“No.” The fire had dimmed in Caden’s eyes. “He attacked.”
Chapter 12
I was already sitting up, scanning the floor for my discarded clothing. “How bad is it?”
“Not as bad as it could’ve been, but he wounded some of the guards,” he told me as he pulled on his briefs and jeans. “And he injured his mother pretty badly.”
“Oh God,” I whispered, pulling on my leggings. “I assume he’s dead?”
“Surprisingly not.” His gaze flickered over my chest, lingering in a way that caused warmth to creep into my cheeks. He picked up my bra. “Faye and Kalen were able to apprehend and contain him.”
Shock flickered through me as I took the bra from him, quickly donning it. “Holy crap, that’s huge, Caden. We may find out where they’re getting the Devil’s Breath since you guys checked Neal’s bar and didn’t find any evidence of it.”
“It is huge,” he agreed.
I pulled on the loose sweater and then shoved up the sleeves. “We just need to get Benji to talk.”
“And that’s going to be easier said than done.” He pulled his shirt on over his head. “You remember how Elliot was.”
I thought of the youngling. He’d been crazed, almost as if brainwashed by the Winter Court. “But we have to try.”
Caden’s gaze flicked to mine, and then he came forward, smoothing my hair back from my face. “You look so delectable right now.”
I didn’t need a mirror to know my hair looked like I’d been, well, rolling around in bed.
“But we don’t have to do anything,” he continued. “I want you to sit this one out. Stay here, and I’ll come back to you as soon as I can.”
My brows lifted. “You want me to just sit and wait for you?”
“You don’t have to sit and wait, so to speak.”
I narrowed my eyes as I stepped back, out of his reach. “Why do you want me to sit this out?”
He lowered his hand. “You’re still recovering, Brighton. That’s the only reason why.”
Taking a deep, even breath, I reminded myself that he was coming from a place of concern, and there was no reason for my head to spin Exorcist style. “You took my word when I said I was ready earlier.”
His head tilted slightly. “I did.”
“And we just had pretty active sex,” I said, proud that my cheeks didn’t catch fire.
Caden’s eyes heated though, and his voice roughened. “We did. I would’ve loved to do it again.” He paused, his gaze sweeping over me. “And again.”
A delicious little shiver danced over my skin, and it took me a second to get my mind back on track. “If I was ready for that, why wouldn’t I be ready for a questioning?”
“You mean an interrogation.”
“Whatever.”
“What we did and what I’m about to do are two different things. You won’t like what you see down in that room.”
“I’ve seen some really grotesque interrogations carried out by the Order, Caden, but you’re right,” I replied. “What we are about to do will be a hell of a lot easier than what we just did.”
“And what you guys just did was very loud and seemed very active.” A voice came from the doorway—the open doorway. I turned, finding Tink standing there. “I definitely think Brighton is physically ready…for just about anything.”
Oh my God.
“Dixon got scared,” he continued. “He’s hiding out under the coffee table right now. Traumatized by all the sexing going on.”
I had no words.
“By the way, you guys left the door open,” Tink explained.
My lips parted as I shot Caden a quick glance. He didn’t seem at all perturbed by that fact. Meanwhile, I wanted to bury myself under the bed. How could we have been that distracted?
Well, I knew exactly how we were that distracted.
“I was kind of worried at first. The sounds were interesting.” Tink grinned as my eyes widened. “Shouting. Crying. Moaning. A totally different kind of crying—”
“Oh my God, Tink. You can stop now,” I exclaimed. “Seriously.”
“What?” He lifted his hands. “I’m just happy you finally got some—”
Tink shouted as I picked up my flip-flop and winged it at his head. Caden chuckled, and I had half a mind to throw the other shoe at his face. He ended that thought with one smoldering, fond look.
“Come on,” he said, his gaze light despite what had happened. “You need to find better shoes if you’re coming with me.”
Relieved that he wasn’t going to try to keep me wrapped in a bubble, I nodded and started for the closet.
“How about these?” Caden asked.
I looked over my shoulder. He held one of the knee-high boots, all helpful like.
He winked at me. “I have such fond memories of these.”
“I’m going to throw that boot at your head,” I warned.
Caden grinned. “It would be worth it.”
* * * *
Sitting in the front seat of Caden’s SUV, with him behind the steering wheel, and Tink in the back seat, I still found it weirdly funny that Caden, the King of the Summer fae, drove. Shouldn’t he have a driver or something?
Tracing the outline of the iron cuffs on my wrists that hid the daggers, I wondered if at some point, as the baby grew, I would have difficultly handling iron. I didn’t think so since contact with my skin didn’t mean contact with the baby, but I supposed that was something I needed to keep an eye on. Wishing there was a guide for expecting fae mothers who were also members of the Order, I wiggled my toes inside my black combat boots. Obviously, I hadn’t put on the other boots.
They did, however, end up back in my closet instead of in the bag to donate. “For later,” Caden had said, which had caused Tink to launch into a discussion about how dressing up kept his sex life lively—something Caden didn’t want to hear since it involved his brother.
Tink kept catching my gaze in the rearview mirror, and each time, he raised his brows. I knew he had a lot of questions. I couldn’t blame him for that, considering I’d tried to convince him to take me to Florida just hours before. There wasn’t time for that at the moment.
There also hadn’t been time for me to tell Caden I was pregnant. I had been okay with keeping the truth from him when I had a good reason to do so, but now that there was none, it was pecking away at me. Each passing minute was one more minute where he didn’t know he was going to be a father.
How would he take it? I didn’t know. He loved me, I knew that beyond a doubt. But even if I’d known from the moment I woke up that I could be his Queen and all would be as well as it was, everything was still new. There’d be no time for just him and me. It would always be him, me, and our child. Though I didn’t think we needed the time to get to know each other or to become comfortable. The latter was already there, and it was…it was truly like we were two halves coming together. We may not know every little thing about one another, but we knew each other.
Wait.
I would be his Queen.