I’m not sure how long I’m out, but when I wake up, I find myself lying on top of Hunter, who is sprawled out on the sofa asleep with me.
Quiet voices tell me Griff and Dmitri are talking out on the balcony, but there is no sign of Cain.
As gently as I can, I extract myself from Hunter’s arms and head toward the French doors.
Dmitri must sense me because he stops talking and turns to watch me approach.
Holding up his arm for me, I walk right up to him and bury my face against his chest.
“I take it you didn’t find him?”
“No, I did. He’s lying down, resting. It’s been a long day for him and he’s exhausted.”
“I know that feeling. I can’t believe I’ve been napping when there is so much that needs doing.”
“Don’t worry about that right now. We’ve got you covered, and those Candy girls might be fucking nuts, but they are efficient.”
I smirk at that and face Griff, who steps closer and tucks a stray strand of hair from my face.
“Tell me everything I’ve missed.”
Dmitri walks us over to the chairs and tugs me down onto his lap.
Griff sits opposite us and lifts my feet onto his knee, pressing his thumb into my insole, making me moan.
“Make a noise like that again and we won’t be talking about anything. We’ll skip right to the fucking portion of day,” Dmitri mumbles into my ear.
“As awesome as that sounds, I hate being left in the dark.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
I shrug and smile. “First off, tell me what’s happening with Scott.”
“Your girls nabbed him while he was in the cave. I haven’t seen him since and they won’t let me talk to him, so you’ll probably find out more about that than I will.”
“As long as they have him, then we don’t need to worry. What about everyone else?”
“Casey is awake and doing fine. Sarah hasn’t left his side. I have eyes on them just in case someone tries something, but I don’t think they are targets. They were just convenient to lure you out,” Dmitri answers. I nod, agreeing with him.
“Cassandra is gone. There is a missing persons report out on her, but so far, no sightings. We don’t know if she ran or if Scott or Abe got to her,” Griff tells me, making me sigh. I should have done something about her, but my priority at the time was Luke.
“Maybe Luka got her,” Dmitri says, reminding me he’s missing some information.
I look up at him. “Luka is dead. Cassandra was alive when I took him. It definitely wasn’t him.”
He looks at me, a thousand different questions moving over his face before he settles on one.
“Tell me what he did.”
I tell him everything I know and everything that happened—my taking Luka, going to the prison, and eventually arriving at the cliff.
“The bite on Abe’s hand wasn’t from Sarah, so it might have been Cassandra.”
He kisses the bridge of my nose before his eyes lift to Griff’s, newfound respect in them.
“I didn’t know…about your father, I mean. If I’d known—”
“Nobody but Hunter knew. He kept me sane, but thank you. You know, when Dulce first mentioned you might be involved, Hunter and me, we weren’t convinced. We knew you were dangerous in a way headmasters usually aren’t, but after being around evil for as long as I have, it hones your instincts. I never felt that around you. Still, we kept our mouths shut because I’m not stupid enough to think I’m an expert. The most vicious monsters have the uncanny ability to hide in plain sight.”
“I’m not a good guy. I’ll be the first to admit that, but I don’t hunt the innocent, and children are my weak spot after what went down with my sister. You’re right. You’ll never have to worry about something like that, but don’t think for a second that I’m not a killer. It’s in my blood and I feel no remorse when I do it.”
“Sounds like someone else I know.” Griff smiles softly at me.
“She needs each of us for something the other can’t bring. None of this should work. On paper, it’s a fucking nightmare. But in practice? I think there are just enough of us to balance all the facets of what makes Dulce who she is.”
“Yeah, I see it too,” Dmitri admits.
I huff. “Are you all basically saying you’re gonna date all my alter egos between you?”
“Pretty much. Minus the dating part. I don’t want to date you, Dulce. I want to own you. I always did like collecting pretty things.”
“Okay, so maybe you’re a bit more psychotic than I gave you credit for,” Griff mutters. Dmitri’s lips twitch in response, but his eyes never leave mine.
“What do you say?”