Page 71 of Hybrid Heroics

Gods. I fucking missed their banter.

Three hellish English Mastiff puppies tangled around my feet as I entered the living room. Talia smiled at the nippy assholes from her seat at the corner of the sofa.

“You didn’t have to change them,” she insisted. “The hellhounds were delightful.”

“I think you’re one of the few people who’ve ever called them delightful,” I divulged. “Helios is usually unpleasant. Cronus is hit or miss. Atlas is the only one I would trust to not burn your house down.”

“They guarded us during the fight, before you woke up. And even after you went outside, they wouldn’t let us follow until it was quiet. I’ve never met a hellhound so well trained.”

I sat on the floor with my boys, pulling Helios into my lap while he was too small to overpower me. Not that he tried. They were happy to have me back and enjoyed crawling all over me.

They stopped squirming as my guys paused in the open archway, giving them curious stares as they settled on either side of me. Helios didn’t move from lap, which was odd for the fiery shit-starter. But I held him close, soaking in the attention while he would let me.

“I—Uhm, we—” Palmer began.

“They English,” Murphy interjected, cackling when his brother glared.

The warlock fell silent, though Palmer muting him didn’t stop his laughter. It only made him double over and wipe tears from his eyes. Sterling looked troubled, and that made my mage smirk.

“Palmer muted him,” I explained to her. “He’s fine.”

“That’s a thing?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “It’s a nifty trick until you’re the one with no voice.”

“Right,” she drawled, nodding. “If you’ll unmute him, I’ll take him with me while Flint and I go get our weapons and things.”

I snapped my fingers so she knew I was using magic, and Palmer scowled when Murphy wheezed.

“Sorry,” he told me. “They’re just being so fucking weird.”

I tipped my head, wondering aloud, “Have they been this weird the entire time I’ve been asleep?”

“Well, no,” Talia replied, frowning at them. “They’ve been trying to protect you. And again, I’m really sorry. I didn’t want to kill you.”

“It’s okay. It’s really not a problem,” I said, cutting her off to whisper, “Do you think I should say something or is there popcorn here? I’m not sure if I like the silent treatment, though it is interesting.”

“Ease their worried hearts,” Talia murmured, making me grin.

“What? No,” Latharian argued. “Get the popcorn. I’ve never seen York like this.”

My druid scoffed at his uncle, and I chuckled.

“If you’re waiting for an apology, you won’t get it,” I acknowledged. “I’m not sorry for my decision.”

“Open the bonds,” Briggs demanded.

“That’s why you’re all so quiet?”

“Open the bonds, Love,” Palmer repeated, his stormy eyes pleading with me.

I tried to ease them open. But as soon as the connection was remade, they dropped to their knees, the bonds flooding through us like a fire hydrant spilling water onto a sidewalk.

Vaughn leaned back, resting his weight on his heels as he blew out a heavy breath. “We weren’t expecting you to apologize for anything. Having the bonds closed has been a worse hell than not having you here. We didn’t know if you were okay or—”

“I know. I had to close them. If I didn’t, then he would have been able to reach you through me when I drew him into my mind.”

“We figured that out, but it still sucked,” Stone commented.