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When no words come, Azarius pulls me against him and wraps his arms around me.
“It’s okay,” he says with a tender voice. “We can ask questions later. You’re safe now.”
I bury my face in his chest, ignoring the blood all over him, and close my eyes as I try to believe him. I may be safe for now, but for how long?
ChapterTwenty
Devyn
The aftermath of the Malev attack is devastating and the cleanup is a bitch.
Corpses surround the mansion, windows are smashed, doors are broken, and there is blood everywhere. Elio’s room is unrecognizable, and he winds up sleeping in the guest room with me for a few days until his can be put back together. Not that either of us are complaining.
I help where I can, cleaning up broken glass or rehanging things on the walls, and Azarius and Elio handle everything else. They drag all the Malev bodies to a pile and burn them, rearrange the furniture that was disrupted, and start with the repairs on the house.
It’ll take time, but it will eventually be restored.
Rafe’s plan to assemble the monsters and drive the Malevs back into the mountains is now working at hyper speed. He left the morning after the ambush with intentions to rally his allies and didn’t return for several days. In the meantime, Ignatius came to set up protective wards around the mansion.
It’s still a wreck, but at least we’re protected from any more attacks for now.
When he returned, Rafe disappeared to the third floor, and we haven’t seen him since. He hasn’t sent Elio or Azarius on any errands. He hasn’t even come down to check the cleanup progress. If it wasn’t for my mates’ ability to sense him close by, I would think he slipped out again to do more recruiting.
But instead, he remains hidden up there.
There’s no telling what he’s up to.
“Do you think he’s okay?” I ask one evening while Azarius and I are sitting by the fireplace in the dining room. My legs are draped over his lap while my head rests against his chest, and he’s running his fingers through my hair. Elio went upstairs to shower after a long day of heavy lifting.
“I don’t think he can drown in the shower.”
I huff, and playfully smack his leg. “I meant Rafe.”
“Oh.” He shrugs. “Honestly, I don’t know. This is the longest he’s ever isolated himself.”
Lips pursed, my mind drifts up to the third floor. “I’m kind of worried.”
“About Rafe?” He chuckles. “Don’t be. He’s fine.”
Rafe’s life has been turned upside down just as much as any of ours, and even though he’s an intolerable asshole most of the time, he doesn’t deserve to isolate himself and potentially drive himself insane with his thoughts.
I’ve been there.
Alone and cutoff from everything I knew, feeling like my life was over. I know it’s a dangerous, dark place.
And even if he is fine and just enjoying the retreat the third floor provides, I’ve yet to thank him for saving me from the Malevs. He didn’t have to, and even though I was screaming his name like Azarius’s and Elio’s, I didn’t honestly expect him to help.
He proved me wrong.
“Do you think he’ll kill me if I go talk to him?” I ask, moving my legs and sitting up on the couch.
I’ve already made my decision to head to the third floor, but I’m nervous. What if he doesn’t want to see me? After all, this is all my fault.
“Probably not,” he says, rubbing a comforting hand along my thigh. “If he wanted you dead, he would have killed you already.”
“You’re right.” I look over to meet his eyes and force a smile.
If Rafe really wanted me dead, he would have let the Malevs have me from the beginning. He wouldn’t have fought them or let them destroy his mansion.
