Shadow crouched on the floor. “Shall I take the box?” he asked, startled at first by his own voice, since he’d gotten so used to the one he had in human form.
Gray’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and he glanced at Shadow’s fallen body before slowly getting to his knees and pressing his fingers under its jaw. Shadow’s human suit was empty, its eyes forlorn as they stared at the ceiling.
“It’s dead,” Gray said.
Shadow watched him, desperate to read Gray’s intentions and fulfill them before Gray even got to word them. “I’m its life. It won’t live without me inside. Should I go back in?”
Gray cleared his throat and quickly pulled out a roll of bandage. “Give it a second,” he said and pulled up the still-bleeding elbow to wrap it with the white cloth.
Shadow sat in silence, hoping that the dressing would make the injury hurt less once he re-entered his flesh, because so far, being human had been an endless stream of pain and disappointment.
Gray didn’t look his way, too focused on the injury to Shadow’s body, but after a moment’s silence, he did speak. “Good job.”
Shadow wasn’t thinking straight anymore. He dashed forward and pressed a kiss to Gray’s lips, even though this form had no mouth. He backed away just as fast, before Gray could gather his thoughts and punch him again.
But Gray didn’t charge after him, instead pressing his lips tightly together, right back to work. “What the actual fuck? You’re impossible,” he said, finally finishing the dressing. He got up as soon as he was done and pointed at the body.
“Get inside and take that goddamn box. We’re leaving.”
Shadow sank back into the body that felt slightly stiff and cool when he first started moving. All the aches assaulted him like a punch, and when he opened his eyes, it felt as if his vision flipped within a split second. One moment he’d been looking down at his own face, the next he blinked and stared at the ceiling. Blood started pumping through flesh with each heartbeat, and it only sped up when he remembered the kiss.
As soon as his limbs allowed it, he went straight for the box despite the pain in his arm. Once he picked up the heavy metal container, a phone rang in one of the guard’s pockets.
Shadow waited for instruction.
“We need to go,” was all Gray said.
Chapter 11
Gray didn’t expect a warm welcome after the stunt he’d pulled, but his brothers would eventually cool off. Against all expectations, he’d managed to come back with the Pigeon Heart—one of the most valuable jewels in the world. Not only was it large, pretty, had a history, but apparently could also stop the impending Apocalypse. Gray might have just become a major contributor to saving the world. Didn’t he deserve some gratitude?
Jokes aside, the stern faces that greeted him very late at night, once he and Shadow finally reached the clubhouse, were a disappointment that ate at Gray’s liver every time he met someone’s gaze. Since his return from the hospital, he’d repeatedly said that nothing really changed. That he was fine. That he didn’t need special treatment. The same had happened following Mike’s death. Working alone wasn’t beyond Gray’s capabilities, and he’d proved that at the earliest opportunity.
He’d done the same tonight, yet for some reason no one wanted to celebrate his success. Granted, Shadow had played a way bigger role in the heist than Gray had anticipated, but no one knew what happened on that train. For all they knew, Gray had dealt with five well-trained mercenaries as if they were chihuahuas trying to bite him through thick leather boots. Alone.
He’d reported his mission a success right after getting off the train hours ago, so they should have had plenty of time to get over his little deception.
“We’re all going to be safe now,” he said, gesturing for Shadow to place the safe box onto the table.
“So you confided your plans to this thing, but wouldn’t tell any of us what you intended after agreeing with everyone?” Rev leaned on the table, eying Gray with a squint. It felt like being a nail in front of a hammer, yet his father’s words rubbed him the wrong way, not only because they shed a negative light on him.
Shadow didn’t deserve such contemptuous words. Tonight, he’d proved himself way beyond Gray’s expectations. They’d barely spoken since they’d jumped off the train, because other than asking Shadow to keep the details of the fight to himself, Gray had no idea what to say to him. No matter how many times Gray tried to reframe the events in his head, without Shadow’s quick thinking, it could have been Gray, not the mercenaries, who ended up losing. And he was positive that those guys’ idea of dealing with him would have involved methods more permanent than tranquilizers.