Chapter 22

Viv stared at her phone. She hoped Mac was alright. She hadn’t heard from him since yesterday afternoon. He was chasing a lead, so maybe he was busy with that and didn’t have time to update her. He hadn’t called last night; she had stayed up until she finally fell asleep holding her phone. There were no missed calls this morning. She had missed their nightly chat. It was easier to talk to him without seeing him. In person, she still heard his words about not wanting a human mate. Over the phone, her brain didn’t shove that little tidbit at her for some reason.

She had learned that he absolutely hated Brussels sprouts but loved broccoli. His favorite color was red, he loved board games, and played Gardenscapes at night to relax. He enjoyed detective novels and she had set a few aside for him to look at the next time he came in. He had a dry and sometimes dark sense of humor, which given what he did for a job, a darker sense of humor seemed to fit. In the days he had been gone, she had received daily little things that showed he was thinking of her. Some were notes that he had written and left with D to give her. There was a flower delivery a couple of days ago, the cannoli delivery last night, and a cookie bouquet mixed in there as well. There were little touches that showed he was listening to her, like the flowers were wildflowers and sunflowers, with a few roses mixed in. Sunflowers were her favorite.

Viv checked her phone again, noticing it was time to start urging people to leave and close up for the night. She grabbed the intercom, making the announcement that there were ten minutes before the library closed and to check out now. As soon as she finished, she felt a shift in the air, the shadows once again watching her. She could tell it was Mac.

“Welcome home,” she said. “I’m glad you’re back. You’ll have to tell me all about it at home.”

Her phone dinged, showing a text message with a thumbs-up emoji.

She walked the library, shooing out the stragglers, cleaning up as she went. Her shadowy bodyguard following. As soon as the door was shut and locked, she turned around looking for Mac.

“Where’d you go?” she called out. She thought for sure he would be right behind her.

“Tables,” he said, his voice low. He sounded exhausted.

Walking toward the tables near the desk, where he normally sat, she saw him slouching in the chair. He glanced up, his face drawn and a little gray.

“What happened?” she cried as she ran over to him. His poor face was scraped up on one side, stitches splitting his eyebrow. His wrist was in an air cast, the fingers looking a little swollen and bruised. His clothes were dirty, dusty and ripped in places, wet and darker looking in others. As she got closer, she realized that was blood.

“We found him, but he detonated one of the booby traps,” Mac replied, his voice slow. “We found out his brother had been hiding his trail and we got his location out of him. We called in reinforcements since the asshole keeps evading us. As soon as we arrived, we had another Enforcer with us throw a containment spell so he couldn’t port out again. He had a bunch of humans at the property, but Bert and I got them out first. When we went to grab him, he detonated the explosives he had throughout the building. The blast knocked out the Enforcer who cast the containment spell, so he couldn’t revoke it which meant that none of us could port out. I got buried under some rubble. Bert was knocked back, but luckily the blast shoved him behind a pillar that stayed upright so it protected him. Once he was conscious, he dug me out. We had to climb our way out of the house to get far enough away that we could port out. There were Enforcers who had been stationed outside, surrounding the building in case he tried to run and they helped. They found the guy’s body. He was dead from the explosion. I had to stop at the hospital, or I would have been here sooner,” Mac said.

“You asshole!” Another voice rang out in the library. Viv grabbed her knife, the one that Mac had spelled to always stay with her and stood guard over her mate. “I can’t believe you left the hospital against orders!”

Mac touched her lower back. “It’s okay. It’s Bert.”

A short but muscular bald man came limping toward them.

“Ah. You must be Viv,” he said, holding out a hand. “I’m Bert. Did this idiot tell you what happened?”

“He said there was an explosion and you got him out. That was about as far as he got,” Viv replied, shaking his hand after she put the knife away. This was not what she pictured an angel looking like. There were no white robes, no halo. Just a bruised, tatted-up, biker-looking dude. He seemed nice though and she felt safe being near him.

“He had a piece of shrapnel lodged in his leg, his skull was showing through that eyebrow, his hand and wrist were literally crushed from a huge piece of the building, like they were bone powd?—”

“That’s enough, Bert! I’m fine. They gave me some healing potions, set the broken things, and stitched the rest. I just wanted to go home. I’ll heal better there than in a hospital anyway. You know we don’t deal well with those kinds of places. Home has a comfy bed and lots of wards,” Mac pointed out.

Viv looked at him carefully. He really did look horrible.

“Does he need to go back?” she asked Bert. “Nope, you shush,” she scolded Mac when he opened his mouth to protest.

“Probably not, but I didn’t save his stupid life just for him to be dumb.”

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” she promised. Bert didn’t look all that much better. “Would you like to come back to our house? You can get a shower and we’ll find you some clothes. Thomas’ might fit well enough. We can get some dinner and you can always stay in the spare room or the pull-out couch,” she offered. Bert came here instead of going somewhere else, so he might not have a family to go to. Plus, he had saved her Mac. She could at least make sure he had a good meal and could relax and feel safe for a bit.

Bert looked at Mac, who nodded. “I would like that. Thank you.”

Viv grabbed her phone and sent a message to Thomas.

Mac home. Hurt. Bringing home an angel for dinner. Can you set up the extra bed?

