Page 25 of April's Fool (Northarbor Coven Book 2)

Aftermath

Amorandes

Damon stood stock still, his anger palpable. It tainted the air, once full of laughter and joy for a new chapter for Heatwave, now poisoned with the rot Basil left behind.

Finally, after a full minute where I feared Basil had ruined everything, Damon softened against me. He clumsily returned his gun to his pocket, then wrapped his arms around me so we were holding each other tight.

“I just wanted it over,” he muttered against my chest. “Wanted to just kill him so no one else has to. Thyme shouldn’t have to kill his brother. Cody is too innocent to take a life.”

“I am not!” Cody cried, advancing on Damon, who raised his head to look at his friend. I was gratified when Damon didn’t move away from me. “If it’s between us and him, I’m picking us. I won’t lose sleep over it, either.”

He wrapped his arms around us both, before Toth appeared at his side and whisked him away to safety .

“Should we close the club?” I asked.

“No. He’s made his point. There’s no show when it’s just shifters around. He came tonight just to show he could.” Damon eased out of my hold, kissed me softly, then took my hand. “Come on, we need to tell the others what he said. Then we are getting back to your party. You did all this hard work—“

“We did,” I interrupted. “Both of us. As partners. This is partly yours, too.”

While I knew it made Damon uncomfortable to remind him, I’d put his name on this place along with mine. Some of that was because of human laws not recognizing demon ownership of property, even as a royal.

“Okay. We did all this work, so he isn’t going to spoil it.”

The Northarbor witches, along with the Sweetwater Alpha and his security, gathered together. They looked shell-shocked.

“I can’t believe he had the audacity!” Oak shook his head.

“Oh, I can,” Thyme said, swirling the remains of his cocktail in his glass. “This is on brand for him.” Thyme cast his gaze, which caught on Damon, narrowing slightly. “What exactly did he say to get you so rattled?”

Damon recounted all Basil had said, even the confusing words about him. How was Damon a complication? Had Basil sensed the other in my lover? Parker had searched for Damon’s past. Until he entered the foster care system, there were no records of him even existing. They weren’t sure if Damon was even his real name. It didn’t matter, it was his chosen one.

Deep in my heart, I knew my lover wasn’t all human. I was still leaning towards the fae. It wouldn’t have been outside of their nature to switch a baby or birth one with a human and abandon them both. Perhaps his other nature was further back and his mother just couldn’t cope. She had surrendered him rather than let him suffer. He should have had a wonderful life with caring parents, but people let him down, over and over, they gave up on him, or changed their minds. It was like he had been cursed.

The word cursed rang inside me as truth. I didn’t understand where the sense came from, it just reared up sometimes, never in time to stop me making some truly spectacular mistakes in my life, though. As long as it was there to help Damon, I didn’t care.

Thyme seemed hung up on the part about Damon. I recalled some of the times I’d caught Thyme studying Damon closely. Was he aware of what Damon was ?

“Say that again, but tell me exactly how he said it, his face, everything,” Thyme demanded, voice harder and more serious than I’d ever heard it.

Damon huffed, but went to repeat himself.

“No,” Oak cut in. “This is getting us nowhere. We need to get you all somewhere safe.”

“Nope.” Damon’s expression dared Oak to suggest that again. “We’re not letting him ruin all Mori’s, I mean, our hard work. The club is safe. The apartment is as safe as we can make it. If Basil comes again, I’ll be ready for him.”

“How?” Oak challenged. “Your gun didn’t work.”

“It didn’t,” Damon agreed. “But there are always loopholes. I’ll protect Mori, Cody and Toth with my last breath.”

The air felt like it had been punched from my lungs. “No, Damon, please. Don’t speak like that.” I reached for his hand. He felt so far away, like he was shutting himself off from me. “We’ll do this together. Me and you, okay?”

Finally, he let me have his hand. “Yeah. Together.”

“Since Cody is Basil’s prime target, I think he should get out of the area. The demon realm isn’t safe. Where can they go where they will be protected?” Blake asked. His team was on edge. They probably wanted to get Blake out of there. This wasn’t the shifters’ fight. At least not yet. It might never be .

Silence stretched out between the group. We were settled in one of the lounges made for the demons. Most of the other guests had left, some without even realizing just who had walked among them as if he owned the place. By the magic, I hated Basil. Hated his threats against my son. For the words he had spoken to Damon. Something about Basil’s reaction had shaken Damon to his core. I hated that he had that power.

Where could Cody and Toth go where they would be safe and protected? The demon realm was out, of course, just because we didn’t know if Basil had any other demon names. Toth wouldn’t be comfortable in the elven world, Cody would be too far away for me. No, they couldn’t go there.

Suddenly, the ideal place came to me. “Vegas!” I cried at the same time Damon did.

