Revealed by April Zyon Page A

little doing,” Mercury said. “He was fit to be tied these last two days
while you slept blissfully unaware. Be grateful. He pulled out some language I
haven’t heard in too long. Most I hope to never hear again. For now, sleep and
heal. You have your entire lives to get him out of his pique.” Mercury tipped
his head to her in an informal bow and left the room. “Gaius!” he bellowed
after.
    “Shit,” Gaius
muttered. “Come on, sweetheart. You need to get some rest too. And I need to
see what has a burr up his ass,” he said under his breath.
    “I heard that,
Gaius. Training room, five minutes.”
    “Fuck me,” he
grumbled now.
    Riley watched
Gaius and Emily leaving. “He loves her like crazy. The thread that binds them
together is as thick as my forearm. Amazing.” She turned to look at Hector and
asked, “Will ours grow to be that size?”
    “You tell me.
You’re the one who can see the threads, Riley. You said in the beginning it was
barely there. What does it look like to you now?” He was running the fingers of
his free hand up and down her arm as he held her hand tight to his chest.
    “It’s much
thicker. It’s the size of, maybe, two fingers now.” She pulled him closer. “I
think it will get bigger. I think it will grow thicker. We’ll soon have a very
large bond, one that nothing will be able to compare to.”
    “We already have
a large bond, sweetheart, but I think it will strengthen and grow through our
time together. Now, you should get some sleep. I’ll stay with you, because I’m
still trying to come to grips with what you did and will not be letting you out
of my sight any time soon.”
    “I’m good with that.” Riley
smiled up at him. “How about you climb into bed with me? I want to feel you
holding me.” She felt better with him touching her. “And were they right—have I
been asleep for two days?” No wonder he’s
a basket case.
    “Two days, nine
hours, fourteen minutes,” he answered. He let her hand go as he slid off the
bed to sit in the chair and bent over to unlace his boots. “It’s been a very
long two days.” Standing a moment later, he slid in beside her, carefully
moving an arm under her head and picking her hand up to hold it to his chest
again.
    Riley shifted
with a small hiss of pain and nestled up against him. “This is so much better.”
She yawned, closing her eyes and letting his heat envelop her. “No more. I’m
here for the rest of time now,” she told him quietly.
    “Damn right, you
are,” he muttered against her hair. “I want you to sleep for me, though, Riley.
As much as I hate the thought of you closing your eyes again, you need the rest
to recover properly.”
    She nodded. Then
a thought occurred to her. “I need to contact my attorney to make sure that my
mother won’t be able to touch my money.”
    He lifted his
head to press a kiss to her cheek. “We can do whatever you want. After we have
a meeting to discuss putting in a couple new roads. I think we’re all tired of
the ambushes on our only way of getting here. Even if it’s just a plowed
path—we can make it work, change up our routines, keep them from harming any
more of our women.”
    “Good idea. Maybe
put in a landing pad too. I have a helicopter that we could bring here.” It was
a company Blackhawk, one that her father had purchased and ensured would be
updated with the newest, even after his death. “Just a thought. I’m willing to
do whatever I need to in order to help you and your friends.”
    “There’s a spot
that might work. I’ll show it to you when you’re ready. We currently use it for
when we feel like having a barbecue, since it works as a patio. I think it
might be large enough for a landing pad, and the monsters couldn’t get near it
since it’s within the shell of whatever magic still protects us from detection.
It would be a much more secure manner of bringing the women in. Never even give
the evil ones a chance at them.”
    “Exactly.