“I think… if it can help people, if it can make life better for the fallen in the underworld… it would be worth doing.”
Love for this solid, stoic, broken man with the unbreakable heart filled me, and I reached over to rest my hand on his knee. I wanted to crawl onto his lap and kiss his face off, but that probably wasn’t appropriate for a business meeting.
I glanced at the other men, and all three of them echoed Xero’s sentiment.
But when I looked at Hannah, she had her brow scrunched up in thought. Finally, she shook her head. “I think I’d rather join the Custodians, if that’s all right.”
“What? Hannah, what are—” Jayce started, but I cut him off with a look. He fell silent, although his blue eyes were still wide.
She shrugged, smiling at him. “What can I say? I’m a nerd. And I think there are a ton of things the Custodians still need to learn about. If I can use my research skills for good there, I’ll be happy. Besides,” she added, a bit of steel coming into her voice as she looked right at the officials across from us, “they always say the best way to make changes to an organization is from the inside out. I think there are things that definitely need to change, and I’d like to be around to see that it happens.”
I grinned broadly at her. Fuck, yeah. You go, girl.
“Very well.” If Price was put off at all by Hannah’s open threat to join the organization and shake things up, she didn’t show it. In fact, she looked quite pleased. She looked at the rest of us. “And you five?”
I narrowed my eyes.
“If we’re not technically part of the Custodians, what would we be called?”
“The Envoys.”
A smile spread across my face in spite of myself. Yes. So much fucking cooler than sounding like glorified janitors.
“Then, yeah. We’re in.”
Epilogue
Three Months Later
Water cascaded down my body as steam swirled through the air, carrying the soft scent of jasmine with it. I plunged my fingers into my long dark hair, massaging out the last of the shampoo.
I always liked to take a nice hot shower before we headed down to the underworld for a new assignment. We had plenty of spells to help keep us clean even when we were trekking through the unforgiving wilderness, but still, nothing quite replicated the effects of a
long shower.
It wasn’t just about getting clean. It was about peace. It was about relaxation.
It was about—
The gorgeous man with mocha skin and short dark hair who had just slipped quietly through the bathroom door and was padding across the room toward the large, glass-walled shower.
When Xero opened the door, I cocked an eyebrow at him, not bothering to hide my naked body from his hungry gaze. My core tightened as heat ignited in my lower belly, and I smoothed my hair back with both hands as I looked at my bond-mate.
“Did someone send you to fetch me? I warned you all I wasn’t gonna be ready until nine o’clock. By my count, I’ve still got twenty minutes left.”
“No one sent me to fetch you.”
His dark eyes danced with amusement as he tugged his shirt over his head, then quickly shucked his sweats and boxers. He was already hard, and it took effort for me to drag my gaze away from his cock, which stood out from his body, hard and thick.
I had to admit, I didn’t miss the tunics that had been our regular uniforms at FU. My guys looked hot as fuck in their street clothes. And out of them.
“Oh, really?”
“Nope. I just thought I should get a shower in before we left too.” He grinned, slipping into the shower stall and closing the door behind him. “And by my count, there’s a lot we can do in twenty minutes.”
I made a little noise in my throat, squeezing my inner muscles and sending a little cascade of pleasure flowing through me even as I reached for him, tugging him closer until he stood under the stream of water with me.
Our lips met in a soft, wet kiss as his cock pressed into my stomach. My hands ghosted over his skin, tracing the dozens of scars that decorated his body. They hurt my soul to look at sometimes, but I refused to ever look at them with pity. Xero didn’t want that, and I wanted him to know that I saw him as a whole person. Always. Not just as the sum of his broken parts.