Chapter 21 #2
Ronan looked up from where he knelt beside Giada. “Tempest said they were hidden.” He looked down at Giada, then up at the tiny houses.
“I’ll go, you stay with your woman,” Maverik said.
“No, they don’t know you. They’ll be so scared. I’ll go,” Ronan said.
“Alright. I’ll stay here with Giada, but you kinda bloody. Maybe wash it off somehow before you get them kids,” Maverik said.
Brandt looked down at himself, then around everyone else. “We all are.”
Green and lavender mists began swirling in the distance, though it was too far away for any of them to notice. As they cleared, Tempest took a second to look around and focused on her people across the street from the shelter. She gathered her mists and went right to them.
“Everybody’s good?” she asked as her mists dissipated and she moved toward Giada who was lying on the ground.
“Bam healed Giada,” Brandt said. “The rest of us are just bloody.” She paused beside Brandt and pecked a kiss to his lips that barely even stopped her forward progression.
“Hello, my love,” Brandt said, glad to have her back at his side. “How’d it go?”
“Viciously,” Tempest said, with that cold, bloodthirsty look in her eyes — now black and predatorial — as they usually got for a little while after she’d unleashed the darkness that lived down deep inside her.
“Some. I healed her some,” Bam said. “Enough to help, but I can only do so much. I’m not like you.”
Tempest lay a hand on Bam’s shoulder as she knelt between him and Giada. “What happened to her?”
“He was beating her, threatening her and the kids. When I attacked he shoved her away from him to try to take me on. She hit her head and has been out since,” Ronan said regretfully.
“It’s not your fault, Ronan. Who knows what he’d have done without you to intervene,” Tempest said, sliding her hands under Giada’s head to feel the injury.
“Yeah, there’s some pressure inside…” she said, closing her eyes as her green mists appeared from beneath Giada’s head.
Tempest breathed deeply and steadily as she worked, intuitively knowing exactly where to concentrate the healing.
Finally she laid Giada’s head gently on the grass and sat back on her heals.
“That should do it. I’ll check her again later to be sure she doesn’t need more,” Tempest said, with a smile.
Then she looked at Bam. “You did good, Bam.”
Bam grinned proudly.
She glanced around and realized the kids weren’t there. “Were the kids not where I said they were?”
“They’re safe, I left them there while…” Ronan gestured at their mother lying on the ground.
“He’s worried about the kids seeing their mom like this. And not knowing anybody else if somebody other than him tries to go get them. But all that blood out there is going to freak them out, anyway,” Bam said. “There’s blood everywhere.”
“Bodies everywhere,” Maverik said. “Well, not everywhere, just here and there.”
Tempest was still sitting on the ground beside Giada. “I got it,” she said, raising an arm and swirling her fingers in the air.
Ronan looked down at his body when he felt himself covered. She’d removed the blood and dressed him. He looked down at Giada, then up toward the houses again, obviously torn.
“She’s going to be fine,” Tempest promised.
“Can we get her to Ronan’s so the kids only see her resting in bed?” Brandt asked. “Are you up for that, baby?”
“Yeah, we can do that,” Tempest said.
“Great. Maverik can you bring Ronan and the kids home in the truck?” Brandt asked.
Ronan opened his mouth like he was about to object to being separated from Giada or the kids once he’d found them.
“We’ll stay with her. She won’t be alone,” Brandt said.
“You know I’ll get him home. Staying there after, too. Damn straight,” Maverik said.
“Ronan, go get your kids, your dad will drive you home. Me and Tempest will get Giada to your house and situated before they get there to see her. We will not leave her side. Tempest will be right there if she’s needed.
This way Giada is taken care of and the kids aren’t traumatized. That sound alright?” Brandt asked.
Ronan squatted down and lifted Giada into his arms. He pressed a kiss to her temple. “I’ll be right behind you,” he whispered. He looked over at Brandt who held his arms out so Ronan could hand her to him. Then started for the tiny houses.
Maverik rested a hand on Bam’s shoulder. “I left the keys in the truck. You go get it?”
“On it,” Bam said.
Maverik jogged after Ronan, scanning the property, glancing to places he knew there’d been bodies and blood only moments before. He turned around and while jogging backwards called out to Tempest. “Everything’s gone! Where you send the bodies?”
Tempest smiled at him deviously. “You really don’t want to know.”
Maverik chuckled and turned back around. He sped up a little until he fell into step with Ronan. “I love that girl. But damn, she’s a little scary sometimes. I’m glad she’s on our side.”
Ronan tried to force a smile, but managed only a slight uplift of one of the corners of his mouth.
“She’s gonna be fine son,” Maverik said.
“I don’t know how you managed to protect all of us all these years. If Mom needed you, you had to be there. If one of us kids needed you, you had to be there. How do you not let somebody down?”
“Same way you just managed to get it all done — with your family and your clan helping you pull up the slack, and you love your mate and your kids with everything you got every minute of every day. You can’t be in every place at once.
But you can make sure they all know no matter what you’re coming, and you’re bringing hell with you if necessary.
And when you get them all home safe, you hold them, and thank the creator for the gift of them belonging to you, and then you start all over the next day.
It’s the best any of us can do. And believe me, somehow, it’ll all work out. ”