I jolt awake when Grayson stops the car. I’m sweating and shaking. My whole body is in agony and I’m so tired I can barely move. He looks at me after he turns off the engine as I lay with my legs curled up to my chest and leaning against the door. He just looks at me as I struggle to keep my eyes open, and without a word, he gets out and heads to my side. Slowly, he opens the door. He has to catch me as he does. I have no energy left. I hate that he carries me inside the house. We walk past the Nomads who are clearing the mess. The stares I get don’t bother me one bit.
‘Morning, Boss,’ Hendrix says happily as we walk into the lobby. ‘Jesus. You look like shit!’ he adds when he sees me.
‘She was in the middle of a war zone, Hendrix. What do you expect her to look like?’ He heads into his office and takes me with him. He lowers me gently into it and kneels in front of me. Hendrix follows and eyes me barely conscious slumped in the chair.
‘I want to know everything that happened when we left. Where’s Toby?’ Grayson asks, stroking the hair from my damp face.
‘Not here. Boss’ Hendrix replies. ‘All they found was blood. Nothing else.’
I don’t believe it. There’s no way. I broke his leg. He can’t have got away on his own. It’s impossible!
Hendrix looks me over. His eyes settle on my arm which I hold protectively to my chest. But he doesn’t say a word. He simply waits for Grayson’s orders.
‘That’s unfortunate,’ he says with an angry glance in my direction. He looks at Hendrix and gets to his feet. ‘Where’s the doctor?’
‘With Gabriel.’ The mere mention of his name has my heart hammering.
‘Is he okay? Is he awake?’ I ask. I go to get to my feet, but Grayson lowers me down with a firm hand on my shoulder.
He’s here. Part of me wondered if Grayson would lie about that too and send him away nonetheless.
‘He’s still out cold, but Doc got the bullet out, and he’ll be okay in a few days. Collins is up there with him too. Refuses to leave his side. Amara as well.’
Well, that’s a relief. Everyone is okay.
‘I need the doctor down here when she is finished with him. Go tell her that.’
He disappears and leaves Grayson and me alone in his office. When he puts a drink in my hand, I put it on the desk untouched. I’ll never trust anything he gives me to drink again.
‘I want to see Gabriel.’
‘You will. I promise. First, you need sorting out. I can’t have any of those wounds getting infected.’
The doctor arrives and fixes me up. I’m sewn, bandaged, and dosed up on painkillers.
‘All done?’ Grayson asks.
‘Yes, sir. All done,’ the doctor replies. ‘She’s as fixed up as can be, but getting used to life minus two fingers may take some getting used to. Her hand and arm will need dressing daily, and I’ll leave you some pain medication for her. She’ll be in a large amount of pain for a week or so. Best not to touch her right arm if possible. And keep an eye on her for signs of shock or PTSD. She has been through one hell of an ordeal tonight.’
‘You will stay with us for the next few days. I want all your attention on my brother and his girl,’ he tells her. ‘You got that?’
She grips her black bag and gives a small bow. ‘Of course, sir. I am at your disposal. I’ll be in the room I stayed in last time.’
Grayson stands aside as she leaves. I watch her go wishing more than anything that she would stay. But she doesn’t. Grayson shuts the door and starts walking towards me.
‘Someone found Toby and took him,’ I tell him, keen to get all this out the way so I can go upstairs and see Gabriel. ‘I broke his leg and gave him a hell of a whack. I messed his face up too. It was probably the shooter. It’s too much of a coincidence.’
‘Perhaps. We will keep looking. We may not need him for the journal, but we do need to eliminate him as a threat to you. He will come after you for payback. I meant what I said. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.’
‘Toby’s mine.’ The words come out as a growl. ‘If anyone’s going to kill Toby, it’s going to be me. Not you. I owe him a hell of a lot of pain.’
‘What happened between you tonight?’
‘Nothing I want to tell you.’
With a sigh, he carries on. Not pushing. ‘Theo and Jensen both got away too, as well as a fair amount of their followers. So we have that to deal with. The bodies of the men you killed were destroyed in that impressive new fire of yours, so there’s no trace of us at all for the Hunters to follow.’ He doesn’t mention the men they killed. Just mine as he goes through his report swiftly and without any encouragement for questions. To be honest, right now I don’t care.
When he puts his hand on my knee, I slap it away.
‘Touch me again, I’ll break your fingers,’ I warn.
‘Look, I know you’re angry-’
‘Angry? I’m beyond angry, Grayson. You branded me!’
‘It’s done now, and my warnings still stand. And watch your mouth. I won’t be spoken to like that. Not by you. Not by anyone. Do you understand?’
