Page 11

Chapter 11

N ow that the party was over, things around the compound settled into a more relaxed routine. Mari spent time checking in on all their guests, making sure they felt welcome and helping them try to find their new normal. She understood the struggle they all faced. Their lives had been so difficult for so long—now that things were suddenly changed, it could feel disorienting.

Most of all, she wanted them to feel safe and make sure there was no sense of pressure on them to leave until they were ready. She sat with Tristan in the kitchen, having a formal tea that Giselle had gone all out on. They nibbled scones and cakes and didn’t talk much at all.

Finally, he set his cup in the saucer and focused on her like he had something to say. “I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

Mari looked him over. Physically, he was much improved. But she knew from discussing it with Rio that he still didn’t have much in the way of memories. “Maybe there’s a reason you don’t remember.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of. It feels like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. Clar and Hal are wonderful and very patient, but every time I try to get closer to them, I can’t help but think that maybe there’s something I should know about them that I don’t.”

“Have you asked them?”

Tristan sighed. “Yes. They tell me about their family and how they grew up, but nothing about what has been happening here in Las Vegas.”

Mari set down her cup. “My father ran this city for a long time. He was not a nice man. He preyed on children and other vulnerable people to build a life of ease and luxury for himself on their backs. You were one of those children.”

She paused to let that sink in. “I don’t know a lot of the details of what happened to you specifically, but there are reasons that Rio doesn’t want to tell you about them. It’s bad. Very bad. And maybe some of it is better left there and not remembered.”

“When I woke up in L.A., that was the feeling that I had. That there were demons in my past that should be left there and not disturbed. So I let it go. But then I started to remember Rio and the foster home, and I missed him, you know? It felt like I had left something behind that I needed.”

Mari reached to hold his hand. “I know he’s so glad that you’re back, because he missed you too. And maybe that’s enough. That you remember him and how close you were and the good times.” She remembered the conversation she and Rio had had about Cisco and the memories he’d taken from them. “Trust him to hold the rest of that for you. He’ll tell you if there’s something you need to know.”

Tristan looked away. “It’s been months since I came looking for him. And I woke up with missing time again, and now I’m mated to two hellhounds I don’t even know. What if this has happened before? What if there’s some other mate of mine wondering where I am?” He shook his head, tears welling in his eyes.

Mari recognized the downward spiral of his thoughts and squeezed his fingers. He was worried he had left someone important behind the same way he had with Rio, or she had with Dante. “Okay, you know how long it has been since you left California. We can figure out how much time went by before Clar and Hal found you. Then we can do the same for when you woke up the first time, based on what Rio knows about when you left town.”

He stared at her with a hopeful expression. “Yeah, that sounds good. Then once we have all of that, we can figure out how much unaccounted-for time there is, and if it seems likely I’m forgetting anyone else.”

She pulled out her phone and texted Rio to come find them, and to pick up the hellhounds on the way. Then she poured each of them another cup of tea while they waited. “There was someone that I forgot. I told Cisco to take the memories because I was in a place where I couldn’t feel the things I was feeling safely.”

“Because of your father.” It wasn’t a question.

Mari met his eyes. “Exactly. Later, once it was safe and he told me about it, I had him restore the memories. I had hurt Dante by forgetting him, but it was also something he understood once I explained it to him.”

“He forgave you.”

“He did. If he hadn’t, I’m not sure what I would have done. So I understand your worry, that there might be someone out there who misses you. But I also know that sometimes those memories are gone for a reason.”

Tristan sent her a relieved smile. “Thank you. It helps to know that it worked out for you.”

“Rio and I both have some memories that Cisco still holds for us. Things that are so painful that we asked him to keep them hidden. We trust him to keep us safe and to let us know if there’s something we need to see.”

“It’s hard knowing that it’s out there lurking, waiting to jump out of the shadows at any moment, but it helps that Rio understands what the other side feels like.”

“If he thought it was something you needed to know to stay safe, he would tell you. I know that for certain.”

Rio arrived with the hellhounds in tow a few minutes later, all of them looking concerned. She set them at ease as quickly as possible and then explained the situation. They spent a while ironing out the timeline of Tristan’s disappearances and reappearances without talking too much about what had happened in between, with Mari taking notes.

Once they were fairly sure that there were no unaccounted-for blocks of time that were large enough for him to have forgotten someone else, his shoulders relaxed.

Tristan looked between Clarion and Halcyon. “Where did you guys find me?”

“You came to the club where we all used to work,” Clarion said. “You were looking for Rio. “

Halcyon picked up seamlessly where his twin left off, “Someone told you he worked there when you were asking around.”

Tristan turned to Rio. “But you didn’t anymore.”

“Not since you left the first time.”

“I want to know what happened.” When Rio started to protest, he waved a hand. “Not all the details. I just want to know why, whenever you mention it, you look like someone killed your dog.”

