Page 90 of Senseless
Shadow didn’t answer, nor did he accept Reaper’s hand. His mismatched eyes only flicked to Reaper’s hand and then back up to his face as he continued to wait. The room was dead silent, but inside I was cheering.Don’t give him an inch. You deserve more,I thought.
Reaper blew out a long breath. “I was wrong to exile you without properly considering the situation. We could have come to a different solution, like Mari had suggested at the time.” He cocked his head toward me. “I was selfish and short-sighted to ignore you. I made you both suffer, and neither of you have any obligation to forgive me. But I see now how wrong I was and I’m deeply, deeply sorry.”
While Shadow considered his words, my fingernails bit into my palms. Part of me wanted to hug him again—properly this time, as my husband. As I watched Shadow accept his outstretched hand with a curt nod, I almost did. My hands even swung forward a tiny distance, but I drew them back.
The wound he caused was still there, a raw and vulnerable sensation in my body. It was healing, slowly. But these apologies had only slowed the bleeding. The hurt would need diligent, consistent care before it healed. And I still didn’t know if he’d be patient enough to stick around long enough for that to happen.
“Thank you,” I said softly and then, ready to move on for the moment, opened a cabinet to pull out a pair of gloves. “Now that that’s out of the way, did weallhear crazy laughter and get bloody ears?”
“Felt like my head was getting bludgeoned from the inside,” Jandro offered up.
The others nodded their agreement. “Thought I was a goner for sure,” Gunner added softly.
So it was the same for all of us. I too felt that rattling, slamming pain inside my head and wondered if it would be our end right before we reached home. Shadow and I had been riding when it hit us, and he didn’t want to stop and risk injuring us further. Somehow we both managed to stay on the bike until it stopped, and soon after that was when we found Gunner.
“And everyone feels okay now?” I took a spare otoscope from its hook on the wall and added a fresh tip to it, receiving nods from everyone in the room. “Did anyone aside from us experience this?”
My gut knew the answer even as the guys looked at each other before answering.
“I was just down the hall from here, visiting Slick,” Jandro said. “He and his nurses weren’t affected at all.”
“Slick?” I repeated, staring at him. “Stephan? What happened to him?”
“Gunshot. He’s fine.” Jandro rubbed his eyes then pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “It’s a long story,Mariposita, but he’s okay.”
“I’ll have to visit him later.”
Jandro smiled tiredly. “He’d love that.”
Reaper cleared his throat. “I was in the conference room with my dad and some lieutenants. I was the only one hearing it and freaking the fuck out.”
“So we can safely assume it is just us.” I turned around to find the ancient, penetrating stares of Hades and Freyja across the room. “Those of us who’ve heard the gods.”
“Hades.” Reaper regarded the dog cautiously, more so than I’d ever noticed before. He seemed almost afraid to touch Hades now. “Is there anything you can tell us about this?”
The time is nearly here.
Everyone in the room heard, as evident from their wide-eyed reactions. The chance of Hades answering a question always seemed slim, but he did not hold back now.
“The time for what?” Reaper asked.
The confrontation that will determine the fall or survival of all. Gods included.
My men and I all looked at each other, disbelief and worry settling over us with a heavy weight.
“That laughing sound, that pain, we all felt like we were about to die,” I lowered to a crouch on the floor, coming to eye level with Hades, “was it another god?”
Freyja stretched, her back arching as her curved claws extended.
It is like us, but different,she answered.We do not know what name or face it takes, but it is a human concept that has personified and taken form.
“What is that concept?” Shadow asked the question on everyone’s mind.
Chaos.The reply came from Hades.Senseless violence. And the destruction of everything in existence.
I dida preliminary check on all the guys’ ear canals, then let Dr. Brooks check over them and me more thoroughly. By the time he cleared us, I was more than ready to go home.
Who was I kidding? I’d been ready to go home that first day I followed Horus into the great unknown. But every minute of that journey was worth it to have us all back under one roof. Even Reaper, as shaky as my trust in him still was. His presence too, felt comforting andrightin our home.
