“Hazel, you seem so…different,” my mother murmured, gazing at me with her warm, loving eyes.
“Yeah, she is,” Benedict piped up, “Hazel’s now a—”
I jabbed Benedict sharply with my elbow.
“…a badass hero,” he finished, lamely.
Jeez.
Now really wasn’t the right time to be telling Mom and Dad that! The jab didn’t go unnoticed by either of my parents, but fortunately they had also noticed Julian and Ruby in that moment.
“Your parents are going to be so happy!” my mom exclaimed. “Come here!”
Ruby and Julian flew toward my parents, and they got hugs as fierce as ours.
“Where are they? Are they here?” Ruby asked, looking over my mom’s shoulder.
My mom laughed, untangling herself from their embrace and turning toward the forest. Seconds later, what looked like the entirety of The Shade’s residents appeared, hurrying toward us—Claudia, Yuri, Landis and Ashley were a shooting blur of color.
The rest followed more slowly—the werewolves, the dragons, the Hawks, the jinn and witches, and all the vamps—even my great-grandpa Aiden! I stared, gob-smacked, at all the familiar faces I loved. The faces I had feared I would never see again.
The vamps embraced their children, crying and laughing at the same time.
“Where are your glasses?” Ashley sobbed, tears running down her cheeks as she poked and prodded every inch of Julian.
“And who the hell are you?” Claudia had flung herself at Ruby, her arms wrapped around her neck and pulling her taller daughter downward, while she glared at Ash, Tejus and the rest of the guards.
Tejus and Ash looked at one another. Tejus looked annoyed, Ash dumbfounded. I wanted to laugh at the pair of them. They were in for a treat. The GASP interrogation wouldn’t be pleasant for them… especially with Claudia being involved. God help Ash.
“We need to get back to the castle,” Tejus announced. “We’re not safe here.”
“Wait a moment.” My father frowned. “Who are you and why do you have our children?”
I cringed, mid-hug with my grandparents. I had the feeling that things were going to get awkward pretty quickly… and not just concerning Tejus. My hunger had started to flare up, and every time a member of GASP touched me, I was reminded more and more of how unstable I was around non-sentry types… They all smelled so good.
“Mom, Dad, this is Tejus,” I said brightly, fighting to swallow down my syphoning instincts.
“Tejus of Hellswan?” my father snarled.
“What of it?” Tejus replied, glaring at my father.
Tejus!
I wanted to punch him…I could see that he wasn’t going to make this any easier on me or himself—it would be entirely up to me if this situation was going to be defused.
“Dad, look at me,” I said, as calmly as I could. “I’m alive—all in one piece. So is Benedict. None of these…err…people have harmed us—and Tejus, well—Tejus is my…”
“Boyfriend!” shouted Benedict gleefully.
You’re dead.
I made a throat-cutting motion at my brother, but he just grinned back at me. Too much had passed between us. He knew I loved him to the ends of the earth and back, and that he was in no real danger of my revenge. Apparently, all my older-sibling power had vanished.
“Yep!” he cried, over the moon at my parents’ horrified faces. “He’s our kidnapper as well! She got Stockhouse syndrome… real bad.”
“Stockholm syndrome, idiot,” I muttered. “And no, I don’t. Anyway, we don’t need to talk about this now. Let’s get back to the castle?”
I looked over at Ruby for support. She looked as pained as I did; Claudia and Yuri glaring at Ash like they were about to rip his head off.
We needed a diversion, quickly…
“Like hell we will!” my father hissed. “Your kidnapper’s your boyfriend?”
Oh, man.
I felt blood rising to my face, wishing the ground would swallow me whole. I wished we weren’t going through this in front of the entire team either—I could spot Arwen and Grace giggling, and smirks from pretty much everyone else. Great.
“What are you thinking?” My father glared at me. Clearly the ‘happy to see my daughter safe’ part of the proceedings was over. “And you!” he continued, growling at Tejus so his fangs glinted. “How DARE you kidnap my children! Do you have any IDEA who you’ve crossed?”
My mom and dad both glared at Tejus. He raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. If I didn’t know him any better, I would think he was completely bored with the exchange. But I could see the clench of his jaw and the darkening of his eyes. He wasn’t liking this one bit.