Page 12 of Eternal Light

“What has you smelling so guilty, sugar?” Luca asks as he moves in for a hug.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he retorts, with a smack to Luca’s butt.

“Shit. Did not think that through.”

“Apparently not. Let’s get this shit loaded up.” Gideon rallies the troops, sidestepping Luca’s question.

They take another hour to get the two vehicles loaded, and the house back to a semblance of order. Jay packs the immense pile of belongings into the backs of the Buick and CR-V, and then they’re on the road for the twenty-minute drive to their newest destination.

Their next stronghold is a fifteen-unit apartment building, and Jay parks in the lot to head inside for keys from the superintendent, while Gideon circles the block.

In the rearview mirror, he can see Luca and Nix cuddled up in the back seat, silent and uncharacteristically stoic. Luca is unsettled enough that he’s got Nix’s fingers in his mouth and his nose in Nix’s neck.

His angst must be palpable, because while Grayson is resting his eyes beside him in the passenger seat, he isn’t quiet for long.

“Stop thinking so hard. You’re freaking everyone out,” Grayson finally sighs.

“I am perfectly calm.”Liar, liar, pants on fire.

“Nice try, but your soulmate knows that’s a lie, and thereforemysoulmate is getting both of your misgivings through the bond, so I know that’s a lie, too. Completely the wrong crowd to try to fake it.”

“Fine, but there’s too much at stake. I keep wondering how we ended up here, you know?” That’s not entirely true, either. Knowing full well how they got here is easy. It’s wondering how it all got fucked up that has Gideon confounded.

“Ha. Yeah, I really do. But I also know how we do whatever it is we need to, over and over and over again. It’s…destiny. I don’t really get why all the time, but we’ve been on this journey with each other for millennia. Together.”

“Does it always work out?” The question slips out against Gideon’s will.

Grayson’s quiet for a minute, and it’s probably because it’s his turn to fake it. But he must decide Gideon will know, for the same reason Grayson cited earlier.

“No, not every time. I haven’t seen much of that, and maybe it’s just the nature of what I do when I’m sleeping. The remembering? But they’re usually good. I could tell you about it sometime.”

Fuck.Usuallygood?Well, that’s not a reassurance in any way, shape, or form.

“Yeah, Pretty, I’d like that.”

Leo flags them down on their third pass, and they follow Jay’s Buick into the underground parking garage.

“Third floor. Apartment three-two-five. I’m going to do recon.” Jay lopes off with Rowan on his heels.

It’s odd—now that Nimue has said Rowan is the Wolf, he can’t unsee it. He thinks about how Rowan and Tsuki seem so alike after she’d arrived. How she’d been waiting for him to find her. Rowan’s mannerisms since Nix’s pregnancy began last fall—it’s all instinctual, wolf-like behavior. Gideon sincerely hopes it doesn’t extend to marking his territory in the traditional wolf-like ways. It hasn’t before, despite all their jokes about it, so fingers crossed that maybe it won’t start now.

He gently pulls his kittens from their cuddle in the back seat and presses their bags into their arms, while Grayson and he take up the rear, suitcases in hand. Finn and Leo do the same with the big bags of nesting supplies that Nix won’t do without.

They pile into the empty elevator for the trip up. Only two doors open into the hallway, and the black one closest to the fire stairs swings open when they arrive.

The apartment is small. There’s a single bedroom, a living room, a bathroom, and a compact kitchen. There are glass doors to a balcony where tenants who weren’t being hunted by their psychopathic sire could enjoy the evening with a glass of wine.

“It’ll do, I think, once Nimue can stop by for protection spells. Hopefully, we’ll only be here for a short time,” Jay says. It’s small, sure, but Gideon used to live in a two-room cabin, so he’s not picky.

“I like it, Jamie—like a cozy hidey-hole. This entire room will be our nest room, but we should wait until after Nimue comes.” Nix grins, picking up the two bags like they weigh nothing and taking them into the bedroom, Luca already dragging a suitcase in behind him.

A few minutes later, there is some giggling, and then what sounds like them jumping on the bed.

“Don’t break anything!” he shouts, and the noise abruptly settles down to whispers, and then the wet sounds of kissing.

“It’s better than the ground floor,” Jay says, pulling Gideon into a hug. “There aren’t any trees tall enough to reach the balcony, and there are three floors above us. There is one other tenant on this floor—a human, newlywed couple. Met them on my way up.”

It is more defensible than previous locations; nevertheless, having people so close makes Gideon’s wolf pace.