What came out of his mouth next even had me blush, it was so vile. I blinked and one of the guards threw a side punch, smashing in Ainsworth’s face.
“I apologize, but the prisoner fell while in custody, Councilmen,” the guard said with a completely straight face.
I snorted. “I really like the wolves and dragons best.”
“We like you too,” the wolf promised, waggling his eyebrows at me.
It was the comic relief we all needed… Especially because the next part wasn’t as much fun, even after we finally had the monster behind bars. It should be nothing but celebrating, champagne, and caviar after all the trouble and pain he’d caused us.
I just had a little bit more to handle first.
I thanked everyone, shaking the hands of the councilmen and then excused myself, leaving them to do their procedures once they promised to give me a few hours before they broke the news. That was all I needed.
I portaled over to the Vogels’ castle, Mel already there with her family after I’d talked with Mrs. Rothchild and asked them to call her over. She was curious and worried, but I wanted Mel there where she would be surrounded by clan and everything she knew.
And she could lose her shit without anyone judging her, because she was going to.
She frowned when she saw me. “Tams? What’s up? Why are you here?”
“Let’s go outside and talk,” I said, giving her the best smile I could. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
She flinched. “You mean whatever you’ve been keeping from me.”
“Yeah, that,” I whispered.
She nodded and stood, confused when several of her family did as well. “And they know?”
“No, but… She wanted you here,” her mother muttered.
“They might be able to help,” I offered. “They can come.”
“Tams, you’re worrying me,” Mel mumbled.
And that was the last thing I wanted. “Let’s skip the foreplay, Mel. We don’t have much time before the news breaks.”
“Okay.” She slapped on her game face and led the way to one of the huge balconies the castle had to enjoy the gorgeous view. A couple dozen of her family came with and another handful of guards, as they could feel something was up. “Talk.”
I swallowed loudly. “Marisol found something I kept from you. I’m sorry I did, but I didn’t want to lose you.”
“That doesn’t make—”
“It was about the fighting ring in Vegas that I helped you get free from,” I whispered, flinching at the anger that instantly filled her eyes. “She found out who had worked with the humans.”
“Who?” she snarled. “I’ll fucking kill them.”
“There’s more,” I warned.
“Who?” she roared, storming over to me and grabbing the front of my shirt.
People shouted for her to calm down or let me go, but I waved them off. She wouldn’t hurt me, not really. We’d come to blows when fighting about stuff, but she would never just hit me. I knew that.
“It was going on for over a year before you got free and called it in to shut it down.”
“A year?”
I nodded, giving her a moment with that. “And they had been targeting you for a while. They couldn’t get to you though, but they could—”
“Get to the other supes I interacted with to survive and stay off the grid,” she rasped, waiting for me to confirm it. “No. No!”
“I’m sorry.”
“Who? Tell me who, Tams.”
“Before I do, he’s already been captured.”
“What?” she breathed, her eyes going wide. “Why? Why would you do that to me? Why would you take away my justice?”
“Because you would go burn him and I would lose you, we all would have,” I rasped, tears forming in my eyes. “You couldn’t have taken him.”
“Yes, I could have!” She shoved me away hard enough that I stumbled but kept my feet. Then she seemed to thing better of it and came for me, Colton and another of her cousins catching her. “Who? Tell me who and where he is.”
“I’ll tell you who, but you can’t get him. It’s too late. I helped—”
“Tell her who so we know the risk she would have taken,” Mr. Rothchild advised as he went and held his daughter to his chest, struggling to control her, but also trying to comfort her. “Who hurt my child?”
“You have to let this go too, Trigger,” I whispered, sighing when he gave me a look he wouldn’t promise that. “For now at least, and you know why.”
“For now,” he bit out.
“Ainsworth. It was all Ainsworth,” I confessed. “Everything was him.”
Melody lost her shit. She let out a wordless scream that pierced my heart, it was so full of pain. It turned into a roar and then, right there, she shifted, turning into a huge ass dragon.
I honestly didn’t think she was going to hurt me, but there was so much confusion and too many people around for a shift so fast that she… I think she tried to back away and move without doing damage, but her head was just massive and came towards me.
I would have gone flying, but Hudson was suddenly there and shifting faster than even Mel had. He turned into River and somehow smacked Mel away—who was smaller than him—with his right arm as he tucked me against his body with his left arm. His wing came down and protected me as well. It was seriously overkill, but it was the only way Hudson and River knew how to be.
“I’m okay,” I yelled. “It’s okay. She wasn’t going to hurt me.”
“Can’t risk our mate,” River said in my head.
Of course not.
“I know, buddy, just don’t hurt my sister, okay?”
“Miss mate.”
“Me too,” I whispered, knowing he would hear me, even over the crazy. I raised my voice when he
