Chapter 43

We usually drove when we went to the human town, but we made an exception because there were mates involved this time and not just mine. I was happy for Kat. She was a good person and I couldn’t imagine being as old as her and not meeting your mate or hive yet.

We were familiar with the area, so we did a little back alley shadow poofing. It was late, and this wasn’t the kind of town that had people lurking in alleys, so no one would see us. We got what we needed and Benji took us home.

I set the bags down in the living room and found Pax in the kitchen defrosting soup and finishing up Harmony’s famous green goddess dressing for the salad. I didn’t usually share my recipes, but I traded one for her goddess dressing recipe because she technically turned it around on me when I asked for it and said fair was fair.

“How is she?” I asked.

“A lot better adjusted than Benji and I were when we got out, but she went through a lot before that and it might not have hit her yet. I know you don’t trust her friends, but they are as old as she is and I think they got her through it after Poseidon and Athena.”

I grumbled. I didn’t want to trust her friends, but I did. I tried to be open and honest with people. I respected it when people gave me the same courtesy. I got why they omitted a lot of the things they did. We wouldn’t have taken the job if we heard certain things before we actually got to New Eden and could feel her.

It was the fact that they wouldn’t tell us their names or what they were. Medusa knew who we were talking about when Pax said Di. She also called him that herself. I was guessing it was a nickname or pet name. My mate was famous. She was supposed to be dead, but I was wracking my brains for anyone in history her friends could be.

She was quiet because Athena gave her some snake-like qualities. I wouldn’t have heard her come into the kitchen, but I could sense her. I turned around and my mouth went dry. My bear rumbled contently in my chest.

Pax had to give her something to wear if she got out of the tub before we got back. She was wearing Benji’s shorts, but she was wearing one of my shirts. It came to her knees and dwarfed her because of the weight she lost in New Eden, but I liked her in my clothes.

My bear especially liked that our scent was on her now. Benji’s was, too, because of the shorts. She’d soaked in Pax’s fancy bath products. She smelled like everyone I cared about plus her unique scent of wildflowers.

I was trying to control my bear because he very much wanted to do things she wasn’t ready for yet. Benji swooped in and saved me.

“Damn, girl. My legs don’t look as good in those boxers and you look much better in Cas’s shirt than he does.”

“I know you just bought me clothes, but do you mind if I borrow these for tonight? They smell like you and they make me feel better.”

My bear and I’m sure Benji’s wolf were preening like peacocks. He was already plotting how to get me to donate my entire wardrobe to her since rubbing our scent all over her was probably too soon. I had to shove him to the back of my head so I didn’t say anything stupid.

“My bedroom is at the end of the hall. You can raid my closet whenever you want. We have two extra bedrooms. One was always supposed to be for our mate and the other was for guests. They are the middle doors on either side of the hall. You can pick which one you want and if you want to change anything, let me know.”

“I’ll get to that later. I heard a rumor you make a sexy broccoli cheese soup, big guy.”

“He does,” Benji said. “And it’s green-witch approved. They’ve been begging for his recipe for decades.”

“Cas will share his mate, but he won’t share his recipes,” Pax said.

“Oh, fuck you,” I grumped.

“I actually think that’s adorable,” Medusa admitted.

And we were preening again. This woman was going to kill me.

“Can you get Kat and see if she and her mates are hungry?” I asked Benji.

I meant for him to walk over to the guest house, but he disappeared into shadow. Was he not listening when Kat said people had sent shadow demon assassins after her before? Was he trying to get his ass kicked tonight by an original vampire? I wouldn’t startle that one when her mates were involved.

“I don’t suppose you have any idea when your other mate and friends will get here,” Pax said. “Should we set a plate?”

Good question. They seemed to appear out of nowhere, but not by shadow like Benji. There were only a few creatures I knew of that could do that and how they did it didn’t look familiar. Pax could portal, but they weren’t witches. I knew what they said they needed to do, but I didn’t know how much time they would need to do it.

Medusa just shrugged.

“No idea. They don’t have super speed like vampires do. My head was pounding when they arrived, so I might have missed something, but didn’t they say they were getting everyone here or home and covering up what happened? I’ll bet one of them went after Hannibal. You can’t control them. They will come when their work is done.”

Benji showed back up with Kat, Jezebel, and Calamity and Kat looked like she was ready to rip his tail off.

“We’re going to have to set some boundaries about you shadow poofing when we think we’re having a private moment.”

“I’m not a creeper. I just figured your mates were as hungry as mine and Pax is defrosting Cas’s broccoli cheese soup and making Harmony’s famous goddess dressing. I figured you might want to feed them.”

“I love broccoli cheese soup,” Calamity moaned.

I think we were all pretty protective of the young demon. She had been beaten up when we found her. It looked like they had tortured her pretty badly. She had showered, and it looked like Kat had given her some blood to heal her. Calamity seemed a little better mentally, too. I knew part of it was being out with her mates and the other part was that one of her mates was a siren.

Jezebel’s voice could be erotic, terrifying, or soothing. I was betting she sang to her until she calmed a bit. I wished I had that gift, but I didn’t, so I started getting bowls and salad plates down.

My bear wanted to fix Medusa’s plate and feed her, but I knew we should probably ask permission first, so I did. It was my nature as a polar bear shifter. She was old enough to get that. She was also old enough to set her own boundaries.

“Fix me a giant plate, but I can feed myself.”

Yeah, I was okay with that. I would have felt better if I could have baked a giant loaf of sourdough bread to go with the soup and salad with some fresh, herbed butter from the garden, but we didn’t really have the time. Later.

“I need to call Father Nathan in the morning. I couldn’t call him and tell him Oberon was there because of Hannibal’s cameras. We kind of just left him there since he didn’t come to the basement with us. I don’t know if Medusa’s friends will bring him here if he wants, or he ran. He said he wanted to see Father Nathan again.”

Fuck. We couldn’t have pulled this off without the priest. We should have kept his friend close so we could take him with us. It was the least we could have done.

“Oberon? He didn’t run. He’s one of the good ones,” Kat said. “He’s been there a while. Oberon intended to stay until everyone was out. There was a particular fake priest he wanted to kill. You didn’t leave him. You got your mate home and left him in the care of some very powerful supernaturals who will bring him where he chooses to go. Unlike these chuckle fucks, I know who your friends are, Medusa. I’ve been to one of Di’s parties back in the day.”

Medusa’s face lit up.

“Seriously? How have we never met?”

“It was before he met you. And, oh, my fuck. The soup and salad are delicious.”

“You’re going to have to tell me how you met my prison best friend,” Jezebel said.

“Later. These three assholes need to figure it out. And since they now know their mate is Medusa, it’s pretty fucking obvious.”

“No, it’s not,” I sulked.

Because seriously, I was fairly smart, and I didn’t know. It was driving me crazy.