His Runner

Get Ready

The building was overcrowded, with people still waiting around to see what happened. None of this went according to plan, but then again, when has it ever worked out the way we wanted it to? The beast's body was now separate from Thunder. You could see them both lying on the ground. This posed more problems for us, and poor Esma looked to be on the verge of tears while still holding Tony's jar to her chest. It had been an hour since we had all left Rose and Theo alone. I hoped it was just a timing thing where the time went slower outside. I kept a close eye on Jed because I knew that if he started to feel things were wrong, I knew I would as well. All I could feel from Theo was stress and exhaustion but no fear or worry, which put me at ease for a little while.

Everyone has been fully healed by now, and Alison had food sent out to us while we waited. My mom and Sophie have been watching the kids. It was going to be hard to leave this place once we were finished with all this crazy mess. Theo and I had talked about something of things we loved about Wyatt's packhouse. We were definitely adding the swimming pools and splash pads. A movie theater was a definite. We also wanted to incorporate a door like theirs. Jed and Rose had offered to come to help build and enchant the door for us, and there was no way we would have turned that down. To pass the time, I tried to think of how I would decorate our room and the kids' room. I was sure there were more productive things I could be thinking about at this moment, but it was the only thing keeping my thoughts positive.

"If you frown any harder, you will get permanent wrinkles," a voice spoke from the side of me.

Pulled from my thoughts, I turned to see Seth, Mike, and Annabeth. I gave them a small smile and rubbed my forehead.

"I was just thinking about what color to paint Conner's room," I told them, making them laugh.

"Geez! And they say men are hard to read. I could have sworn you were thinking about how to plot someone's murder, and here you are just thinking about paint colors!" Mike said, and it made me laugh.

"Don't worry. When I plot someone's murder, I will be smiling while I think about it," I told them with a straight face and fought hard to keep from smiling.

Seth and Mike had wide eyes, and Annabeth was trying hard to hide her smile until she and I made eye contact, and then we burst out laughing.

"This, this is why men will never understand women..." Seth said and shook his head. He pulled Anna into his arms and kissed her head. I watched as she leaned into him and relaxed against him.

I was surprised by this action because the last time we had spoken, there were still having a hard time communicating. Something must have happened, and I was so happy for them all. Mike was looking at them, and his smile was bright.

"I'm so happy to see you happy, Anna." I wanted to pull her away and give her a hug, but I didn't want to rob Seth of this moment he was having with her.

There was a commotion behind me, and I turned around to see Rose and Theo walking out of the circle. They both looked so tired, and Rose instantly went into Jed's arms and closed her eyes. Theo's eyes roamed the room until he saw me and rushed my way. He pulled me tightly against him, which was harder than I thought he would, considering how tired he looked.

"It's done," he said loud enough for everyone to hear. There was a moment of silence and then loud cheering. It felt like everyone was finally taking a deep breath, and we could relax. I held back on my cheering for two reasons, one because I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and two because my lips were claimed by my man. His kiss was gentle, but I could feel desire burning in him, and that held promise. I knew he was exhausted, so maybe tonight it was time for me to do all the work for him. I sent him so images of what I was thinking, and he pulled back from me. His eyes got dark, and his grip on me tightened.