took a sip of his whiskey. “I think they had Uri taken in to get him away from Brynna. As for the humans, I don’t think whoever they were working for would want to draw attention to the fact that they were after Brynna. They would have to explain why they kidnapped her in the first place.”
Cal reached for the Jameson and refilled his glass. “I agree. I don’t think they will involve the authorities. If anything, they’ll come after us themselves. If they retaliate at all.”
Brynna’s heart warmed at Cal including himself. That was the thing about Gargoyles – once you were mated, the families became one, even if by extension.
Dacey stood from the table. “I’m going to call Faðir and our brothers to let them know what’s going on. I’ll have them spread word to all the Goyles in the area to keep their eyes and ears open.”
“Please tell Tabor we have things under control. I don’t want him and Gautum cutting their vacation short.”
Dacey grinned. “I’ll tell them, but you know as well as I do, they will do whatever they want. Unless you want to pull the King card?”
Banyan laughed. “I could get away with that if it were just your parents, but Freyda will box my ears if I pulled that with her and Gautum. No, if they insist on returning home, so be it. I have no doubt Freyda’s going to want to see Brynna after she hears what happened. I’m going to my office to make some calls and get a few bodies here to guard the manor.”
“And I’ll get to cooking. I know you’ve all had a trying day, but getting food in your bellies will be good for ya,” Marcie said.
“I need to get back to the office. With Julian wiping the politi’s system, I can focus on the other cases I was working on.” Cal stood and turned to Brynna. “I’m proud of you, Brynhild Holgersen, and you should be proud of yourself.” He fisted his heart and bowed his head. Brynna’s eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them away.
“I’ll walk you out,” Urijah offered his nephew, and Dacey left the room with them since he needed a ride back to his rental.
That left Brynna, Travis, Marcie, and Lawrence in the kitchen. Lawrence downed the rest of his tequila. “I just want to say that I’m proud of you too. I can’t imagine what it was like to take a life, but if you hadn’t, you might not be with us right now. You’re family, Brynna. You are my sister as much as Marcie is, and I don’t know what we’d do without you.” Lawrence’s eyes were wet, and he didn’t try to blink away the tears. “Travis, I know she’s your mate, but I’d really like to hug Brynna right now.”
“I have no problem with that.” Before Travis finished speaking, Brynna found herself pulled to her feet and wrapped in a tight hug. Marcie was watching them, and tears were streaming down her face. Brynna opened one arm, and Marcie was there in the blink of an eye. Brynna was blessed to have a loving and understanding family. Travis moved in behind her, adding his arms to the group hug. She had no doubt there would be bad dreams during the night and times during her days when what she did would overwhelm her, but being surrounded by those who loved her would go a long way in helping deal with the pain and guilt.
As Banyan promised, he hired Gargoyles to guard the manor so they could get on with their lives. The Andersen twins were more than willing to build the new house in the clearing. They hired a crew of Gargoyles to cut down the trees and have them milled. Another crew cleared the property and got it ready for the concrete footing to be poured. Urijah focused on having a well dug and getting power brought out to the property. It all was a work in progress, and little by little, the new house progressed.
While all that was going on, Brynna, Travis, Marcie, and Lawrence worked together on turning the manor into a hotel. Marcie and Travis teamed up on the kitchen project while Brynna and Lawrence focused on the décor as well as things like new mattresses, bedding, and linens for the bathrooms. Marcie was in charge of new kitchen appliances, and Travis researched all things related to remodeling the entrance. The plans he