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“I killed my father.” He pressed his lips together. The shadows over his eyes revealed his guilt.
This wasn’t where I’d wanted this conversation to go! We hadn’t come here to dredge up Ryder’s past. This should have been about Maddox, but he’d somehow turned this into a freaking interrogation. I couldn’t take this man anywhere.
Maddox recoiled from the statement.
I yanked on his sleeve and dragged him close, so I could growl into his ear. “You hear that man out or I will make your life living hell.”
Maddox started to argue, but he seemed to think better of it the longer he stared me in the eye. I knew about Ryder’s history. I’d been there while he and Ness dealt with Alvin. Ryder had to process his own history while stopping a shifter serial killer. He’d been through so much and done the right thing every time.
It wasn’t Ryder who explained, though. Morgan spoke up.
“Our father succumbed to a mental illness that dragon shifters are susceptible to. It made him cruel and impulsive. Our clan suffered under his rule. Ryder did everything in his power to keep our father from hurting the others, to the point where Ryder took everyone’s punishments upon himself. Ryder was the only one to realize that our father…had to be stopped.”
Vi and I shared a glance. Barely a day went by without the Callahan trauma finding its way into conversation. Vi had done her best to alleviate Morgan’s guilt, too. He’d come here with the intention of killing his brother. It took an apocalypse to distract the man from his goal. That gave the brothers enough time to see eye to eye on the past.
“Why—” Maddox stopped himself. He twisted his head to the side like he’d tasted something sour.
“Why didn’t they call the authorities?” I asked Maddox because I was sure that’s what he’d been about to say.
No one had to say a thing. Ryder simply pulled the collar of his shirt down to reveal the scar that ran from the crook of his neck down his chest.
“If my father could do that to me, what do you think he would do to humans?”
There it was, the truth that Maddox kept ignoring. Humans weren’t capable of handling the supernatural community. If we relied on human systems for our justice, more would end up getting hurt.
Had we sent Bastien to prison, he could have siphoned the life force from everyone around him and used it to escape. It could have been horrific. Instead, Bastien was dead. His spirit was suffering, getting the punishment that he truly deserved somewhere in the afterlife.
Maddox sighed, his frustration turning it into a growl. This meeting wasn’t doing what I’d hoped. I’d wanted to give Maddox a support network. If he kept grilling everyone for their deepest trauma just so he could understand this new world, then he wasn’t going to make any friends.
This had been a mistake. I wasn’t sure if we could salvage it at all. Maybe Ryder liked Maddox’s disposition, but that said nothing about Maddox. If he couldn’t handle being a part of the supernatural community, he would be alone for the rest of his life.
If he was going to survive Hel and her orders, then Maddox needed friends. I should have told him. I had the chance. Silence filled the room. Both Ness and Vi had asked for help when the sky had fallen on them. I had every right to ask the same of them.
Yet I didn’t want to be a bother. Ness and Ryder were trying to start a family. Vi and Morgan were still babysitting fallen angels trapped in the mortal realm. I hadn’t heard much from Cerri since our run-in with Queen Beryl. Everyone I knew had a lot on their plate right now.
I couldn’t make that burden heavier.
“There’s room for you with us,” Ryder said to Maddox.
To my surprise, after a long moment of silence, Maddox responded: “I’ll consider it.”
My eyes bulged. That was far more than I expected. The tone of resignation in Maddox’s voice told me that he wasn’t just saying that to escape this meeting, either. He really meant it.
Staring at him, I wondered what had gone through his mind to make him reconsider. Whatever it was, I’d missed it completely. No amount of glaring could carve through the detective’s tough exterior. If he wanted to hide something, he would do it with ease.
It wasn’t until we excused ourselves that I asked.
Maddox sighed. He ran a hand through his platinum hair. Pulling it back revealed his dark brown eyes. He was such a beautiful man. I had to remind myself that he was also a stubborn asshole that might have killed people.
Then again, so had Vi. If we could save Maddox from himself, would they be able to forgive Maddox the same way they forgave Vi? I hoped so. Maddox deserved another chance. He was a good person who was only struggling because of the mess that I’d pulled him into.
If anything, this was my fault.
Maddox tucked a bent knuckle under my chin. “You’re beating yourself up again.”
I gave him a wobbly smile in return. “You wouldn’t have to deal with this if it weren’t for me.”
“That might be the case, but there’s no changing what is. We can’t rewrite fate, I guess.”
I gaped and laughed. “You’re not even going to deny it.No, it’s not your fault Adeline. You didn’t ask Bastien to hunt you like an animal.”
Jerking away from Maddox’s extended hand, I stalked away from him. He was right, but to ask me not to beat myself up then blame me in the same breath was too much. He could solve murders and catch killers, but he didn’t know how to help a woman in the least.
“I told him I’d think about it because we need to get back to work,” Maddox said as he turned back towards his SUV.
My eye twitched.
It never did that before. No amount of stress had ever affected me that way, but something about dealing with Maddox and his inability to process emotions drove me up a wall. I was half tempted to drag his ass to the underworld so he and Hel could have a tete-a-tete while I got a peaceful nap.
“Sure. Work.” Exhausted, I climbed into the SUV’s passenger seat.
