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Eyes on me, Tessa began to speak then stopped. Maybe she realized it was too late for mere words to undo the damage. Or maybe she understood that nothing could undo or repair it. Whatever part of our relationship had been based in truth was as dead as ash. She dropped her gaze and turned away without another word.
Idris took a lurching step forward. “Did you know?” he blurted to Tessa’s back. Distress rose in his face when she failed to reply or react. “Did you know?” Before I could stop him he reached and caught her arm, swung her around to face him. “Tell me! Did you know about me and just not give a shit?”
Tessa hissed in a breath, eyes wide. She pulled away, and Jerry yanked his gun up to cover Idris. “Get the fuck away from her, asshole!” he yelled.
Idris turned a look of utter menace onto Jerry, intense enough to make his lord-daddy proud. With Jerry already on a hair-trigger, the air crackled with stress. Idris was Jerry’s greatest foe. Kill Idris, and he wouldn’t have to live in fear anymore.
McDunn yanked Tessa behind him, damn near squishing her against the wall to shield her from both Idris and Jerry’s overreaction. “Steiner! Stand down!” he roared, but Jerry gave no sign he heard McDunn. His attention stayed riveted onto Idris. I took careful aim at Jerry as Pellini did the same, tightened my finger on the trigger—
The heavy grocery bag flew across the room to smack into Jerry’s head with an ugly thwock. A gunshot slammed through the hallway as Jerry staggered back, and it took me several heart-pounding seconds to realize it hadn’t come from my gun.
I spun toward Idris, but he stood unscathed, eyes wide and breathing hard. I looked around to see McDunn glaring big scary daggers at Jerry, who leaned against the door with the bag of gun pieces at his feet and one hand pressed to his forehead. Blood trickled down his face, and his gun dangled from the fingers of his other hand.
Snarling, Pellini yanked the gun from Jerry’s grasp. He appeared unhurt as well, but my heart dropped as I continued my hurried scan.
“Eilahn!” She sat on the stairs, hands clamped onto her thigh and an aggravated expression on her face. My stomach did a horrible flip at the blood that stained her jeans though I told myself there’d be a lot more if the bullet had hit her artery. I sprinted to the kitchen and grabbed a dishtowel, ran back and pressed it to her wound.
“Leave. Now,” I growled to McDunn.
McDunn didn’t have to be told twice. Chances were low that a single gunshot would draw undue attention, especially so soon after the Fourth of July when people still let off the occasional firecracker. But he had a host of other reasons to get the fuck out of the house. He hustled Tessa toward the front door so fast her feet barely touched the floor. Dazed and bleeding, Jerry staggered with an unfocused gaze in a futile search for his gun.
McDunn yanked the door open and came face-to-face with a startled Tsuneo. “Get her in the car,” he ordered and shoved Tessa into the summoner’s arms. He scooped up the bag of gun parts and moved to grab Jerry.
“No!” The shout of rage burst from Idris. Fists clenched, he started forward in long strides with Jerry as his clear goal. I didn’t need othersight to know potency rippled over his hands. “No! You’re not taking him,” Idris snarled. “He doesn’t get to hurt anyone else!”
Shiiiiiiiiit. As much as I agreed with Idris’s bloodlust, this was not the time for it. I pushed away from the stairs and lunged after him, though I knew I had slim chance of closing the distance in time to stop him. As Idris charged, McDunn settled his weight and balled his hands, ready to defend his man, fucktard though Jerry was. Idris was young, strong, and determined, but even with an arcane edge he was no match for McDunn’s training, experience, and size—and his ability to eradicate arcane ability.
Without warning, Carl stepped from the sitting room, grabbed Idris’s forearm and smoothly blocked him several feet from McDunn and Jerry. “You need to get a hold of yourself or more people will get hurt,” he murmured. Quiet and calm. Typical Carl.
Pulse pounding, I stuttered to a halt behind Idris, braced for him to shove Carl aside and bull forward. Instead, Idris dropped his eyes to Carl’s hand on his arm then turned his gaze to Eilahn and the blood-soaked towel pressed to her thigh.
The vengeful rage left Idris like air from a burst balloon. Utter chagrin filled his face as it hit home how close he’d come to putting us all in a disastrous situation. Maybe Carl had a calming touch like Sonny? Either way, he’d stopped a disaster.
“I’m sorry.” Regret swam in Idris’s eyes. He started to say more, but I lifted a hand to stop him.
“Hold that thought,” I said, more snappishly than I meant to, but I was kind of on edge. I shifted my attention to the pair by the door. McDunn had relaxed his hands and nothing else. Jerry’s head continued to bleed. “Get out.”
McDunn grabbed Jerry by the back of the collar, hauled him out and closed the door hard behind him. Heavy footsteps on the porch mingled with a querulous whine from Jerry about how “the fat asshole” had his gun. A sharp smack followed that I suspected was McDunn’s way of telling Jerry how little he gave a fuck. I silently willed him to hit Jerry a few dozen more times—hard. The “fat asshole” had turned out to be one of the best people I knew.
A few seconds later two cars started and left. “Clear,” Pellini announced.
“Thanks.” I turned to Idris. “I need to talk to you in the kitchen.” He winced but went without protest. “Do what you can for Eilahn, please,” I said to Carl and Pellini. “I need a few minutes.”
“Got it covered,” Pellini said. He unloaded Jerry’s pistol and tucked it into his waistband, then crouched by Eilahn as Carl fetched towels. Tessa’s favorites, I noted with dark amusement.
Idris stood at the sink, back to me as he gazed out the window at the lake. I closed the door and moved to him.
“I screwed up,” he said, voice thick. “I let my emotions get the best of me and put us all in danger.”
“Yeah, you did.” I leaned against the counter beside him. “You were provoked, and Jerry is a worthless piece of shit. And that was a terrific apology, but that’s not why I wanted to talk to you.”
He gave me a baffled look. “What then?”
My heart began to thud unsteadily. I leaned close and spoke low. “I need you to send Eilahn back to the demon realm.”
He drew back in surprise. “Dismiss her?”
“It’s best this way,” I said, unable to keep my voice as steady and assured as I’d hoped. “I can’t bear the thought of her getting killed for real.” I didn’t say and I’m not worth guarding anymore. Even though that was a factor in the amalgam of crap that brought me to this point, the decision was far more complicated. I knew Eilahn would never abandon me, whether I was a summoner or not. She was willing to die to protect me. But I was no longer willing to lose her.
