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“What about me?”

She pursed her lips, her brows drawn together. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, he hurt people because I gave him information. I played a part in it.”

“Ah.” She waved a hand dismissively. “Not a willing part, I’m sure. Besides, none of the information you gathered was obtained illegally. There’s nothing illegal about listening in to other people’s conversations. And if it wasn’t you, Camus would’ve had someone else gathering that information. You’re not in trouble for following orders to stay alive. We have special laws regarding family members under duress. And Dante told us what happened to your parents. That kind of threat would make anyone buckle under to survive. We’re more interested in Camus and his sons than you.”

“Dante?”

She shook her head. “No, not him. Though, I do have news on that front. Since your uncle signed the paperwork to make you Dante’s legal guardian, we won’t need to jump through hoops to send him home with you. We were going to have to terminate Camus’s rights to Dante, anyway.”

I frowned. “But he only signed the human paperwork on it. They did nothing in the Other Realm.”

She smirked. “It’s still legal. We’ve gotten a lot of confusion from paranormals about human legal documents. They think they’re not bound to them just because they’re paranormal. Utter nonsense. We work with thehumans, not parallel to them. Once you’re released and Camus’s rights have been terminated, Dante will be in your care.”

Relief slammed into me hard, knocking the wind out of me. My uncle was gone, finally in the hands of the council. Dante was safe from him and legally mine. Declan and Oliver were safe and didn’t have to hide in fear anymore. It all seemed too good to be true. At least until Athena’s words crossed my mind.

Submit to the white tiger and find your freedom.

I submitted to Declan the day we agreed to tackle my uncle together. I stopped fighting the idea of him being my mate. I didn’t fully believe I’d get to keep him, but I greeted each day determined to embrace whatever time I had with him.

Damn. She was going to be impossible to live with from here on out.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

DECLAN

We stayedin the Other Realm for a few days, but eventually I had to bring Ollie home before my parents got back. I wasn’t happy about the idea of leaving Aziel’s side, but my folks would lose their minds if I kept him for another week just because Aziel couldn’t be released yet. Luckily, his friends were taking turns staying with him, so at least I knew he was safe. Callum and Brandon took us home through the transport tunnel, and I grimaced at the massive blanket covering the front row of seats in Brandon’s truck.

“Sorry.”

Brandon snorted. “Like we can complain about some blood when Aziel was dying. I’ll get it detailed. It’ll be fine. I’m just glad he’s okay.”

Callum looked over his shoulder at a light, raising his eyebrows at me. “I’m bringing you back tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah.”

Ollie protested with a frown. “What about me?”

“Mom and Dad get back tomorrow. You’re going home with them.”

“But–”

Putting my hand on his shoulder, I raised my eyebrows. “Relax. It’sonly a week. And Ben has already agreed to let you hang out with him after school until I get back. Once Aziel is strong enough to come home, things will go back to normal.”

“What about Dante? We’ve got school. Is he coming back?”

“I’ll ask him, but I think he’s gonna want to stick close to Aziel for a while. They went through something really rough, buddy. They need time to heal.”

He still looked really hurt, his face pinched. “But the healer said they’re all better.”

“There’s more than just one kind of hurt, little one,” Callum interjected. “Physically, they’re on the mend, though Aziel might take a bit. But emotionally, they’re still hurting. They need time together to talk about what happened and move on from it.”

“Oh.”

Ollie frowned at his hands in his lap, his lip stuck out in a pout. I loved that he cared so much about Aziel and Dante and it sucked that he had to go back home alone, but it was for the best. He’d see plenty of both of them once they were allowed to come home. Aziel wasn’t going anywhere, and he was Dante’s guardian. They were a set pair. An adorable set pair who made jokes about their injuries to take back their confidence about it.

I had shut the shop down for a few days. With Ben out for a family emergency and me with Aziel, there was no one to run it. It would mean a lean month for bills, but I had enough in savings to deal with the loss. Luckily, the wards held up and nothing was touched when we got back. The witch who put up the wards even came to remove the prank one that hid the shop from paranormals.