Rev studies me for a moment then stands up. Gesturing for me to follow her, she heads for the stairs. “Listen,” she says, “Rhone Mackenzie is one of the best men I know, but he’s spent over twenty years blaming himself for what happened to Layla.”
“He told me,” I say quietly.
“It wasn’t his fault.” Rev’s lips settle in a tight line. “The Hollow has always been a bad place. Bad energy. I’ve always believed it drove Layla to…” She hesitates. “To do what she did.” We’re at the top of the stairs when Rev squeezes my hand. “Just give him time,” she says. Then she winks at me. “Failing that, give him orders.”
I frown at her. Heat colors my cheeks as the memory of Mack tied to his armchair burns in my brain. “How did you know…?”
Rev taps her forehead. “I’m a seer. I see things. It’s in the job description.” Then she trots down the stairs ahead of me, leaving me to make my big entrance.
12
MACK
As I straighten my bowtie, Tanner pats my arm.
“You look good, brother,” Kole says, nodding in agreement.
“Bit more dignified than Luther when he took our girl out, that’s for sure,” Tanner adds, stealing an amused glance at Luther. He’s holding a whiskey glass again. Clearly, fucking Nova up against the bathroom wall hasn’t gotten her out of his system.
Turning back to Tanner, I say, “As long as we pass for guests.”
“Here’s your ticket.” Sam is at the kitchen counter, holding my phone. “I downloaded it for you. Nova’s too.”
I peer at the screen.
“Sarah, Rev has yours I think.” Sam gestures to the stairs where Rev has appeared. She trots down the steps into the living room, smiling. When she reaches me, she folds her arms and nods approvingly. “Looking fine, professor,” she says. “But not as fine as your girl.”
Hearing Rev call Nova my girl sends a gentle vibration through me. Snow is purring. Internally, I roll my eyes at him.
When I look up, though, my breath catches in my chest. Nova is practically gliding down the stairs. Her figure wrapped in emerald-green silk that seems to hug and accentuate every curve of her delicious body, she is radiant.
Tanner whistles, Sam mutters, “Holy hell,” and Kole simply growls from somewhere deep in his chest. When I look at him, he’s licking his lower lip. For once, I’d have to agree that she looks good enough to eat.
“Well?” Nova smooths the fabric over her hips. She looks nervous and it makes me wish that—just for one second—she could see herself the way we see her. “Will I do?”
From the corner of the room, Luther is watching her. I ignore him, take her hand, and kiss it the way I did when we very first met. “You’ll do very nicely,” I tell her.
Smiling at me, she drops my hand and moves into the center of a Sam, Tanner, Kole circle. Tanner brushes her hair from her neck and whispers to her that he likes it curled. Sam’s hand lingers on her ass. Kole can’t stop staring at his ink work, proudly displayed on her chest. Catching him looking at it, she strokes his beard and says, “When I get back, there’s another tattoo you need to cover for me.” She glances down at her thigh. Kole nods, his lips in a tight line; we all know which tattoo she’s talking about and I know for a fact that every time one of us sees it, we want to scrub it clean from her skin.
“Consider it done,” Kole says in his gravelly tone.
Finally, Luther stands and walks over to us. “You know the spell?” he asks her, folding his arms.
“I know the spell,” Nova replies tightly.
“You’re travelling separately?” Luther glances from me to Rev.
“We are,” Rev replies. Turning to me, she asks, “Ready?”
“Ready.” I rest my hand on the small of Nova’s back. As we head outside, she says goodbye to the others. They hug her, kiss her, and whisper things to her as if they’re truly worried it might be the last time they see her. “I’ll keep her safe,” I tell them.
“We know you will, brother,” Kole says, patting my upper arm. “See you soon.”
At the bottom of the steps, Nova, Rev, and I wait for Sam to say his own goodbye to Sarah. He stays strong, but Sarah is wiping tears from her face when she turns away from him.
“Thank you for helping us,” I say to her as we move through the trees toward the turnout where our vehicles are parked—just inside the mask.
“It’s the least I could do,” Sarah sniffs.