Edward saw a dark force enter the room, and terror filled his soul. Exhausted as he was, words were not needed to understand who Grimm was and whose soul he was there to collect.
Cara had tried to warn him.
Mary would be taken from him after all.
“Grimm, please,” Cara greeted her rival, preparing herself to watch him take Edward. It would be useless to ask him to leave without the soul he had been dispatched to retrieve.
“Cara, it is good to see you again. Jericho.” Grimm gave Jericho a curt nod.
Grimm moved toward Edward, but found his way blocked by Jericho.
“Move.” Grimm again started toward Edward’s soul.
“No. You can’t have him.”
“You can’t stop me. Cara doesn’t have the power to take his soul from me. He took his own life. The consequence is inevitable. He is mine.”
“Cara might not have the power, but I do.” Jericho’s hand reached out and took Edward’s hand within his grasp and placed it within Cara’s waiting one. Instantly, Edwards’s soul became ethereal and floated to Mary’s.
Grimm began to fade, becoming a dark shadow moving toward the couple now clinging to each other. Jericho grabbed the shadow before he could reach his goal, and at his touch, Grimm’s body appeared again.
“From now on, things are going to be different.” Jericho pointed toward Cara. “She gets first choice.”
Grimm’s fury filled the room. Cara was worried, but Jericho gave her a reassuring look.
“Once dispatched, I can’t return without a soul,” Grimm growled out between clenched teeth.
Jericho gave him a mocking smile. “You shouldn’t have to wait long; you’re already in a hospital.”
Grimm didn’t appreciate Jericho’s sarcastic humor as he watched impotently while Cara and her souls moved through the waiting doorway.
“No one takes a soul from me.” Grimm gave Jericho a small warning, the last he would ever give. “If you take one meant for me, I’ll take one meant for Cara.”
Jericho moved before Grimm could disappear and, with a hard punch to his face, sent him flying across the room where Grimm landed, lying stunned on the floor.
“Fuck with Cara, and you fuck with me.” With a wave of his hand, he had Grimm back on his feet. “You didn’t lose Edward’s soul to Cara; it was never meant for you. They were soul mates. Mary’s love for him held him to her in life and death. Edward miscalculated that tonight wasn’t Mary’s time to go, but when she woke and saw what Edward had done, she quit fighting and allowed herself to die. Her love for him held her to life, prolonging her agony. Without Edward binding her soul, she was released from the unending pain. By doing so, we reached them before you could. If she had died a minute later, you would have won. Perfect timing, wouldn’t you say, Grimm?” Jericho turned, walking to the doorway Cara was waiting impatiently behind.
“What makes you think I will tolerate your interference?” Grimm was pleased he was able to get his sarcastic words passed his sore jaw.
“Fate.”
Grimm’s mouth dropped open in surprise. Not only was he up against Cara and her obnoxious demigod lover, but Fate had interfered. He hadn’t stood a chance.
* * *
Mother Nature laughed, waking Chronos sleeping beside her.
He turned, taking his wife of centuries into his arms. “Why are you still awake?”
“Making sure Cara and Jericho return home safely.”
“Have they?”
Mother Nature was silent as her mind searched outward. It didn’t take her long to find her dearest friend’s daughter. Then images of bodies straining together, sharing their love for each other, flashed through her mind.
Satisfied, she laid her head on her husband’s chest. “Yes, they are about to create their first child.”
Cara and Jericho did not know his vasectomy as a human was useless now that he was a demigod. It was going to provide her with a lot of enjoyment when she watched his reaction as he found out she was pregnant.