“There are some.”
“There are?”
“Yes, you can guarantee I love you and always will.”
She smiled as she kissed his cheek. “And you can guarantee the same.”
“Good. We’re going to get through this.”
She hoped so because she couldn’t face the alternative.
“Want to go play a drinking game?” she asked.
It would be a good distraction until they left tomorrow.
“We’re going to need more tequila,” he said.
“We have plenty.”
CHAPTERFIFTY-SEVEN
Brie was never morescared of having the stones in her possession than during the trip from New Hampshire to Massachusetts. Now that they were almost all together, she expected something to go wrong.
She kept picturing a car accident that would destroy the safe and scatter the stones all over the highway where they would be lost to ditches or pulverized beneath the tires of passing vehicles. Or maybe they’d get pulled over, arrested again, and the stones would end up in police custody. But this time, one of the officers would be a minion of the demons and take the stones away.
She had to keep reminding herself to breathe as she told herself none of those things would happen. They’d spent a good portion of the night consuming too much alcohol, but she’d give anything for another shot of tequila. It was a good thing she didn’t get hangovers, or she’d probably still be in bed.
The more time and miles passed on their journey, the more her anxiety grew until it festered like an infected wound. Sensing her distress, Asher sat beside her, holding her hand while Zina and Cabo occupied the front.
The safe was tucked into the corner behind Cabo, and Brie didn’t dare take her eyes off it. If anything happened to those stones, it would devastate her.
They were her entire life. Their existence had been her mission for four hundred and seventy-five years. She would do anything to protect them.
Not only that, but they would be going into the hands of others, and she was terrified she’d lose control of them. But she’d always known they were never meant to be hers.
These stones were going to fight the demons and Savages. She had no idea how they would do that, but they would help them succeed in driving those monsters back to Hell.
When they neared their destination, Zina pulled to the side of the road, and Asher took over behind the wheel. He hated leaving Brie, especially when her anxiety thrummed across the bond connecting them, but it was easier to drive himself than to sit between the front seats and give directions.
He didn’t bother to blindfold them; they’d given their trust to him, and he would return it. Besides, no one was leaving the prison until they figured this out.
He steered the van onto the road and drove the last twenty miles to the prison. When they got to the gate, he stuck his face in front of the camera and waved. Someone inside buzzed them through, and the thick, iron gate swung open to reveal the winding, asphalt drive.
It was impossible to see the building from the gate, but the old structure came into view as he proceeded down the drive. It had been remodeled into a high-tech prison, but the outside still looked like an old, brick, one-story school.
He put the van in park as the front doors opened; Nathan, Ronan, and Declan emerged into the day. They stopped a few feet outside of the doors and waited for them to exit the van.
Asher pushed his door open and climbed out. Through their bond, he sensed Brie’s uneasiness and opened himself up to her in the hopes she’d sense his joy and let it comfort her while he strode around the front of the vehicle toward his friends.
He’d intended to go straight to Brie, but his friends stopped him before he could get to the van’s side door. Nathan grasped his arm and pulled him close to slap him on the back.
“It’s good to see you,” Nathan greeted.
“It’s good to see you too,” Asher told him as he embraced his friend.
“We were worried about you.”
“I’m fine, but it’s definitely been an adventure since the last time I saw you.”
