slept together the night before, but we hadn’t made love. We needed to physically connect, needed our hands on each other, needed to remind ourselves why we were stronger together.
“Have either of you really thought about what happened today?” Daniel asked, his tone still an Eeyore-like grim.
He’d been fairly quiet about his human state with the exception of complaining about the food. I’d known it was lying in wait—his fear and insecurity. It had been bound to come out.
Dev groaned and his head fell back. “Of course, I’ve thought about it. I was there. Daniel, she didn’t die. I won’t die. We’ve got so much of your blood in our system that it will take weeks, maybe months for it to be gone. We will not be stuck here for that long. I promise. Between the Fae in Tír na nÓg and the Planeswalkers, we’ll find a way home in the next couple of days. We’ll take Summer and the kid, and then we’ll have a whole new set of problems to deal with.”
“Yes, like the fact that the minute Myrddin realizes I’m human, he’ll probably kill me and take the crown himself.” Daniel moved to the small table where the clothes cube sat. All he needed to do was take it in his hand and the nanites would cover his body.
“Don’t put that on,” Dev ordered. “You know I’ll have it off you in five minutes. I mean to have my way.”
“And I mean to have my conversation,” Daniel replied. But he set the cube down. “We need to consider letting me die.”
That got me on my feet. “Don’t you dare. We don’t know anything about why this happened, so we can’t possibly know what will happen if you do that. We don’t know that you’ll turn. You could simply die and not come back. I am not willing to risk that.”
Dev stood at my side. “Nor am I. When we get back to the Earth plane, we’ll put the academics on the problem. And Sarah and her coven.”
“I don’t need any of that. It can’t have changed my DNA,” Danny insisted. “I turned when I was young. I’ll do it again and I’ll be myself.”
It was the ultimate height of frustrating irony that he’d wasted those first years as a vampire moaning about the fact that he wasn’t human. “I will never forgive you if you do that to yourself. You’ll be leaving me and Dev, and you risk leaving your children and everyone who loves you.”
Daniel’s hands fisted at his sides. “I can’t protect like this. I can’t protect you.”
Dev’s whole body was tense now, and it wasn’t about arousal. He pointed Daniel’s way. “This. This is what you do. I thought we had moved past this, but the first time you’re vulnerable you go right back to it.”
“This?” Daniel asked. “What exactly do you mean by this?”
I knew exactly what Devinshea was talking about, but I was going to let him explain.
“You pull away. What are you going to say next? That maybe it would be better if you stayed here so you don’t drag everyone else down?”
Daniel’s eyes flared and I knew Dev had made a direct hit. “Well, now that you mention it…”
I let out a groan of pure frustration. There were definitely things about our first years as a threesome that I didn’t miss. “I suppose I’m staying here with you. Do you know that will cost us time with our daughter, and I don’t even…”
I’d been about to tell him I didn’t care that I didn’t have super strength, I was going to protect her, but he stopped me.
He put his hands on my shoulders and looked down at me. “I was not going to say that. I think you should go with Dev. Stay close to him and to Marcus. Kelsey can handle leading the team. She’ll keep an eye on the Taggarts and the Dellacourts.” He glanced over to Dev. “When you get to Tír na nÓg, introduce yourself as the inner plane’s high priest and Zoey as your goddess. Don’t mention anything about representing the Council.”
Dev’s eyes rolled. “Sure. Pretend you don’t exist. Got it. And you’ll stay here without any protection, and hey, if you die then you get to find out if you’ll turn. I’m sure that then you’ll come flying in to save the day.”
Daniel stepped back and moved for the table again. “Or I’ll stay somewhere and keep myself safe so you don’t have to.”