Ollie, Ollie Hex 'n Free (23 page)

They weren’t dead. They couldn’t be dead.

That was my mantra as I raced for their room. Pain no longer mattered; I didn’t feel it. All that mattered was seeing for myself. The bedroom door was locked. I kicked it, threw my body against it, but it didn’t budge. I frantically scanned the hallway for anything that would help and spotted a small metal statue. Picking the priceless heirloom up, I smashed it against the handle of the door until it hung in tatters.

I took a deep breath and kicked open the door. Selene and Cheney were still and lifeless on the bed, his arms around her, her head cradled to his chest. Lorelei stood between Corbin and the bodies with a tear stained face and a weapon in her hand.

“They’re not dead. You’re killing them,” he said. “I can save her.”

Lorelei glanced at me. “She’s a fighter. She can pull them back on her own.”

I came in slowly, assessing the situation.

“I will kill you if I have to,” Corbin growled.

“I promised Sy he wouldn’t touch her,” she said to me.

I looked back and forth between them and the bodies of my friends. Suddenly I didn’t care if he was using her. I didn’t care if we lost the election. They couldn’t die. “Let him try,” I said.

She shook her head, furiously fighting tears. I went to her and took her gently into my arms. “They’re dying.”

Her fingers dug into my shirt. “I can’t lose her again.”

“Then let him try to help. He is bound to Selene.”

“Selene doesn’t want his help,” Sy said from the doorway. “She made that very clear today.”

I met his stare. “I don’t care.”

His jaw tightened on his tear-streaked face. “Do it,” he said to Corbin who was already shoving by us to take Selene’s hand.

“Is she still here?” Corbin asked, not looking away from Selene.

“Who?” I asked.

“Olivia.” Corbin rubbed Selene’s arm. “I haven’t seen her in a while, but she was here when I came in.”

“Olivia? She was here?” Sy blanched pulled out his phone with shaking hands.

“Stop,” Olivia’s voice chimed as she appeared on the other side of the bed. “Holden cannot help, Sy. You know that.”

He looked at the angel and they exchanged a meaningful look as he pleaded as if it was his own life. “Don’t take them. Not yet.”

Olivia pressed her lips together and her gaze fell to Selene and Cheney. “It’s not for me to determine who lives and who dies,” she said.

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Sy snapped. “Don’t take them. Please.” He moved in front of her as if he could physically block her path.

She gave him a sympathetic look. “I simply go where I am called. I am here to escort a soul.”

“If there’s nothing that can be done, why are you still here?” I asked.

She smiled. “That’s the right question.”

Katrina and Leslie crashed into the room, but Sy held them back, letting the vampire have the room he needed.

“You should have let me help sooner,” he said to her, sitting on the edge of the bed. “I would have never hurt you. Ever.” He crushed his lips to hers and I almost couldn’t hold myself back, but the longer he held the kiss the better her and Cheney’s complexions looked and the worse his was.

Olivia watched, her smile growing until she backed away from us. “Tell Selene I wish her the best of luck with everything and she should get the baby on a schedule as soon as possible.” With a wink she was gone.

Corbin staggered to the wall and flattened himself against it, eyes black with hunger.

Lorelei unwound her fingers from my shirt and went to Cheney’s side of the bed, pressing the back of her hand against his forehead and then Selene’s.

His eyes fluttered opened. “Selene,” he gasped with his first breath and tightened his arms around her.

She still didn’t move.

“No,” Katrina said. Never had I heard such a defeated sound.

Then Selene gasped and her body jerked upright. She looked wildly around the room, but Cheney touched her shoulder and she visibly relaxed back into him. By the time I looked back to the vampire, he was gone.

“Jessica,” Selene said, still struggling to breathe.

Katrina pushed in beside me. “We took her magic and Frost is putting her in a cell as we speak. All we have to do is remove the spirit.”

“The angel beat you to it,” Frost said from the doorway. “She just appeared, touched the back of Jessica’s neck and extracted it. I’ve never seen anything like it. She’s taking it with her—says she has her soul. Whatever that means.”

“Is Jessica still alive?” I asked.

Frost nodded. “She’s dazed. She’s with Lily. How’s everyone in here?”

“Alive,” Cheney said with a smile.

“In labor,” Selene said, blowing out a breath as the room trembled around us.

“Everybody out,” Lorelei announced, shooing us from the room.

The girls went to be with Jessica, and Sy and I headed for Cheney’s office. “Thank you, Sebastian,” he said.

I nodded. “I caused the problem. I was thinking out loud about their bond and I think I scared her. I never meant for Selene not to take Corbin’s help when she needed it.” I sighed, running a hand over my hair. “I know who killed Tahlik.”

