“It wasn’t funny,” Braden shot back. “I’m not a daddy’s boy.”
“Of course not.” I patted his hand as Lily let loose a belly laugh. She seemed to be enjoying Braden’s annoyance. “You’re my boy. I still need to go in there. Just in case.”
“Fine.” Braden made a face at Lily. “I’ll go with you.”
I hesitated and then shook my head. “I think you should calm down, maybe spend some time with Lily. You need to take a breather.”
“Lily’s taunting me, too.”
“That’s the Grimlock way.”
Braden exhaled heavily and then, resigned, reached for his niece. “Fine. I’m still mad, though. Tell Dad I’m going to want a seafood spread to make me feel better.”
“No way,” Cillian countered. “I’m the one who got hurt. I want Mexican.”
“No, I don’t want Mexican.”
I left them to battle it out with a happy Lily and headed toward the parlor. One fight was behind me. I still had another left to go.
Twenty-Two
Rather than sit in his normal chair, which gave him a position of power, Cormack sat on one of the parlor couches with Zoe. They were silent when I entered the room, neither of them sparing me a glance.
“If you’re going to yell, it’s okay,” Zoe said finally. “He’s your son and your other son clearly blames me.”
“Who do you blame?” Cormack queried.
She shrugged. “I don’t know that I blame anyone.”
“I don’t think that’s true. If you were okay with everything that happened, you wouldn’t be in here ... alone.”
I stood in the doorway, briefly wondering if I should back out and give them some room to communicate. I’d thought it prudent to insert myself in the situation when I believed Cormack was going to lose his cool. However, that didn’t look to be the case.
“He’s okay,” Zoe offered. “I healed him. He’ll be perfectly okay.”
“I know. That’s not really the point, though.”
“You’re angry because I didn’t call for backup. I get that. You have to understand, there is no backup in my world. I had to do what I felt was necessary and pulling back wasn’t even a consideration for me.”
“And if you had it to do all over again?”
“I wouldn’t pull back.” Zoe shot him a rueful smile. “I probably would’ve locked your sons in a dome to protect them, though. I considered it but thought they might feel emasculated. Honestly, I didn’t think six enemies was all that much to worry about. I’ve faced longer odds than that.”
“I’m sure you have.” He patted her knee. “I’m sorry Braden is being rude. He can’t see past his fear. The thing is, had I been there, I probably would be angry with you, too. Fear is one of those things you can’t always control.”
“I wasn’t afraid,” Zoe said. “I knew I would be fine. That’s one of the bad things about being able to heal myself. I forget how vulnerable others can be.”
“Well, the most important thing is that you’re alive ... and my sons are alive. We can’t dwell on the rest of it.”
I couldn’t contain my surprise. “That’s it?”
Cormack shifted his eyes to me. He obviously knew I’d been listening but didn’t appear bothered by it. “Do you think I should do something else?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I was coming in here to make sure you didn’t fly off the handle and start yelling at her like you do your own kids. I thought for sure you would melt down.”
“And why do you think I’m not melting down?”
“Because ... you know Cillian is fine. You saw him with your own eyes.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I won’t spoil the crap out of him later,” Cormack offered. “I will dote on him, insist he spend the night here, and make sure he has his favorite foods because that’s all I can offer my adult son for comfort.”
I tilted my head, uncertain. “If it’s any consolation, he seems fine. He and Lily are torturing Braden.”
Cormack smirked. “That is the Grimlock way.”
“It is,” I agreed, shuffling into the room. “As for the fight ... I don’t know that it could’ve gone much better. The wraith that took Cillian out came from the second floor. It jumped and landed directly on top of him. I can’t see how that could’ve been avoided.”
“If I spent all my time worrying about how my children fared in battle I would be crippled emotionally. I know that what had to be done was done and my son is safe. Zoe made sure of that.”
Zoe smiled. “I did make sure of that.”
“But you’re also the reason that he needed to be healed in the first place,” Cormack reminded her. “I think it’s important that you remember the bulk of our team is not as strong as you. Something tells me you won’t forget that a second time.”
“Probably not,” Zoe agreed. “Still, I should probably apologize. To Cillian. I don’t really like Braden right now.”
Cormack chuckled. “It’s not necessary that you apologize. Simply plan a better battle strategy next time.” He flicked his eyes to me. “Speaking of that, did you find the gate?”
I nodded. “It was in the basement. We searched the house to make sure there weren’t any stray wraiths but Luna killed the last one. There was nobody standing guard over the gate but we didn’t feel it was right to cross and check what was on the other side given everything that happened.”
“That’s wise. I’m not entirely comfortable with all the gate checking,” Cormack admitted, leaning back in his seat and rubbing his chin. “I don’t know what to do. We can’t keep searching for gates in random homes. We’ve lucked into the ones we’ve found but I have to think there are more out there.”
“I think that’s probable,” Zoe agreed. “The ones in the
