Chapter Forty-Two

At some point during our recuperation, one of them carried me inside. I woke between Darius and Declan in my bed, the late afternoon sunlight seeping through the lace curtains to make patterns on our bare skin. I immediately replayed everything that had happened the night before, and the magnitude of it hit me. Not only of my new relationship status and the immortality that came with it, but also the fact that I had killed a god. Blasted him to smithereens. God goo.

Now, we just had to deal with Michael. But something told me that Michael had fled. He didn't want to continue the war. That had been all Silas, and now, Silas was gone. If I were Michael, I would have found myself a new body and took it on the run.

I took a deep breath and sighed it out. It felt like the first time I could breathe since this whole thing had begun. I knew in my bones that things would get easier now. My hounds could go back to their usual routine of collecting lost and escaped souls, I could go back to running the bar, and we could . . . what were we going to do together? Was I going to give up my house and live with them? Why not keep it? It would be somewhere I could go to do magic. And my dad always said that property was the best investment. “Once you get land, hold on to it,” he told me. This was mine, and I wasn't letting it go just because three gorgeous, immortal warriors had come along and made us a thing.

A wonderful, sexy, eternal thing.

“Good morning,” Dominic said as he came into the room. “You hungry?”

“Yes,” Declan and Darius said together.

“I meant our mate, you assholes,” Dominic said affectionately as he helped me out from between them. “And don't feel as if you have to get dressed. You're perfect as is.”

“Yes, I know,” Darius said and got out of bed.

“Again, I was talking to Amélie,” Dominic said.

“Good morning.” I kissed Dom on the cheek and then headed into the bathroom, smiling to myself. Their bickering had turned into playful banter for me, and I enjoyed it.

When I got out, the men were gone, but I could hear voices coming from downstairs and water running in the other bathroom. Feeling utterly at peace, I got dressed and then headed downstairs. Pensively, I ran my hands over my belly. Things felt tighter, or maybe just stronger. Was it the immortality or the marathon sex building my muscles? Whatever it was—oh, shit! I cut off my thoughts as I remembered my baby.

“Binx!” I hurried downstairs and into the kitchen. “I need to get back to Binx. He's going to be starving by now.”

“Relax,” Dominic said as he pulled out a chair for me. “I went home after we tucked you in and fed him. I also cleaned his litter box. He'll be fine for a few more hours.”

I stared at him.

“Angel?” Dom lifted a brow.

“You are the most amazing man I've ever met,” I said.

Dominic beamed at me. “I'm glad you've finally admitted that.” He shifted his smirk to the other two and added, “In front of witnesses. There's no disputing it now. I'm the best.”

I chuckled and went over to hug him. “Thank you for remembering Binx even when I didn't.”

“You're welcome. And I love that cat too. He's a unique one, just like his mommy.”

“Coffee?” Darius asked me.

“Yes, please.” I kissed Dominic and sat down.

Dom sat beside me, and we all filled our plates from the platters of pancakes, bacon, and eggs in the middle of the table. There wasn't much talking for a while, just a lot of eating and groaning. After our late-night-into-early-morning activities, we were starving.

And then Darius asked, “How did you get away from Silas this time?”

I snorted. “This time. Yeah. I can't believe I got caught three times by him.”

“Well, he was a god,” Declan said.

“A god who our mate fucking demolished,” Dom added with a grin. “You are glorious, angel.”

“Thank you.” I grinned back. “And I think Michael is probably gone too. He was only staying because Silas was forcing him to.”

“Yeah, I think he's gone to ground,” Darius said. “But you didn't answer me. How did you get away? You were gone and then Silas was back and then you were back.”

“Well, I wouldn't have been caught at all if it weren't for . . .” I trailed off.

“Angel?” Dom laid a hand on my thigh.

“Jackie,” I said, my heart sinking. “She betrayed me.”

“What?” Darius growled.

I held up a hand. “She did it for her brother. He's got cancer. Or did. He didn't have long to live. Silas offered to heal him.”

“And Jackie believed him?” Declan asked.

“Evidently, he healed Jake a little, just enough to give him more time and prove what he can do to Jackie.”

“Jackie and Jake?” Dominic asked.

“They're twins,” I said. “And as if you have room to talk. You guys chose your names, didn't you?”

