“For right now, Cooper’s officially in our custody.” Martin looked a little sheepish. “I might have implied to some higher-ups that there’s some complicated shifter-related reason why he can’t be anywhere else. There almost is. I hate the idea of separating the two of you.”
“We hate the idea of being separated.”
“I can imagine,” Martin said softly, and Gretchen knew that he was thinking of how impossible it would have been for him to have to spend so many nights without Tiffani. “Having Phil alive makes things much, much easier, as you can imagine, and Theo already got him to agree to make a full confession in exchange for an eventual transfer to a draconian prison—he’ll be moved as soon as the scrutiny dies down.” His mouth hardened. “I’m fine with that not being any time too soon. He deserves some discomfort.”
Gretchen couldn’t agree more, and she didn’t think even a long, cold flight nestled in Cooper’s talons had come close to filling the bill.
“And Monroe?” she said.
Martin’s expression shifted to one of supreme satisfaction. “I had roadblocks set up all around the mountains near Ambergris, and traffic cops stopped him about an hour ago.”
Colby was right. Not being able to fly definitely had its disadvantages.
“He hypnotized his way out of that one,” Martin continued, “but then the dragons got him. Theo’s cousin Isabelle, actually.”
“Good for Iz!”
Theo sauntered over, obviously pleased at Isabelle’s contribution. “Little Cousin Izzie is really a prodigy when it comes to magical law enforcement.”
“I think she’d mind you calling her ‘little cousin Izzie,’” Gretchen said.
“She minds it often and loudly,” Theo said, “but she’s the closest member of my family, and you were the one who told me that meant I could tease her mercilessly. And lovingly,” he added belatedly. “But she really is remarkable.”
“Theo’s trying to get Isabelle a summer internship,” Martin said dryly, “despite the fact that we don’t actually have summer internships.”
“We could start one!”
Martin cleared his throat, which immediately got all the noise to die down. “Like I was saying, Cooper, it’s not over yet. Fixing a mistake always takes more time than making one does. We’re talking about a process that’s going to include exhuming whoever’s in Phil’s grave, explaining eight hundred times what happened with Roger, and dealing with what happens when a whole unit of shifter Marshals gets wiped off the map. Off the books, we’re going to be looking for whatever poor guy Roger put through that forced shift, to see if we can help him. And you’re probably going to be getting interview requests every day for a year, minimum. So it’s not over, but... all the worst parts of it are over. We’re behind you one hundred percent.”
“And I’m behind you a hundred and ten percent,” Gretchen said.
Theo looked pained, like Gretchen had attacked the sense of accuracy buried deep within his soul. “That isn’t technically possible—”
“And Theo’s behind you a hundred and fifteen percent,” Martin said.
“Please stop,” Theo said.
“Theo’s son-or-daughter in progress is behind you a hundred and twenty percent,” Colby said, apparently joining them just to heap further abuse on poor Theo’s stickler side.
“We’re teasing you mercilessly but lovingly,” Gretchen said.
“Point made,” Theo said. “I might have to just start calling Cousin Izzie Cousin Isabelle. Or Iz.” He yawned, politely covering his mouth. “And I’m going to head home before all of you decide to mercilessly love me even more.” He held out his hand to Cooper. “It was very nice meeting you.”
Somehow, Theo’s departure signaled that it was time for everyone else to trickle out, too. They all filed past, and each of them shook Cooper’s hand.
The last one to stop by was Keith, still groggy from being woken up. He looked pale and uncomfortable and uncharacteristically uncertain as he offered Cooper his hand. For all of his nervousness, he still looked Cooper straight in the eyes.
The kid had guts.
“I’ll understand if you don’t want to take it,” Keith said, but Cooper had already grasped his hand firmly.
“You were just doing your job,” Coop said.
“I was doing it harshly,” Keith said. He cleared his throat. “I owe both of you an apology.” The hectic flush his face took on implied that he’d maybe never had to give anyone an apology before, but Gretchen would give him credit: even if he found it humiliating, he was doing it anyway. “Gretchen, you were right. I paid too much attention to the rules and not enough attention to the people. And I was unfair because of it. Especially to you, Mr. Dawes. I’d like to make that up to you someday.”
Coop smiled. “I told you before that you could call me Cooper.”
“Cooper,” Keith repeated. He was still red-faced. “Good night. Good night, Gretchen.”
“Good night, Keith,” she said. She felt well-disposed towards him, and warm towards the world in general.
Tonight, at least, their little corner of it was all right.
Then it was just the two of them, Gretchen and Cooper alone in a now darkened office, with just the lamp on her desk to wrap them in a fuzzy yellow halo of light.
She thought she knew what was going on in his head right now, as he looked down in silence at his hands.
Hardly any time had passed at all since she had first taken his hand. Back then, that had been significant enough to rock his world, and the fact that she’d been drawn to doing it was enough to help signal that they were mates. Now, Cooper was coming back—slowly but surely—into a world where that kind of basic respect and decency was nothing more than normal.
She could guess at all that, but she couldn’t even imagine what it felt like.
“Coop—”
“Gretchen, will you marry me?”
Never mind. Maybe she hadn’t known what he was thinking.
What she did know for sure was all the advice people gave about this kind of situation.
Wait until you know each other a little more—just because he’s your mate doesn’t mean you have everything
