AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Uh, guys. I hate to interrupt your moment, but uh, I may have gotten a little carried away,” Xander said.
Osric helped me to stand and I handed Juniper back to him. The blade wisped back within his palm, disappearing in a puff of smoke.
We walked over to Xander who hovered over the corpse of Jack 2. The killer’s face was unrecognizable, drenched in blood and broken bone.
Xander had beaten him to death.
“Could’ve just stabbed him,” I huffed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have given you that bit of extra blood,” I teased, leaning into his side.
They both look relieved at my ability to still joke, despite the trauma I’d experienced.
Osric patted Xander’s shoulder. “Looks like you went just far enough.”
“Yeah, he probably deserved more after what he did to all those girls.” I shivered, but this time from the horror of it all, my tone turning serious again.
“Ceci! Ceci!” Aaron’s voice rang out from outside the door. He and Jax burst in, their chests heaving. They’d already pulled off their shirts, looking ready to shift at any moment. They took in the scene and rushed over, basically pushing Xander and Osric aside, and wrapped me in their arms.
“Be careful! She’s injured,” Osric said.
Their arms loosened a bit. “I was so worried,” Jax mumbled into my hair. “Never scare me like that again.”
“Good job, Xander. Good job, old friend,” Aaron said to them.
“It was Ceci who saved the day.” Osric stepped into our huddle and squeezed between Aaron and Jax’s bare chests to nuzzle the top of my hair. “Making us fight like we never could have on our own.”
“We all make a pretty good team.” I melted into the guys around me.
“A good family,” Aaron said.
“Now give her some room.” Osric pushed at Jax and Aaron. “Like I said, she’s been injured.”
“Timon and Reccared have been hurt too.” I shifted in their embrace, trying to pull away.
“They’re stirring, they’ll be okay,” Jax assured me.
“It seems you’ve been hurt too,” Aaron said, motioning to Osric’s worst wound, a deep gash in his shoulder.
“We’ll get them patched up soon enough.” Xander rested a hand on Osric’s back as his red-rimmed gaze met mine, filled with love. “Time to go home, orchid.”
Osric
“Knock, knock,” Jax said as he swung open the door to my bedroom, but he hadn’t actually knocked or even asked permission to enter.
The guys had been in and out all day, treating me and Ceci like invalids. Thankfully, their attention had been mostly focused on her. But they couldn’t go a bloody half hour without checking in.
And yet, I couldn’t be too hard on them. I’d been super clingy with our girl myself, and she’d been lying right next to me since Xander’s on call doctor had patched us both up.
It was now almost nighttime again, just over 24 hours since we’d dealt with Jack 2 and given our statements to the NLPD, and I was still processing the fact I’d almost lost Ceci and accepted what I should’ve embraced all along: she was my future. My sweet source of joy in life.My everything. I pulled her in closer where she lay against my side, her delicious coconut scent tickling my nose, her head resting on my bare chest.
“Kathy left some cookies.” Jax set a plate piled high with an assortment of chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and snickerdoodle treats on the nightstand closest to Ceci. “Did you want more of Pascal’s chicken soup?” he asked her as he sat down on the edge of the bed, leaned over and brushed back some hair from her forehead.
“I just have a few scratches. Not a cold. I’m good.” She turned her face into Jax’s hand and kissed his palm.
“My orchid is a tough one.” Xander strode in and looked at her fondly.
Aaron was right behind him, holding a glass of orange juice. It was only the fourth glass of juice he’d brought today.
“Not sick!” She said, laughing at Aaron and scooting up on the bed until she was sitting next to me. All we’d done was eat and rest. Thank God she only had one bad cut on her arm and some bruises. Everything would heal and her spirit was already bouncing back.