Darius chuckled. “She's got you there.”

“Back to Jackie,” Declan said. “What did she do?”

“Well, for one, she lured us into a trap. Then she snapped a cuff on my wrist and it drained my magic.”

“A magic-nulling manacle,” Declan said. “Those are nasty.”

“And difficult to get,” Darius said. “Who was Silas?”

“We may never know,” I said. “He didn't tell me, not even when he took me to the Realm of the Gods.”

“He took you to Olympus?” Dominic asked in shock. “That was risky.”

“Was it?” I frowned as a memory tugged at my mind. “I think someone else was there. Silas was going to . . .”

“What?” Dominic demanded.

“He wanted to bond with me so my magic would magnify his.”

“Bond with you?” Darius narrowed his eyes. “You mean he was going to rape you.”

“Yeah. He got close.” Another tug at my mind. I rubbed at my head. “I can't remember why he stopped.”

“It was probably that other person,” Darius said.

“Another god,” Declan clarified. “And from the look of our mate, he wiped her memory.”

“He did what?” I growled. “A god can do that?”

“Gods can do a lot of things.”

“Hold on,” Dominic said. “If there was another god involved, then this isn't over.”

“But he saved Amélie,” Darius said. “Maybe he wasn't involved. Maybe he just knew Silas and when he saw what he was up to, he tried to stop him.”

“Then why not report him to the Olympians?” Declan asked.

“If he knew Silas, he may not have wanted to report him. They could have been friends.”

“If that's true, he may now want revenge.”

All three of my mates looked at me.

I shook my head. “I don't think so, but it doesn't matter. We killed a god. We can handle anything.”

“That was you, angel, not us,” Dominic said.

“No, you were with me. We did it together. And now we're bound, and we're even stronger. We'll be fine.”

Dominic grinned, then shifted his attention to the other two hounds. “She's right.”

“But we still need to talk to Hades,” Declan said.

“Yes, this could be far more complicated than we think.” Darius frowned into his coffee.

“Lighten up.” Dominic smacked Dare's shoulder. “We've got our angel, and Silas—whoever the fuck he was—is dead. Take the win.”

“Wins. Plural,” Declan said.

Darius nodded and smiled at me. “Oh, I've taken them. And I intend to keep celebrating my good fortune forever.” He leaned over and kissed me. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” I shook my head. “It should feel weird to say that, but it feels natural.”

“It feels amazing!” Dominic said as he leaned back in his chair, pushed his T-shirt up to expose his stomach, and rubbed his belly. “But that might just be all the good food I cooked.”

I looked down at his tattoo. “Hades must have a sense of humor to mark you there.”

Dominic beamed at me. “He does, but I think he did it because it suits me.”

“You know, it does suit you. It fits your personality precisely.”

“Why do you sound surprised?” Darius asked.

“Because it means that Hades knew Dom before he marked him.”

“Obviously,” Dare said. “He had to get to know us to decide if we were hounds material.”

“Yes, but I mean that he knew you personally too. He knew Dominic well enough to mark him there. That's more than a knowledge of your skills.”

“Huh,” Dom said. “She's right.”

“Maybe he watched us awhile,” Declan said. “That wouldn't surprise me. The position of Cerberus is important. Hades had to be sure he chose the right sort of men for the job.”

“I think he chose wisely,” I said.

“Thanks, angel.” Dominic lifted my hand and kissed it.

“So what are you going to do about Jackie?” Darius asked.

“I'm going to forgive her.”

The men lifted their brows at me.

“I would do anything for you three,” I said. “Anything at all to save you. I'd betray anyone. And that's how Jackie feels about her brother.”

“I get it, but that's damn generous of you, sweetheart,” Darius said.

“I can afford to be generous. We came out of this on top. I may not have been so kind if things had gone differently.”

“Or it may just be your pure soul,” Dom said and winked at me.

I shrugged. “Where's my phone? Did we bring everything inside last night?”

“Yeah, uh.” Darius frowned and got up. “I think it's in the living room.” He went to fetch it.

“Thank you,” I called after him.

“No problem.”

Dare returned a few minutes later and handed me my phone. Our hands touched as I took it, and he got a goofy look on his face.

“What?” I asked.

