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The streetsof Rusolo were a depressing sight. It would take the people here a long time to get back on their feet. They could do it. They were strong. Those who hadn’t been killed, both in the city and in the academy, were already beginning the clean-up process. Macey, Archer, and the other cadets and Neutrals we’d saved had come back to help.
The day after the defeat of Lady Life, we’d spent the morning clearing out the last of the Mindolin’s army from Mount Pickett and the city. Luka had helped us determine which of the Light military had allowed the army to sneak into the academy. Carmon, Adam, and Drew decided what should happen with the guilty parties. I didn’t want to know.
Bard and Love went back to Bard’s Forest together. In the end, she’d been the only Elemental to keep her immortality. Marcus had asked that Bard and Love watch over the forest for the sake of the creatures who still lived there who hadn’t been affected by the Mindolin’s presence.
Two days after Life’s death, the Council of Loath had met. They’d quickly run through everything that had happened between the Mindolin and Lady Life. Adam was on the Council, not me, but they’d allowed me to attend the meeting anyway.
Hazel and Connor were also on the Council, and I’d never been so happy to see my friends in my life. Hazel and I had cried tears of happiness in each other’s arms. Sophie had done the same with her brother, Saber, the Dark king.
The creatures who’d appeared at the same time as the Mindolin were the united military’s next objective. While most were slowly killed during the last week, the goal was to make them extinct. Luka said between the Mindolin and Lady Life, they’d created the prototype for the beasts, and then the Mindolin had created the army of them while in prison thanks to Lady Life’s treachery. He didn’t have more details than that.
“Hey, you’ve been pretty quiet today.” Adam reached across my SUV. I’d bought it a year ago and had been happy to see it wasn’t one of the vehicles stolen to transport the Mindolin’s army to Cambria. “Well, except when you saw Hazel and Connor. I thought I would lose an eardrum.” He laughed and I smiled. “You okay?”
“Better than okay. Tired, but happy. I have you forever, or as long as we both shall live, I guess. Let’s make the most of it, okay?” I bit my bottom lip at the heat in his eyes when he looked over at me.
“Yeah, that sounds like a great plan.”
Drew helped me make the toddler bed my precious daughter slept in. Her hair curled around her face in peaceful slumber. She still had nightmares on occasion, and most nights she wound up in bed with Grace and me, but little Lacey Lanshay was a fighter.
I brushed the dark hair off her face to give myself a better look at her toddler face. We’d had to baby proof the house faster than we’d ever imagined, but neither Grace nor I complained.
Grace’s parents had been ecstatic to hear the news about our new babies. Yes, they’d been sorrowful for the loss of the children’s parents, but they’d feared they would never have grandbabies. The fact Grace had accepted any child as quickly as she did stunned her mother. Mrs. Bishop had a hard time giving up baby Brady, but Mr. Bishop wouldn’t allow her to hog the child either.
After I’d double checked the nightlight and baby monitor, I closed the door so it was opened a crack and went to Grace’s and my room next to Lacey’s. My mate held the baby in her arms, feeding him a bottle. Times like these, I just stood in the doorway and watched her mother my children.
We’d fallen for them hard. The Council had advised we search for next of kin, but none had been found. Their adoption had been finalized yesterday. Grace’s parents and my family were all present for the event. I may have shed a tear or two, but I wasn’t alone.
“Are you going to stand in the doorway all night, Air Boy?” Grace looked up and winked. I still loved that nickname, and she knew it. Just as she loved hers.
“I’d thought about it, Gracie Babe.” As long as she held that baby, I’d stand there all night and watch.
Grace patted the bed beside her. “Come sit down. You’re making me tired watching you stand there for no reason.”
She was right. I was tired. We all were. Brady woke up every few hours to eat at night. Grace and I took turns. Then, during the day there was all the clean-up work from the damage done to Rusolo and the neighboring areas. Slowly the world had begun to pull itself together.
“Here, burp and change please.” Grace handed the bundle of blankets over to me. I smiled down at the chubby cheeks smiling up at me.
Grace stood and walked to the bathroom to rinse the bottle. She’d moved into her role as a mom seamlessly. I think she’d even surprised herself by how well she did, even if she doubted herself on a constant basis.
Brady gave me a couple of burps and a stinky diaper, but I couldn’t complain. For seventeen years I’d thought a family would be impossible for me. When I bonded with Grace and she didn’t want kids, that idea cemented itself into place. Now I knew nothing was impossible.
My mate cuddled into me when I crawled into bed beside her.
“It’s seven-thirty at night, and we’re in bed,” Grace mumbled. “We are the lamest people ever.”
“No, Gracie Babe. We’re the luckiest.” I sighed. “Get some rest. We’re having donuts for breakfast.”
Sweat rolled down Sophie’s face. The evening was cool, a blessing since the warm season had begun, but hauling away debris all day was a hot, sticky job. We’d been working in Rusolo and around the academy most days. Sophie and I took one day off a week to be together. Those days, we didn’t leave our little cabin unless we needed to. If Sophie didn’t slow down, I’d be forced to make us take more days off. She needed to take better care of herself.
She caught me glaring in her direction. “I’m fine, Chris. Jeff says I can work.”
“Working and killing yourself are two different things, little healer.” I walked over and took her work gloves off her hands. Then, I bent down and kissed her flat, soon to be rounded, belly. “Tell Mommy to slow down, will you?”
“Christopher, he or she is happy in there where it’s nice and warm because Mommy’s having a nice workout.” Sophie reached for her gloves, but I pulled them away. Her eyes narrowed further, and my lips tipped up in a smile. She was adorable when upset.
I sobered up fast, though. “Come on, Sophs. It’s late, and I’m exhausted. Drew and I took down I don’t know how many buildings today.”
Rusolo was a large city, and sadly, a fair portion of its residents had been killed. Those who were captured and held prisoner had been allowed to go back to their homes if they were still standing. Most weren’t. Most residents had fled from the horrors they’d experienced or the memories of losing loved ones. That left a lot of work for the rest of us who volunteered to help the city return to its former glory.
