Aaron sighs and pulls his hand from mine. I frown at the loss of contact and he catches it, grinning down at me.
“You’ll get it back, baby.”
He looks between Kade and me. “I feel like I have a long day ahead of me.” He waves a hand over his face and blue-gold light passes across his skin. The bruises fade, the swelling drops. When the light clears his face looks like nothing ever touched it.
I narrow my eyes. “If you could do that all along?—“
“I’m a masochist, obviously,” he teases.
The grin on his face is unbearable and my tail starts to sway behind me. “Obviously,” I mutter back.
Aaron turns to Kade. His grin drops and his voice goes quiet. “I’m sorry.”
I can feel the weight behind those two words.
Kade pats his shoulder. “This was a long time coming. No one is blaming you, Aaron.” She nods toward the cottage and the chains humming around it. “The Glen was going to open with or without you. It was a realm for the witches and warlocks to be free from human and shifter judgment once.” She winks at him. “And the vampires, for other reasons. But eventually, it became a prison.”
My tail twitches and I file that away because it sounds like a story with a lot of layers I haven’t been told yet.
“Aya Bailey and dark magic.” Aaron tilts his head. “Right?”
Kade nods. “I didn’t know how bad it was until the cleansing.”
“The cleansing?” I ask.
“That’s what we’re calling it.” Kade folds her arms. “Dark magic isn’t completely gone, but when Aya died, we got what I’d say is a reset. Our hope was that the witches and warlocks in the Glen would be overjoyed to be free from the clutches of dark magic, but?—“
“Many of them were.” Leah walks up beside Kade, the magic glow fading from her hands. “They assimilated.”
“But there were also many that weren’t happy about it.” Kade perks up. “Ellie, for example.”
“Don’t start, Kade.” Leah shoots her a look.
“Why don’t you like your sister-in-law?” I ask.
Kade’s whole face lights up. “I’m so happy you asked.”
Leah sighs. “It happened so long ago. Yet you still hold onto it.”
Kade leans in and steals a kiss from Leah’s lips. “I’ll hold onto this grudge for as long as I’m a vampire.” She grins and her fangs flash.
“That could be forever,” I say.
Kade tips her chin at me. “Exactly.”
Leah huffs and crosses her arms. Kade just leans against her.
“When I met my beautiful Leah, she stole my heart at first sight.” Kade pulls Leah closer. “It wasn’t even her scent. I just thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world.”
I smile, but Leah shakes her head like she’s heard this a thousand times.
“Ellie, her sister, saw the same thing I saw,” Kade continues. “And she wanted so badly to be a social media baddie. But being a baddie isn’t cheap. It costs a lot of money—money Ellie didn’t have at the time.”
“Kade, enough.” Leah’s voice drops.
Kade pops Leah on the butt. Leah’s mouth drops open but Kade just keeps talking.
“I’ll keep it short. Ellie sold Leah into a sex trafficking ring.” My ears pin flat against my head and my lion goes still inside me. “The guy she was dating at the time thought Leah would make a better baddie and Ellie didn’t like that shit. So she dumped her sister.” Kade smiles but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Little did she know she was being sold herself. A two-for-one deal.”
