Addy and Gage walked to his room after Jackson was taken away. The damage to the inside of the estate was extensive, but Bernard said the cleanup wouldn’t be started until the morning—everyone needed rest. She was sitting on Gage’s couch waiting for him to finish showering and changing his clothes.
The sight of Matt trying to hurt him kept replaying in her head. She could still feel Renee’s hands around her neck. Addy squeezed her eyes shut to try to force the images from her mind as tears streamed down her face.
Gage crouched down in front of her with his hands on her knees. His shirt was off and he was covered in bruises. His back had a large bandage covering the wound Matt, their friend, had inflicted on him. “We’re gonna sort this entire mess out and do whatever it takes to stop these people.”
“Renee and Matt have been our friends most of our lives—Josh helped raise us. How am I gonna tell Kim about Matt?” She hadn’t seen Kim since the fighting ended—she didn’t know how to face her. “She loves him...”
“She loves you more. We’ll all help her get through it.”
Addy went to stand up and winced in pain. She was pretty sure she had some broken ribs, but didn’t want to say anything about it to Gage. During the fighting the adrenaline pumping through her body dulled the pain, but hours later it was killing her.
Gage gently pulled her hand so she was leaning against him. “Are you hurt?”
“My ribs are a little sore, but they’ll be fine,” she said, taking his hand and pulling him toward the door. “C’mon and walk me home.”
Walking through the garden was terrible. Most of the benches were overturned or destroyed. Chunks of the grass were missing and many of the bushes were uprooted. Once beautiful statues had pieces broken off of them or were tipped over. They watched their new Akori allies patrolling the grounds of the estate. Addy was still surprised at how many of them there were.
“Everything’s changed so much.” Gage put his arm across her shoulders and looked around them. “Between Stubbs blasting those doors down and my healing power, I’m starting to think there’s a lot more to this. How did we not know any of this was going on?”
“Jax said Fate hid it all. I understand him wanting to protect Jax, but those Mesen who attacked us were like an army. If Jax didn’t have those other Akori here I don’t know what would’ve happened.” Addy started thinking about Matt and Renee again and a knot formed in her stomach. “Our friends—the kids we grew up with, were a part of it…”
“They’re not our friends anymore—if they ever really were.” Gage pushed her head against his shoulder and they walked the rest of the way to her villa in silence.
Once inside her place, Addy excused herself to shower. In the bathroom mirror she saw that the bruises on her left side were already deep shades of black and blue. She started a hot shower and climbed in, carefully scrubbing her bruised and cut up body. She was in a lot of pain when she went to find something to wear, so she just slipped on a loose white cotton nightgown that went down to her knees.
Gage was sitting on her patio waiting for her. “It looks like it’s gonna storm,” she said, stepping outside into the darkness.
He reached for her hand to bring her down to him, but she resisted because of her injuries. Just the slight tug from him was unbearable.
“Sorry,” he said, pulling his hand away. “I just thought—”
“It's not that.” She had to see Molly first thing in the morning and maybe even go to the hospital. “I’m just a little sore.”
“Come here,” he said, lightly tugging on the seam of her nightgown.
Moving very carefully, Addy sat down on Gage’s lap. She pulled her feet up so she was completely in his arms.
Gage kissed her forehead and locked his arms around her. “Better?”
Addy nodded, but she was far from better—her ribs were on fire. She leaned against his chest and rested her head on him. Visions of the attack were on a constant loop, continuously replaying in her head.
Practice fighting was completely different from really trying to hurt someone. The Mesen just Scattered when they were fatally injured, so it wasn’t like killing them, but they still felt the pain and bled. If she ever had to fight against other humans, she doubted she’d be able to kill them.
Gage started smoothing his fingers through her wet hair. “What’re you thinking?”
The breeze was cool, but Gage’s body was hot, and the combination made her shiver. “That I never thought we’d be fighting people in our own home—I never thought we’d actually be fighting anyone, anywhere.” She slowly leaned forward and looked at his face. “I cut Matt open and pounded Renee into the ground until she was unconscious.” She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “How could I do that?”
“Stop thinking about it, you did what you had to. If you hadn’t stopped Matt, he might have Scattered me—Renee could’ve killed you.” He placed his hand on her head, making her rest it back on his shoulder. “We did what was necessary at the moment to make it through. We can’t second guess it.”
It hadn’t occurred to her that she could’ve actually been killed during all the fighting. Jax and Bernard were humans also—either one of them could’ve died. She was thankful they were both safe.
Addy put her hand on Gage’s chest. She could feel his steady breathing and heartbeat under her palm. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Me too.” Gage ran his hot hand along her arm and shoulder. It tingled like he was melting ice under her skin and she shivered.
The last thing she wanted was to get up, but she was in some serious pain. “It’s late. We should probably go in so you can get back to the main house.”
It was excruciating, but she managed to get inside without his help. Once they were in the light, he could see the pain on her face.
“You’re hurt and you’re trying to hide it,” he said.
Addy tensed as she tried to take a deep breath. “It’s nothing.”
“If it’s nothing, then let me see.”
She just stood there, looking into his eyes without any good response registering in her head.
“That’s what I thought.” Gage sat down on the bed and gently pulled her in front of him. He carefully lifted her nightgown to expose her side. He made a pained face the second his eyes settled on her injuries. “The bruises are horrible. You might—”
Addy pulled her nightgown back down. “I’ll see your mom tomorrow, I promise.” She didn’t want him to worry, plus she really intended on seeing Molly first thing.
“Alright…” Gage stood up and pulled the blankets back.
It wasn’t like him to give in so easily, but she was just glad he wasn’t arguing with her about it. He helped her into her bed looking more worried by the second.
Addy reached up and touched his cheek. “Get back to the house, I’ll be fine.”
“I can’t leave you like this, Addy.”
Gage reached out to touch her and she instantly knew what he was going to do. It was the whole reason she’d tried not to let him know she was hurt. Addy jerked away from his hands, causing pain like she’d never experienced to surge through her body.
She choked back a scream. “Don’t do that! It uses your power—you could Scatter!”
“Hey—hey…” He turned her face to look at him. “Calm down.”
Each breath was a new experience in pain and she was trying to keep them even. “No more using it. Promise me you won’t…” Thinking about him Scattering, the way she had seen all those Akori and Mesen do earlier was too much to take.
Gage sighed and went to the patio door. His hand reached for the handle and she thought he was leaving. Instead, he locked it and turned the lights out. He took his sandals and shirt off and slipped into the bed next to her.
Addy was lying on her right side and he scooted up behind her back, wrapping his arms around her carefully. She slowly adjusted her body until she was as close to him as she could possibly get.<
br /> “It’s just that I don’t know how I’d make it through this if you weren’t here,” she said, closing her eyes, forcing herself to stop thinking about the pain.
“You don’t have to worry about that.” Gage slipped his hand up the side of her body, beginning at her hip. His touch was soft and slow—soothing and just what she needed to relax. “I promise not to use my power on you again—after this.”
Addy felt the energy flowing through her before she could react and everything went black.