As Xhex re-formed downwind from her mate, and stared across a snow-covered park at his back, she didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t answering her texts, he hadn’t told her he was leaving the house, and he was alone not just in fact, but on an existential level.
And no, that wasn’t extrapolation. Her symphath side knew this as fact: His grid was lit up around his core along the lines of separation and isolation.
Though his body was no more than a hundred yards away from her, he was virtually untouchable.
“You going to go talk to him?”
Murhder’s voice made her jump, and reminded her that, unlike John, she was not alone. She and the former Brother had left the training center via the underground tunnel’s evac route, pausing only to help themselves to the parkas and gloves that were part of the emergency supply of equipment and provisions stacked by the reinforced steel door.
Probably a security breach, using that exit, but she knew what was in Murhder’s heart and soul thanks to his grid—and he would do no evil nor cause any to be done to the Brotherhood or their household.
Once they had emerged on the far side of the mountain, she had located John downtown thanks to her blood in his veins from feeding. And so she and Murhder were now here, standing far behind her mate, John’s preoccupations so great, her presence did not register on him.
“Xhex? You going to go to him?”
She shook her head. “He needs some space.”
It killed her to say that. But if she crossed the distance between them, John was going to view it as an intrusion, not as support.
Sometimes you had to sit on the sidelines while the one you loved worked their shit out. And she reminded herself that he knew she was there for him, always.
“This isn’t about me, is it?” Murhder said.
“No. It’s about him.”
“Shit. The injury.”
“Yeah.” She shook her head. “I think I better just go to work. But I’ll take you back first. You won’t be able to get through the mhis otherwise.”
When Murhder didn’t respond, she glanced over at him. He wasn’t looking at John. He was staring at the tall buildings of the city.
“I don’t want to head back yet,” he murmured.
Well, there was no reason he couldn’t stay out and about. He might not be welcome in the mansion, but that didn’t mean he was being held in an official capacity. Or even an unofficial one.
“I’m at shAdoWs.” She gave him the club’s address. “Find me there when you’re ready to head back. I’ll let my bouncers know to expect you.”
“Thanks. I won’t be long. It’s just been a while since I’ve seen Caldwell at night.”
“Don’t engage.” As his hard stare shifted over at her, she rolled her eyes. “And don’t give me that look. It is perfectly reasonable to assume you’d want to fight. You’re a Brother, remember.”
“Used to be,” he muttered as he went to dematerialize. “I used to be.”
His words lingered as his form disappeared, like a ghost had spoken.
Xhex crossed her arms and wondered whether she was doing the right thing—or if she should interrupt. When John did not turn around because he sensed her, she got out her phone and texted him.
As the message showed that it was delivered, he didn’t make a move to check his phone. Maybe his cell was on mute. Maybe he hadn’t brought it.
Maybe he just needed to be left alone.
In the end, Xhex put her phone away and closed her eyes. It was a while before she could dematerialize.
He knew where she was; she had texted him that she was going to work. And she had faith he would come and find her.
Fate was not going to have it any other way.
At least … that was what she told herself.
Shortly after Murhder dematerialized away from the park, he reformed at the base of a forty-story skyscraper that had a glass-fronted lobby the size of a small country and the name of a bank spelled out in glowing letters over sets of revolving doors. Inside, behind a granite desk, there was a guard on duty even though things were clearly not open for business.
The building was new to him. So was the name of the bank.
So were a lot of things downtown.
Picking a random direction, he started strolling down the plowed sidewalk, looking around, seeing the night sky above all the towers full of windows.