Page 71 of Another Damned Storm
I turned, angling myself between my brother and my pirate. “How’s Lily?”
Hook shrugged, letting more emotion filter through the connection than he showed in his expression. “The storm waspretty powerful on their side. A couple of demons attacked a woman and a child.”
My heart stilled. “Are they okay?”
“The child is traumatized, but I expect he’ll be okay in time.”
“What about the woman?” Matt asked, anger clinging to the edge in his voice.
Hook gave him the smallest shake of his head.
His nostrils flared, but instead of flying off into a rant like the younger version of him would have, he closed his eyes and tipped his head back. After a couple of deep breaths, he met my gaze. “This is what I was saying. There’s no way this is your fault. We both know you wouldn’t let something like this happen if you could help it.”
But I could help it. If the fates were to be believed, all I had to do was slink back to the Alius and this nightmare would end.
24
HOOK
Two days passed without another incident. No freak storms manifested out of nowhere. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, and not one single demon slithered out of that cursed park. At least, not according to Matt and Lily.
Never’s brother had even started to relax around me. A little. He’d found us a spare room to make our own for the time being, and I’d taken full advantage of the time and the privacy, using every tool at my disposal to remind Never that she was mine.
It wasn’t all fun and games, however. You would think after all the time I’d spent in the Nassa waiting for the council of gods to deem my punishment complete that I would have learned the art of patience. I certainly thought I had, but waiting for word that Thrain was making a move, and being ready to act on a moment’s notice, kept me on edge.
Still, I stayed busy working with Never on her fighting skills and teaching her how to leverage her growing strength. She was getting faster and more powerful by the day. We worked on flashing too but given the humans’ distrust of all things magical at Matt’s compound, we reserved all of our training sessions for when we visited Lily’s side of the park.
The humans knew there was more to us than met the eye. They wore their suspicion like a badge of honor. But if anything was said about us, Matt hadn’t mentioned it.
That was another thing I could appreciate about Never’s brother. The man ran a tight ship, given the circumstances.
“Knock, knock.”
I turned away from the window I’d been staring out of without really seeing anything beyond my own spinning thoughts.
Never was trying to wedge the door to our room open with her body while attempting not to topple the two small metal trays she was holding. “A little help?”
I moved to prop the door open and snagged one of the trays from her as she ducked under my arm. “You didn’t have to bring me food. I could have gone down to the mess hall on my own.”
“By which I’m sure you mean ‘thank you.’ So, you’re welcome,” she said with her signature smartass smirk.
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Besides, I had a nice little chat with Angie. That girl is a pistol.” She smiled and set her tray down. “Smart as a whip.”
I held out her seat, and rather than rolling her eyes at the gesture the way she had in the beginning, she simply sat. “Thank you.”
I ducked, pressing a kiss to that sensitive part of her neck just below her ear. “As always, love, it is my pleasure.”
The months we’d spent together in the Nassa had changed us both. Some of those changes were small, like not bucking against a kindness as simple as having a door held open or a chair pulled out. Others were more profound, at least for me.
The way I felt about her wasn’t something I’d ever hoped to experience in my long life.
Now, I could see as plain as day how hollow all the emptyyears leading up to her arrival in my realm truly were. And how miserable they would become if the fates had their way.
“Would you expect anything less from your family line?” I asked, referring to her niece’s apparent intelligence.
She laughed. “I honestly don’t know. It seems like making the stupid or crazy decisions runs in our blood more than anything.”
