"Aaron told you to be here." An accusation, not a question. I already knew.
Lys didn’t deny it. "Nothing’s wrong with a little moral support."
"I’m not sure we should both go—"
"I’ll stay out here."
“I’m fine, you know.” I did take the moral support, stepping closer to him. His arms circled my waist and I rested my head on his shoulders. “I’m not the one who has to go through all this.”
"You went through it not too long ago."
Which meant that getting up close and personal with a freshly rescued survivor might bring back some bad memories. But I had a whole support system behind me and this was important. One of the recently rescued survivors and me had some unfinished business.
"I haven’t seen any of the Doomed, not the ones who were sold."
Stopping the illegal supernatural auction had only been the beginning. The DSA still needed to track down those who were already sold and mated, rescuing the other victims and holding the buyers responsible.
Except rescue seemed a lot more complicated when you were spiritually tied to your captor.
"They found her recently and she spent more than a year bonded to the monster who bought her.” Lys warned, “She’s not going to be the person you remember."
I nearly laughed. “I didn’t remember her, not at all, except for when she pressed this into my hands." My first memory of the basement when my memory was lost.
"And now?"
"There’s not much more honestly.” I untangled us somewhat, giving myself enough space to look down at the blanket in my hands. “But this gave me a lot of hope when I needed it most. Maybe returning it will do the same for her. Why are you looking at me like that?"
The fond, adoring expression on his face turned extra adoring. "Because I love you."
"Thanks for coming.” I kissed him, then put some distance between us. “I love you too, which is why you really don’t need to stay and wait."
"I’m your emotional support fox."
"But you have a case." An assigned case, not one pawned off on the guy at the bottom of the totem pole because it sucked or was a dead end.
“The witch’s laptop will still be stolen 30 minutes from now.”
Alright, the case assigned wasn’t exactly thrilling. He was still moving up in the world.
Giving the blanket back to Rachel wasn’t ever how I pictured passing it on, but it felt right anyway to return the blanket to its rightful owner. Full circle. She needed it more than me. I didn’t need the blanket anymore. I already had everything I needed.
~
Lysander
Sticking my arm through what I thought was a jacket, the garment turned out to be sweatpants, and I wrestled with the pants to free my arm. That set the tone for the morning. My hair was a complete mess and we were already 15 minutes late.
"Will you teach me how to drive?" Max asked once we were finally out the door.
"Of course."
"Great." He held out his hand for the keys.
"Not now.” I stopped on the way to the vehicle. “Not when we’re running late and you’ve never driven ever, not even in a video game."
"So if I practice in one of Chase’s video games I’ll totally be ready for my own wheels?"
Touché. Giving up on regular transportation, I stepped closer and lowered my voice. "Why don’t you just, you know,transportus there?"