I turned to my lover, seeing a grin on his face. It soothed me that we were on the same page with this.

“Great idea,” Alpha Blake stood. “We’ll leave you to your preparations. If you need us, please just call. I’ll send a couple of elves to you tomorrow. They can try to find loopholes for you, Damon. We want him gone as much as you do.” He gave Damon and then me hugs. I wasn’t aware we were on such friendly terms, but I liked it. I liked the young Alpha .

“Okay, I have triplets who are giving their papa a hard time. I need to go rescue my mate.”

The Alpha and his team left quickly.

“Damon, could I have a word?” Thyme asked hesitantly.

“Could it wait for a bit? Please? I just need a minute with Mori. We need to get Cody out of here before you say whatever you need to.”

Thyme sighed. “It’s waited this long. I suspected before. I tried to tell you what I—You know what? It can wait a bit longer.”

It was Damon’s turn to sigh. “Sorry I dodged your attempts.” Thyme had tried to speak to Damon alone before? Why? Also, why was Damon so reluctant to listen to the witch? Was it just because of what he was?

The witch waved him off. “It’s fine.”

A distant clock rang out. April first. I laughed bitterly, an odd sound, not one I was accustomed to making. “Basil’s timing was off. An hour later and we could have passed it off as one of those April Fools’ jokes.”

Damon’s smile was an echo of his usual one. “If only this was one big prank.”

“I’ll wait here. Maybe get another cocktail,” Thyme said before heading up to the bar.

“Do you want me there while you speak to Thyme?” I wrapped an arm around Damon’s waist, letting him know I was there for him .

“Please. I just… something tells me it’s big. Life changing. I… I can’t take anymore. Can’t we just have peace? This was supposed to be a fresh start.”

“Whatever happens, I’m here, okay?”

“Okay.”

Cody did not take the news well and kind of threw a tantrum, which was a first for me on my parenting journey. Then I got to put my foot down as his father, another first, and insist that he go far away so he could be safe.

Then there was a lot of back and forth about putting myself in danger but not allowing him to take the same risks where Damon had to step in and count all the ways I was in a better position to defend myself and others thanks to the training of Keren and Gregoris, the man we were sending my precious son to.

Things with Gregoris may have not ended well, yet he was still my friend, the person who had been by my side for so long I hardly knew how to function without him. I’d managed, though I still missed him with a fierce ache. Having Damon with me helped with the pain .

Gregoris was the only one I could trust to look after Cody properly. Alongside me, he had watched Cody grow up. Now he was mated, he would have a new name, making him safe from Basil. Only Parker would know that name.

Finally, Cody agreed with a huff. Toth thanked us quietly, then joined Cody in their room to pack. Damon sat with me on the couch as Barr lingered in the kitchen, eating some leftovers from the opening. I was glad the food wouldn’t go to waste.

“Barr, would you take them to Vegas, then return to us?” I asked, catching his attention.

He swallowed the bite of sandwich he’d just taken. “I, uh, well, I need to spend some time at home first, to replenish before I return to you. Would that be okay, Mori?”

“Oh, of course! Sorry, I hadn’t thought.” Hellhounds didn’t have the same way of recharging their magic energy as incubi did. He would be running low after creating two portals across the country, dangerously low. It was better he recharged first.

“If he’s not going to be here, then we’re leaving Hela for you. She can protect you, can’t you, Hela?” Cody cooed to the hellcat. The beast chirped and purred at him, rubbed herself around his legs, then went to stand guard. “She’s very smart. ”

Our goodbyes were long and tear-filled. I cried the most, I’m unashamed to admit. My son was going away. We were going to be parted for an unknown amount of time. Visits would only happen if Barr could make them work. We couldn’t fly to him or use another work around in case Basil caught our trail. Cody was too important to risk because of my delicate feelings. I’d lived without him for a long time. I could handle it until Basil was dead.

The apartment was quiet, with Cody, Toth, and Barr gone. Hela still stood guard. All I wanted to do was take Damon to bed.

“Why can’t we just go to bed?” Damon whined, echoing my thoughts. It brought a smile out. “Why did I say I’d listen to Thyme?”

“Because, despite what you say, you are a good person who cares about others. Thyme clearly needs to get this off his chest.”

“Fine, let’s just go so we can get to bed.”

I followed Damon back into the club and deeper into the lounge where Thyme waited. Oak lingered, as did a couple of the other witches. I barely paid attention to them, my senses picking up on Thyme’s deep unease and a trickle of fear.

“Thanks for coming back. I hope Cody got away okay.” Thyme forced a smile.

“Can we just… I’m tired. ”

Thyme cleared his throat, then reached for a glass of water. The cocktail glass still full. “Okay. Goddess, this is so hard.”

“Please,” Damon sighed, exhausted. “Just spit it out.”

“Damon… I knew your mother.”