an eye on him.” She glanced at her watch. “I actually need to head back there. Mr. Reordon is probably wondering where the hell I am. I just wanted you to know that Cliff is still with us.”
Emma drew the woman into a quick hug before she could leave. “Thank you.”
Kate smiled. “If it were me, I would’ve wanted to know.” Turning away, she headed down the steps. “Oh, and don’t worry about coming in to work tomorrow,” she said over her shoulder as she crossed to a shiny gray Tesla parked behind Todd’s SUV. “You’ve really been through the wringer tonight. So just get some rest. If you don’t see Cliff tomorrow night, don’t panic. If he received a heavier than usual dose of the tranquilizer, it may take him longer to sleep it off and recover. Higher doses tend to leave him pretty out of it after he wakes up. So no news is good news.”
“Thank you,” Emma called again.
Once Kate ducked into the car and drove away, Todd closed the door.
Silence fell.
Emma looked at Cynthia as more damn tears slipped over her lashes. “He’s okay.”
Cynthia drew her into a hug. “I’m so glad.”
Todd wrapped them both in a bear hug and sighed. “Me, too.”
Emma emitted a watery chuckle.
It felt like the weight of the world had just been lifted from her shoulders. Or some of it anyway. She had no idea what state of mind Cliff would be in when he awoke. Would he feel better once he heard that he’d helped Seth and saved lives? Would that alleviate some of the remorse he felt over harming the immortal woman?
That had to count for something, didn’t it?
Would it be enough to compel him to keep fighting? Or would he still…?
Mentally, she shook her head. She couldn’t think about that. Not yet.
Tonight she just needed to revel in the knowledge that she hadn’t lost him and bask in the little spark of hope that ignited.
Her stomach growled.
“Was that you or was that me?” Cynthia asked against Emma’s hair.
“I think it was me,” Todd said, his big arms still banded around both of them.
Cynthia snorted. “How can you possibly be hungry? You ate a whole pizza by yourself.”
“I can’t help it. I eat when I’m stressed.”
Emma smiled. “Actually, it was me.” Usually she’d be sitting down to dinner with Cliff right about now.
Cynthia squirmed but couldn’t break free. “Sweetie,” she protested.
“Oh. Right.” Abandoning his hold, Todd straightened.
Cynthia did, too, and studied Emma’s face. “Even though Todd pigged out while you were sleeping—”
“I can’t help it,” he huffed.
“—there’s still some pizza left. If I warm it up, do you think you could eat some?”
Emma nodded. “I think so.”
“Excellent.”
Within minutes, the three of them were slouched on the sofa, eating what was left of the pizza. Emma doubted she’d eat more than a slice. She was too wiped out from everything. But Cynthia and Todd went to town.
Cynthia shook her head as she scrolled through the photos on Emma’s phone. “I can’t believe you had this beautiful, heartwarming, heartbreaking romance going on all this time and didn’t tell me.”
Emma shrugged. “We didn’t tell anyone.”
“Not even Bastien?” Todd asked around a mouthful of pizza. “I thought Cliff told Bastien everything.”
“Not even Bastien,” Emma confirmed. Bastien had discovered it on his own. “We were afraid if anyone found out, they’d rescind Cliff’s hunting privileges… or at least stop allowing him to roam around on his own afterward.”
A hint of hurt entered Cynthia’s expression. “I wouldn’t have told anyone.”
“I know you wouldn’t have told anyone intentionally,” Emma agreed. “But you do sometimes forget the vampires down on sublevel 5 can hear everything we say. And I couldn’t risk you letting anything slip while we were chatting in my office.”
Todd nodded. “You are pretty bad about that.”
Cynthia frowned at him. “How do you know? You don’t have preternatural hearing.”
“I know. But the vampires do. And they tend to razz me about some of the things they hear you tell Emma about us.”
“They do?” Cynthia’s eyes widened with dismay. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He shrugged. “Honestly? Because those guys could use a few laughs.” He winked. “And it’s easy to shake it off when I get to come home to you.”
She grinned. “You are so freaking awesome.”
“I know,” he retorted with a grin. “I keep telling the vampires that, but they don’t believe me.”
Cynthia’s look turned sly. “Now I feel like I should mess with them. Maybe the next time we’re in Emma’s office, I’ll tell