“I can't believe you're mine.”

“Ours,” Dominic said.

“Yeah, yeah. Ours,” Darius said without looking away. “But she was harder won for me.”

“Maybe that's a good thing,” Declan said. “You're a guy who needs to fight for something in order to appreciate it.”

“Huh.” Darius sat down. “Maybe things did happen the way they were meant to.”

“Of course they did,” Dominic said. “I told you it was fortunate that I got to her first. I had to ease the way for you idiots.”

I shook my head and laughed as the men continued to rag on each other. I hit the button to dial Jackie, then held the phone to my ear and waited. To my surprise, she answered after the second ring.

“Amélie!” Jackie said frantically. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I'm okay,” I said. “I got away again. Silas is dead.”

“What?” she whispered. Then, under her breath, she muttered, “I wonder if that has something to do with it.”

“With what? Is Jake all right?”

“I don't know,” her voice broke. “Girl, I'm so sorry.”

“I know. And I understand. I would have done the same to save someone I loved.”

She started to sob.

“Hey, it's all right.”

“No, it's not. I don't know where Jake is.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was with him last night, and he was healed, Amélie. I mean, completely healed. The doctors couldn't figure it out. They did all these tests and scans and shit and couldn't find the tumors. All of them were gone. Jake wanted to go home, but they wanted to run more tests. I finally went home to get some sleep, and when I came back this morning, his bed was empty. The nurse said that he snuck out. They're very upset. I tried calling him, but he doesn't answer.”

A shiver ran down my spine. If Silas was still alive, I'd think Jake had gone to join the Host. But he was dead, and Michael was gone. At least, I hoped he was gone. What if he wasn't?

Then Jackie went on, “I got furious with them. I insisted on seeing their security tapes. And we found him on the video. I saw him leave the hospital, Amélie. He was with Indigo.”

“His girlfriend? That's good news isn't it?”

“It would be if Indigo would answer her fucking phone. But she's disappeared too. No one's seen her since she picked up Jake. She didn't show up for work this morning. I called the police, but they won't help. They said Jake left of his own volition with his girlfriend. There's no crime.”

“All right. I have someone who can look into it. Give me a few hours.”

“Really?” Jackie started to cry again. “You'd do that for me after what I did?”

“I still love you. I don't trust you around gods, but I love you.”

She snorted. Then asked, “Silas really was God?”

“He was a god. One of the Greeks, not the Christian God he claimed to be.”

“And he's dead now?”

“Yup.” I didn't explain. No need to admit to murder on the phone.

“Do you think his healing stopped working after he died?”

“No. You saw Jake leave the hospital. He looked fine, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then I'm sure he's still healed.” I paused, then said, “All right, I'll call you later.”

“Amélie, thank you. I do love you too. I hope you know that. I just . . . he's my brother.”

“I know. Try not to worry too much. At least you know he's alive.”

“Yeah. Okay. Thank you.”

I hung up the phone and looked at the men. “Jake left the hospital with his girlfriend.”

“I mean . . .” Dominic made a wincing expression. “He could just be holed up with her somewhere, getting some action. The guy's been in a hospital bed for a while.”

“I don't think so. That's not like either of them. I've met Indigo. She's a nice girl. She stood by Jake through all his treatments. I think she would have been with him to the end. And she's like part of the family. Jackie's parents love her. That's not the kind of woman who picks up her boyfriend and runs off with him, forgetting all about the guy's family.”

“Maybe it's Michael,” Darius said. “Silas healed Jake. And Michael needed a new body. Maybe he took Indigo and then went to get himself a new minion—freshly healed with god magic.”

“I'll hack into the hospital's computers and get the video. I should be able to track them through traffic cams and the like,” Declan said. “We'll find them. Hopefully, they just got caught up in Jake's miraculous healing.”

“Thank you, Deck.”

“We need to do this anyway,” Darius said grimly. “If Michael has anything to do with Jake's disappearance, we need to know.”

“I don't know.” I scowled. “Why would Michael go after a man who Silas healed? It would be smarter of him to just leave.” I looked around at the men. “Unless I didn't kill Silas.”

“He was a puddle, angel,” Dominic said. “No one comes back from that. Not even wicked witches.”

I snorted a laugh, but under that laugh, I shivered.