Rio looked up at the ceiling for a moment and gathered some strength. “You died, and I thought it was for good. I couldn’t go back there after that, and I didn’t for a long time. I almost left the city entirely.”

Tristan nodded slowly. “I suspected it might be something like that. Why didn’t you go?”

“Because of Mariana.” Rio smiled in her direction. “We weren’t together at the time, but I still worried about her. I stayed to help keep her safe.”

Tristan’s gaze grew distant. “I think I was calling you. I’m not sure how I know, but it’s something I’ve thought since I woke up the first time. That there was someone missing, and they were supposed to come find me. It’s why I had this nagging feeling the whole time.”

“I don’t know if I would have ended up in L.A., but it’s definitely possible. I wasn’t thinking that many steps ahead.”

“Then when you didn’t come, I started remembering you. It took some time for me to piece it all together and figure out where you were. For a long while, I wasn’t sure if I should actually try to come find you.”

Rio reached to grab his hand. “I’m so glad you did, Tris. And I’m sorry I didn’t come.”

“I get it. You had things keeping you here. Maybe I understood that on some level, which is why I thought I had to come back.” Tristan exhaled a long sigh and then turned to the hellhounds. “Your boss, he was the one that was holding me?”

They nodded in sync. Clarion looked guilty before he spoke up, “Vincent found you before we did. We never would have turned you over to him.”

Tristan looked between them. “Did you know me before?”

“Not well,” Halcyon said, with a sick expression on his face. “We never had a chance to scent you before you left.”

The phoenix sat back in his chair. “I died because of him somehow. I know that much, but the looks on all of your faces say I shouldn’t ask.” He let out a breath. “So I’m going to trust you and not ask. But I want you all to promise that, if something from that time is going to bite me in the ass, you’ll tell me before it happens.”

Rio nodded immediately.

The hellhounds shared a look, and then Halcyon said, “The only reason we don’t want to tell you is that it will hurt you to hear it.”

Clarion leaned closer. “We don’t want to cause you more pain. That’s the last thing we want.”

Tristan put a hand on each of theirs. “I get that. I really do. But can you understand why that makes me worry that something you’re keeping from me might catch up with us eventually?”

Halcyon stared at their joined hands in silence, breath held as if he was afraid to break the moment.

After a long hesitation, Clarion responded, “Absolutely. We promise. If anything from that time comes for you, we will warn you.”

Tristan stood slowly and moved to stand between them, holding one arm out to each of them. They launched at him in unison and tackled him in a hug so fierce Mari was afraid they might break him. With a small noise of surprise, Tristan wrapped an arm around each of them. Halcyon burrowed into the crook of his neck and Clarion pressed his face to the phoenix’s temple.

Mari took Rio’s hand, and the two of them slipped out of the kitchen to give the three of them a little privacy.

“Thank you,” Rio said as he pulled her into a hug.

She enjoyed the way he held her, embracing her with his entire body all at once. “What for?”

He pulled back to look at her. “For caring enough to help him. I couldn’t figure out what he needed, and I was so afraid to share too much and hurt him. What did you say to him?”

“He was afraid that there were more holes in his memory than he knew about, and he had left someone else behind the same way he had you. So I thought we could chart out the time for him and help him see if there was any time missing. Then I told him about what happened with Dante, and how Cisco holds some of our memories.”

“My sexy-ass queen is brilliant.” He leaned to kiss her briefly. “I never thought of telling him about what Cisco did for us. Of course that helped him feel better. It gave him a frame of reference.”

“I’m sure you would have gotten there eventually,” Mari said. “You were just focused on trying to make things normal for him, which was perfect, but he also needed to step back and think about what he might have lost.”

She had thought more than her fair share about painful memories and how some were worth holding onto and some needed to be let go.

There were lessons in the pain sometimes, things that you could only learn that way. Some pain offered a kind of growth that you couldn’t achieve except by allowing yourself to feel it and remember it. But cruelty, especially when committed casually, as her father and Vincent so frequently had, rarely offered anything worth learning.

Thinking of that struggle made her pull Rio into another fierce hug. He chuckled softly as he buried his face in her hair. “What prompted this outburst?”

“Just thinking about everything you’ve been through.” She rubbed his back. “I know there are things you don’t want to talk about, but I want you to know that none of that would ever change the way I feel. You are who you are because of everything that’s happened, and I love all of who you are.”

“Te quiero.” He clutched her tighter. “Siempre.”

Mari laughed when he scooped her up into his arms. “Where are you taking me this time?”

“There’s this beach near here that a friend of mine built that we never got to enjoy properly.” He kissed the hollow of her throat, making her hum with pleasure at the soft caress of his lips.

“That sounds delightful.” She kicked off her shoes, wrapped her arms around his neck, and put everything but him out of her mind for a while.