole in my heart, missing something essential, yawns wider.