What?! An angel? Seriously? Who is it? D wants to know,Thomas replied.

Bert. He’s an Enforcer who was working with Mac.

There was a pause as she was sure Thomas was passing it on. D says he’s good people. I’ll order in Chinese and some pizzas. See you soon.

I’m driving home, so it’ll be a few, Viv responded.

“Okay. Dinner is being ordered, Chinese and pizza. Will those work?” she asked Bert.

“I like them both,” he replied.

“Let’s head to the car. Mac looks like he’s going to pass out,” she said worriedly. She wasn’t sure what would happen if he passed out trying to open and go through a portal. Viv leaned down, putting her shoulder under Mac’s arm. She made sure to use the one that hadn’t been dislocated. The last thing they needed was her to reinjure herself or drop Mac.

The three of them slowly walked to the front, two of them limping. She locked the door behind them, helping Mac into the front seat. They must have been lucky because traffic was light and they caught all green lights. As she pulled into the driveway, D came out.

“Hey, D,” Bert greeted as he climbed out of the back seat.

“It looks like you guys had quite the night,” D said dryly.

“You could say that,” Bert snorted.

D opened Mac’s door. “You ready to go inside?”

“Maybe in a minute,” he said, his eyes closed.

D shook his head, bending down to pick him up. He ported them inside.

“Come on in, Bert. You look like you need to sit down,” she said worriedly.

She dropped her purse and coat by the front door, making sure Bert made it to a chair before rushing to look for Mac. D had him in his room, helping him lie down.

“Is he okay?” she asked.

“He will be. He should have stayed in the hospital longer,” D said.

“Wanted to be home,” Mac slurred.

Viv startled as a tiny package dropped onto the nightstand. There was a note laying on top of the small box.

Tell my idiot nephew that one healing potion is not enough to heal an entire building falling on you. Here’s another two for him, as well as one for Bert. If you need more, tell Mac to call me. Opening the box, she found three small bottles. D helped Mac raise his head, Viv opening the bottles and helping Mac drink them.

“Can you stay with him? I’ll bring Bert his,” she asked D.

Thomas was now in the living room, giving Bert a bottle of water. He must have been in the other guest room making up the bed. As soon as Bert swallowed his potion, she ran back to check on Mac. He was already looking better, the scrapes on his face healed.

“Dinner should be here in ten minutes,” Thomas said, coming into the room. “Bert is in the shower. I gave him a pair of sweatpants and one of my looser t-shirts. I hope they fit him, he’s a bit bulkier than I am.”

“We can always give him one of mine,” D said. “Come on, Mac. I’ll help you get in the shower. Those potions are working but you’re going to be a bit wobbly still.”

Viv watched as Mac leaned on D, letting him take some of the weight off his leg as he worked his way down the hallway to the bathroom. The clawfoot tub was cool, but it would probably be hard for him to climb into on his own.

“That is not how I pictured angels,” Thomas murmured with a grin.

“I know! A tattooed biker who looks like he could bench press me was not what I pictured either. He seems nice though and from what Mac told me, he saved Mac’s life.”

“What in the world happened?” Thomas asked as they headed toward the living room.

“I’m sure there’s more to it, but the short story I got was they found the guy, threw a containment spell over the building so he couldn’t portal out, got the humans out. When they went to arrest him, he detonated the building. The containment spell was still active, so they couldn’t port out either. The building collapsed on Mac, Bert had been thrown back and was saved by a piece of the building that didn’t fall. Bert dug Mac out and got him outside so they could port to the hospital. Other Enforcers were there too. The guy died in the explosion. That’s about all I know,” Viv told him.

The doorbell rang, startling both of them. They were getting better about noises at the door, but sometimes it still took them off-guard. They checked the cameras, making sure it was the delivery person. Even if they opened the door and it wasn’t, the wards wouldn’t let anyone in the house that they didn’t allow or who were evil torturing bitches. Thomas opened the door, Viv standing off to the side. It was the pizza delivery guy and they could see the Chinese food driver pulling up. Viv took the pizzas and ran them to the kitchen counter. She made it back to the door as the next delivery person was walking up.

“It smells so good,” she said, helping Thomas set the table.

“Do you need any help?” Bert asked as he came back into the living room. He was looking much better.

“No, sit. What would you like to drink?” Thomas asked.

“Just water, please.”

Viv grabbed waters for everyone. Thomas was lining the counter with all the different food so people could grab what they wanted. It was quite the spread, but she figured with three big guys, her and Thomas, plus the fact that two of them were healing, they would probably eat most if not all of it.

Mac came out, still moving a little slowly, D hovering behind him. “Stop hovering like a mother hen! I’m fine. Thirty more minutes or so and I’ll be all normal,” Mac snapped.

“Don’t be mean to D. He’s worried about you,” Viv scolded.

Mac frowned. “Sorry,” he muttered.

“Sit down. What do you want to eat?” she asked him.

“Little bit of everything, please,” Mac answered.

“Bert?”

“Uh, same, please. Thank you.

It was quiet once the food was at the table, everyone digging in. Mac and Bert were clearly tired, almost falling asleep at the table toward the end. D helped Bert to his room first, coming back to get Mac.

Viv helped clean up, putting the few leftovers in the fridge. She thought she could sleep all the night through tonight. Her family was all here.