“They managed to keep the city from going into the sea,” Rose said as I opened the passenger door and climbed in.
“Good. Let’s go home,” I said and looked at the poor woman sitting in the back seat. She was scared out of her mind but thanked us for saving her from them. Rose offered her psychologist services if she needed them, but Sarah said she would work it out with God. After everything she’d been through, I figured it would be hard to trust in her religion, but what happened with Nathan and Robert wasn’t the real love, kindness, and faith that the true believers shared. Theirs was black and tainted.
“How are we going to prove that it was Nathan all along?” Rose asked, and it was a good question, except I’d already thought of that.
“Our communicator necklaces go both ways. AJ was listening and recording through both of ours in case the sound was bad on mine. Mine disintegrated with my clothes, but yours was still good to catch anything after I changed.” I felt my body sag against the leather seats in exhaustion. I’d been running nonstop for weeks, and I finally felt like I could relax for a day.
Just one day—because then there would be more battles to fight.
We dropped Sarah off at her house, per her request, but did tell her that she had a place to stay at the Society if she wanted or needed it.
Finally arriving at headquarters, Rose parked my car next to Asher’s, and we left the parking lot and returned to our family.
“Thanks for being my hero.” Rose shoulder-bumped me, and I shook my head.
“You were your own hero tonight,” I told her, and she grinned.
Everyone was in the chill room, along with a surprise guest who was tending to everyone’s wounds: Esme.
Phillip rushed Rose and embraced her so tightly that I was worried he might pop her. They both cried happy tears and then he let her go, keeping her hand in his, relaying all his emotions that he didn’t say out loud.
Draco was patiently waiting for his turn to touch his woman, and as soon as Phillip released her hand, he wrapped her in his arms, whispered things in her ear that no one else could hear.
Esme, who had her hair down and was wearing leggings and a sweater, walked over, having noticed I was favoring my right side.
“Let me see,” she demanded and then lifted up my shirt to see my shitty bandaging skills over the knife wound that Rosalie had given me. I’d been in bear form when I was stabbed, so nothing important was harmed; it was just a flesh wound, as they say. Some stitches and I’d be just fine.
She went about cutting the bandage with scissors from a bag she had next to her filled with all sorts of supplies, including pain killers. She cleaned the wound and neatly sewed it up.
“You guys will definitely keep me on my toes,” she commented, and I tilted my head to the side, obviously having missed something.
Lilith came over and kissed my dirty forehead with a loud smack.
“Phillip hired her part-time to be our Hero Society nurse. It seems we are going to need someone who knows more than a few tricks to pull a bullet from the muscle.” Lilith winked at Leon, who was sitting on the couch, looking tired as hell. They all looked like shit, if I was being honest.
My eyes searched for my mate’s, and I found them staring back at me with longing in his eyes but his body limp in the chair.
“His energy has to recharge, so he can’t really move right now, but come later today he should be fine. Go easy on him—he bought the Heroes some time,” Esme told me softly while the others talked to each other and welcomed Rose and me home.
“Thank you.” I leaned in to hug her, and I felt her body freeze at first then melt into my hold. I’d known her for years, and all that time, we could have been friends, had I not had a metal wall around my heart. But now that would change. She was one of us.
“Go get him, tiger,” she whispered into my ear, and I grinned. With fast steps, I was at the couch, lying my upper body over his, listening to his heart, hearing that he was okay with my own ears.
“I missed you too, kitten.” He chuckled, and I picked my head up to look into his perfect face.
“My mate,” I purred, and the soft vibrations coming from my chest at the notion made him grin wider.
“Your mate,” he confirmed, as I leaned in to kiss that stupid smile that drove me wild and made me feel home once again.
Chapter Forty-Two
Echo
Three days had passed since New Year’s Day, and Seahill had not recovered.
The press had a field day with the news of Robert and Nathan, that their mission had been to destroy Seahill by pitting its residents against each other. While the riots and chaos had subsided, there was still a current of unrest in the streets. People were still scared but were swallowing it down, for now.
It was only a matter of time before people would revolt.
But we would be there. Everyone went back to their normal routine and protecting the people when they needed it. Asher worked at his bar at night and spent some of his days helping the Society out when he could.
I’d been temporarily put on paid leave until Seahill Police could figure out if having someone like me on the force was going to be a problem. Chief tried to fight the orders, especially after me bringing in Nathan, but the city council decided they needed to debate the subject.
So I’d been relaxing, which was weird. And unable to completely give up working on cases, I jumped back into the journal connected to Janie’s kidnapping.
Delphi had run into his archenemy, the favorite son and his companion. A man who had special gifts. Delphi had been living a boring life for the few weeks of his entries, until that moment. Jealousy and hatred flooded the words until the last journal entry.
Delphi murdered the companions of his brother without him discovering it was him. A silent killer in the night. His hope was that his brother would never find happiness and would fail at the job his parents had given him.
Part of him regretted killing those companions and the ones before them, but his hatred for his brother was stronger than the remorse.
It was a strange way to end the journal. I scrolled down to the final page and saw nothing at first, but then my eyes caught a small font at the bottom.
Chaos of the mind, my only solace from a hell created in paradise.
The words Nathan had said were his final gift to me, when he thought he was going to die. I couldn’t explain what the words meant in this scenario to Janie’s kidnapping. Besides the last page, there was nothing important about this journal, particularly nothing that was worth potentially killing a young woman. Especially since these murders had taken place centuries ago.
Wanting to talk to Janie about the book, I put on my clothes and left Asher’s apartment, heading toward the Hero Society.
AJ said she was in the kitchen, but when I checked, she wasn’t there.
Sounds from the medical room had me walking to the room next door. Maybe she was testing her knowledge about medical supplies.
I opened the door and stood there in confusion.
“Dr. Dorian?”
“Ms. Cross. I was just cleaning up.” He gave me a slight smile and went about moving items on the counter next to the exam table. His fingers toying with the blood samples Esme had taken from us so she could test our blood for abnormalities because of our powers.
“Phillip thought it would be wise to have another medical professional besides Esme to help with your Society,” he added, and that made sense.
“Sounds like a plan,” I agreed and then turned to leave, but then I remembered he had helped us a lot.
“Before I forget, thank you for helping with Amanda’s case. I’m sorry Nathan was affiliated with your hospital. He was a madman.” I knew the hospital was taking a hit for having a serial killer as their head psychologist.
Dorian shrugged and placed the samples into a small metal box.
“Chaos of the mind, my only solace from a hell created in paradise.”