I look straight ahead because if I see his face, I fear I’ll want to slam my fist into it. ‘I need to get some sleep,’ I tell him.
He places the Journal on his desk and taps it with his finger. ‘We’ll start on this tomorrow.’ From his trouser pocket, he takes out a small, folded up piece of paper and opens it up. From the same pocket, he also produces a pen. On the paper is a list.
Meditation. Hypnosis. Joy. Surprise. Pleasure. Sadness. Fear. Anger. Hatred. Pain.
‘So…’ he says, gesturing to the list with the tip of the pen, running its nib across each and every word. ‘Which one was the cause of manifesting your Mental magic?’
‘Get bent.’
‘Tell me.’ His eyes flash darkly, the same as they did in the barn and reluctantly, I lean over and point to the list. My finger landing on sadness. He ticks it off. ‘And fear was with Theo when you presented your Telekinesis,’ he muses, laying a neat tick beside the word fear. Then he gives a derisive snort. ‘And pleasure manifested your fire when you were with Toby.’ Again, he draws a small tick beside the word and looks up at me as he folds it neatly away back into his pocket. ‘I can’t wait to see what motivates you next time.’
‘Can I leave now?’
‘Of course. You rest up. Go lay in your lover’s arms,’ he adds with a slight eye roll and condescending tone. ‘And tomorrow, we’ll start work on the journal. You should be excited! It’s the beginning of a whole new world. None of it would be possible without you.’
‘I hate you, Grayson,’ I reply without looking at him.
‘As long as you and your boyfriend behave, I couldn’t care less.’
I get to my feet, swaying and staggering as I do. But he doesn’t try to help. He’s wiser than that. I leave the room and head upstairs. It’s slow work climbing three stories. But when I see Gabriel’s door, I sigh in relief. It’s slightly ajar. When I open it up, Collins and Amara both jump to their feet. As she rushes towards me, I hold out my hand.
‘I really, really need you both to go to bed,’ I tell them. Collins looks at my heavily bandaged arm and goes to ask me something. ‘Please. I am asking you both to leave. I need you both to leave. I will talk to you in the morning. I can’t deal with anything else tonight. Not a single thing. Please.’
Amara heads over first. There’s a deep concern in her eyes, but she nods and kisses my cheek as she passes.
‘I’ll be in to see you tomorrow,’ she whispers. ‘I love you.’
‘I love you too,’ I tell her. She leaves. And it kills her to do so.
As Collins passes, he leans in and pecks my cheek.
‘Are you safe?’ he asks.
‘For now.’
‘Are we?’ he asks, nervously looking at Amara.
‘For now. Don’t leave her side, Collins. Not for a second. You hear me?’
He nods and glances at my arm. ‘Not now. Please,’ I say quietly. ‘I can’t…’
‘Alright, Lilly. Okay,’ he soothes, taking my uninjured hand in his and giving it a squeeze. ‘I’ll be back first thing. If you need me, you just yell.’
He leaves, closing the door behind him.
Gabriel looks asleep as he lay in his large four poster bed. But I know he’s unconscious. He’s bare-chested with a square patch of bandage covering the spot he was shot. As I head over, I take off my filthy clothes, leaving them in a trail behind me till I’m in nothing but my underwear. When I reach his bed, I slide in next to him, careful not to wake him. If he can even be woken up at this stage of his recovery. I stroke his face softly and watch him sleep before leaning in to kiss his cheek. His head moves suddenly, and instead, it’s his lips I kiss, and he kisses back. But he doesn’t open his eyes. He just mumbles my name.
‘I’m here,’ I tell him. ‘You’re safe. I promise. I’ll keep you safe.’
‘I love you, Lilly,’ he says sleepily, his nose against mine.
‘I love you too.’ I rest my chin on his shoulder, my head sinks into his pillow and my good hand grips onto his limp one. ‘We’re going to get through this. Together.’
As I lay beside the man I love who has a hole in his heart, and with the brand throbbing on my arm and two fingers missing from my hand, I make a vow.
I will find Toby and his mysterious woman. I will make them pay for what they did. I’ll learn all of Rebecca Hooper’s spells so when I get my magic from Grayson, I’ll know how to use it to my full advantage. I’ll hunt for a way to remove this brand. I’ll practice as hard as I can. And somehow, I’ll remove the immortality spell from Grayson, Toby and Theo. And when I do…they’ll see exactly what I’m capable of.
Because I will not give up. I will not roll over and let them win. I will never stop fighting.
Never.
They’re going to pay for everything they’ve done.
And no one, I mean no one, will be spared.
