the other three fussed softly. Belle's whimpers stopped the moment I picked her up, balancing her on one hip while I swooped back down for Amelia. Faust scooped up Florence and Scholar, and they also quieted once Faust had them off the floor.
Faust scented them like mad, adding me in the mix until I giggled and stepped away. He followed me into the foyer and whistled like he'd just noticed the damage. Spinning in a slow circle, he dragged his gaze across the room before stopping at the front door laying on the ground.
"How did this happen?"
I tried to recall what I'd been thinking, how I'd made my body do something I was positive I could never do again, but those moments were quickly turning into mush. "Me. When I realized they'd shot down the helicopter after Diesel said you were inside it... I don't know how. I just…"
"You thought I was dead." It wasn't a question.
I nodded anyway and winced at the memory of that bleak moment. "I lost it."
Faust's gaze began tender before growing stern. "You can't, Storri. You can't lose it again, even if it's true next time. Our girls need their father."
Belle whimpered, and I kissed the top of her head. "I know. I feel… I know. I won't."
"Promise me, Storri."
Never again. I didn't need to promise to know. I'd lost my mind when I thought Faust was gone, and that was the exact moment my girls needed my mind. "I promise."
The hard angles in Faust's face smoothed, and he smiled, needing no more than my word to calm him. "Dog's with the hostage, but he'll be very pleased to hear about today. He's got a few stories himself."
If that was meant to do anything but send my imagination into a panicked spiral, then it had failed. "Stories? I don't want stories. I want you to say, 'Nothing happened, Storri, and it was boring. The end.'"
Faust barked out a laugh and somehow managed to pinch my butt without dropping half our daughters. "You want boring? That's why you ditched Jazz in the panic room?"
The man had just gotten here and had been distracted by my dark side moment for much of the time—how had he already heard how I ditched Jazz? "Ditched isn't the word I'd use."
Faust's grin fell, and his dark eyes narrowed.
"You tricked me!"
"Me tricking you is the least of our problems, mate. I'd assumed it was clear that the only reason you would have for not going to the panic room and staying there was because the way was hopelessly blocked, on fire, and underwater."
"You were out there! What was I supposed to do? Cower and hide?"
Jazz walked by with Angus in his arms and Knox's arm over his shoulders. He shook his red curls. "Trust me, it's easier if you just admit you were naughty and then lie about never doing it again."
"Lie?" Knox growled.
Jazz giggled up the stairs with Knox nipping at his heels.
Faust bumped my hip with his. "I am sorry for tricking you, and I am sorry for not realizing your power. I still never want you in danger."
"And I'm sorry for my temporary madness. I wasn't making good choices."
"But you did pretty much save everyone," Faust added.
Diesel's wide frame darkened the doorway. "Storri, Grouse is out here, alive. He's the only one. Don't feel too bad. You still almost pitched a perfect game."
It would take me a bit longer to not react to the alphas' cavalier responses toward violence and death, but this news was shocking enough to distract me.
The fact that the animals hadn't killed Grouse meant he couldn't be like the others from Portal—monsters who had sold their souls to darkness. That didn't mean he should be allowed to walk free.
But I wouldn't be his executioner. "What are my options?"
Diesel sighed loudly. "Killing him. Giving him to the shifter council. Killing him."
Faust snorted but offered no other opinion.
"The middle one. What will happen if we give him to the shifter council?"
Diesel's expression made me feel a little bit like I was a parent asking their teenager how school was that day. "They'll cuff him and hold him in a secure facility while his case is investigated and will convene to decide the best course of action. His guilt is not a question. The council will accept our ruling. They just decide sentencing."
"Yes, that option. That's the one I choose."
Diesel glared at Faust, clearly hoping he would intervene on behalf of violence. Faust shrugged. "Let the council