Sy looked at me with completely serious eyes. “I confess. It was me.”

I shook my head. “We both know it wasn’t. Lorelei’s secret is safe with me.”

Sy’s jaw clenched. “What about the election?”

I laughed. “I don’t care anymore.”

He clapped a hand down on my shoulder. “I think we deserve a drink.” He walked into Cheney’s office where Kalan was still waiting.

“Kalan, the threat has ended. You are free to go.”

He gave me a flabbergasted look. “You think I don’t know what’s going on here?”

I shook my head. “I really don’t care. Get out.”

His eyes narrowed. “You’ll care tomorrow. You’ll care when everyone hears about what’s happening in this castle. About how the witches are running this place into the ground and how the Erlking spends all of his time worrying about his wife.”

Sy shook his head. “You aren’t going to tell anyone anything that happened today. In fact, the only thing you will say as you pull out of the race is that Cheney and Selene are the best candidates for the job and now that you have gotten to know each of them, you yourself will be backing them.”

He snorted. “Why would I say that? Who are you?”

Sy smiled. “Because I can prove you’re the one who killed Phoebe. Not only that, but I know how you did it.”

“Why don’t we just arrest him?” I asked.

“That’s hardly sporting, Sebastian. We should at least give him a head start, so long as he does what he’s told.”

I tilted my head to the side, playing along though I had no idea what his game was. “I don’t know. I’ve known Phoebe for a long, long time.”

“You don’t have any evidence,” Kalan said.

Sy raised an eyebrow at me and I nodded. Sy’s fist crunched into the man’s face and he dropped to the ground. “That sounded a lot like a confession to me,” Sy said.

I looked down at Kalan. “How did you know it was him?”

Sy shrugged. “I didn’t. I was bluffing.”

I laughed as I poured two drinks, handing one to him. I finished mine in a single swallow then poured another before taking a seat.

“So you and Kat, that’s over, right?” Sy asked.

I stared at the liquid in my glass. Nothing had really changed. The witches would still have to go. Kat and Leslie, just for a while, but Jessica forever. Letting Kat go was the kindest thing I could do; that’s what my head told me. On the other hand when I saw another man with her, I saw red and wanted him dead. I looked up at Sy. “Stay away from her.”

He gave me a crooked grin that reminded me very much of Selene. “I don’t think I will.” He toasted the glass to me. “May the best man win,” he said as the room trembled again.

Cheney and I stared down at our very perfect daughter sleeping swaddled in her blanket. His arm tucked around my waist as we watched her little chest go up and down. I was madly in love with her. There in that tiny precious form was a piece of my heart, one that would grow into a far better person than I ever was.

“They’re waiting for you,” Lorelei said.

“I don’t care,” I whispered back and Cheney grinned.

“I told you we should have just stepped down. But no, you insisted Sebastian was right. Do you see now? This is enough.”

I rolled my eyes, but let him pull me away. Lorelei would keep an eye on her great niece. “It is enough, but we can’t live in a bubble forever. The world around us matters as much as the world we build for ourselves.”

“This is your chance to prove that,” Sebastian said coming up beside us. “You look lovely, Selene. How is my beautiful goddaughter?”

“Perfect,” Cheney said.

I laughed. “She’s very demanding and for some inexplicable reason she hates to sleep at normal times.”

Sebastian smiled. “And how is the coven?”

Ah, and so we got to the heart of what he really wanted to know about. “Translation: how is Katrina?”

He merely waited.

“If you want to know how Kat is, you should go see her.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said.

I shook my head. Those two. I wasn’t getting involved anymore. We came to a stop outside of the newly restored great hall. Lily, Sy, and Cheney’s council members were waiting.

“You look great,” Lily said, kissing my cheeks. “Break a leg out there.”

I grinned at her. We won by a landslide. Kalan’s killing of Phoebe was all anyone needed to pretty much dismiss all the rumors and lies he had been spreading about me. I still wasn’t popular on everyone’s list, but Cheney and I offered something the other candidates couldn’t. Compromise. We were the best of both worlds. He was born to this life and I fought with everything I was to get to it. Together we would do our best to make sure the fae races were strong and together for a long time to come. Just as it should be.

Sebastian went out and made our introduction, then we stepped out on stage together, hand in hand. I scanned the audience, feeling Corbin before I saw him. He hadn’t come back since the night Bella was born.

The white blond hair and dark eyebrows were easy enough to spot in the back of the room. One corner of his mouth twitched up at me when our eyes met and I smiled back. He saluted me, then backed into the shadows, leaving for the last time.

I couldn’t say how I knew it, but I did. Corbin wouldn’t return, not unless he had to. Bonded or not, he was moving on and I would let him go. I had everything I needed.