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When we’d been fleeing the burning building, he’d gone through the floor. That was it. No big, bold, blaze of glory death. He’d saved my life, and then he died.
Except now he was sitting in a chair in my uncle’s office, looking none the worse for wear, which seemed completely impossible since his body had never been recovered thanks to a whole fucking building burning to the ground on top of it.
At this point I probably shouldn’t have been looking for a logical explanation. Magic and logic hardly ever went hand in hand.
I really must have passed out, because when I looked up Wilder, Lucas, and Callum were all standing around me. Wilder had his hand on my face, gently shaking me awake.
“Does he want to kill me?” I muttered stupidly.
Lucas glanced up at Callum, “Now wouldn’t be the most ideal time for me to announce intentions like those, would it? But no, Genie, I’m not here to kill you. I honestly don’t know why I’m here. Or how.”
“That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it?” Callum looked at me meaningfully. “We’re not really accustomed to having so many old friends come to visit.”
Lucas helped me to my feet and I couldn’t help but touch him just to confirm he was real. Somehow being dead for nearly four years hadn’t done any damage to his muscle tone. He was built like a solid wall of abs and biceps. I placed my hands on his cheeks, staring right in his pale blue eyes like I might be able to tell if he was a fake version of the man I’d known.
This was really Lucas.
My hands started to shake and I knew I could no longer avoid the inevitable. I’d told myself this whole time I didn’t need Secret’s help, and I could manage everything on my own.
Keeping her on the outside when her soul-bonded former husband was standing in front of me? I would never be able to forgive myself for not calling her.
She had to know.
She had to be here.
“We have to tell Secret,” I said quietly.
Lucas, who had been calm and nonplussed to that moment, suddenly went rigid, his soft smile fading. It was as if until then he hadn’t thought of her name, and now that I’d said it he was confronted with the entirety of his former life.
It was his turn to need to sit down.
“Secret. Is she… is she here?”
I shook my head, finally making my way to the chair next to his. I wasn’t sure how much I should tell him. Certainly there were things she’d want to explain for herself, but so much had happened since he’d died. She had died, for starters. And he wouldn’t know she was human now.
Not to mention the whole being married to his best friend thing.
“She’s in Los Angeles right now doing work with the FBI. A lot has changed since you’ve been gone, Lucas. People know about us now.”
He shook his head, and I knew this wasn’t all that important at the moment. “Is she…” He sighed like he didn’t know how to finish his thought. He must have a million questions. “Is she happy?”
The question kicked me in the stomach and chased away my breath.
When I was able to get words out again, I said, “She is.”
“Is my pack okay?” This he said to Callum.
My uncle nodded. “Desmond has done a credit to your family line. Your father would be very proud.”
“Desmond.” Lucas thought about this then gave a small nod, as if he was piecing together the puzzle all by himself. The logical leaps weren’t that hard to take, and he was a smart man. “So he and Secret…”
“Married.” Callum pulled the Band-Aid off, not one to sugarcoat anything. Best to just punch someone in the face with the truth. No wonder he and Secret got along so well.
There was also the whole thing where Callum hadn’t liked Lucas very much in life, so I suspected having him back from the dead and hanging out Callum’s office wasn’t a welcome development.
“Eugenia, as pleasant as this reunion is, and as much as I’d love to ask where you’ve been for the last two days, we have a more pressing matter at hand to deal with.”
“More pressing than this?” I indicated Lucas, pointing him out as if he were a literal elephant in the room.
