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Aria gasped, hand shooting up to cover her mouth when several pairs of eyes shot at her. Realizing their fate, the handful of Paras began begging for their lives, and my mate was sick at the display.
“Use—”
“Wait, we could—why don’t we interrogate them the old-fashioned way?”
Zuzanna pursed her lips, peeking out from beneath her lashes to take in Auren’s expression. My brother’s attention was fixated on Aria, though, like he was trying to read something in her pale face.
“I think that’s a good idea,” Marilyn added. I got the sense that she’d only spoken up because Johnny was looking a bit green as well.
“I’ll leave it to the two of you, then. I need to know how they found us.”
Zuzanna’s hands dropped when he gestured toward them.
“Our doors are open to the Guardians, too,” he added, looking to a quiet Grel. The fae dipped his head, and then Auren looked at the small crowd gathered around us with a frown.
“Let’s get this shit cleaned up, people. Zuzanna, make sure they’re locked up tight.”
With that, he spun on his heel and disappeared into the crowd.
Aria and I helped to clean out some of the burnt houses, sifting through belongings to see what could be salvaged. I hadn’t realized that the Paras had even caused this much damage until I saw all the witches casting spells to stop the fires. The bodies were left to a different team.
It wasn’t until Reese came limping up to us that I remembered what Grel had said about Neo wreaking havoc in her honor.
“Thank goodness,” she said as she wrapped Aria up in a hug that looked like it could break bones. The two of them just stood together for a long moment.
“I’m glad you’re okay.” Aria rubbed her hands down Reese’s arms as they pulled apart. “Is Neo—”
“He’s fine.”
The cut-off had my eyebrows climbing, but none of us addressed it. Instead, Reese joined us in hunting for salvageable items, keeping the conversation to soft mumbles about our task. It was probably shock that had us all so twisted up, but there wasn’t much to be done about it.
My angel wanted reassurance that everything was fine, that our mate was fine, but I didn’t think I could have pulled her from her task no matter what I promised. Aria needed to feel useful; controlling even this situation was better for her than dragging her off to be coddled as instinct demanded.
When we finally got back to our room around sunset, relieved we weren’t one of the groups displaced by the damage, she dropped into our bed—fully clothed—and yanked the sheets over her shoulders.
Hold me?
The request was tentative, but I would never deny her. Climbing into bed behind her, I tried not to grimace at the fact we were both filthy.
Always.
Aria fell asleep long before I did, going limp in my arms the moment I got them around her.
I silently wondered if I’d ever sleep well again.
8
GOOD COP, BETTER COP
ARIA
“You’ve never done this before, huh?” Marilyn asked, expression unreadable.
I nearly leapt out of my skin.
“What? Interrogated someone?” I laughed, sounding a bit hysterical, and shook my head. “No, actually, I haven’t.”
She gave me a brittle smile, and I tried to return it. Neither of us was particularly thrilled with this turn of events—it felt a lot like Auren was testing us if I was being honest—but we’d literally signed up for it.
