Page 23 of Hybrid Heroics

What were the risks that she so cleverly avoided talking about when she dropped us to our knees in the fae realm?

I made no mistakes about that plan either. Even if she didn’t map out the steps to take… When she closed the bonds, she had bought herself enough time to put herself in this stasis. And I couldn’t get a good idea of what kind of magic she had used to do it. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt.

The worst part of this mess was not knowing what to expect when she returned. The stasis would have been fine, if we could have talked it out and understood what was happening. But I didn’t think she knew those answers. And how could she respond to our questions when she had no idea of what the outcome would be?

That was the thing with Sloane, though. The catch. The caveat. She wasn’t scared of the risks, because she knew she would bounce right back.

Decapitated on a Thursday night? No problem. She would be in perfect condition on Friday.

I didn’t have that luxury. Although, maybe I did now. How did one test the theory without actually removing their head?

As my thoughts digressed, I tried to bring myself back around to the point I was working out.

Regardless of her being eternal or not, this apprehension was something that none of us wanted to feel. Each one of us was taking it differently, but we would do anything—anything and everything—to make sure it didn’t happen again.

We had all done some shitty things in our pasts. But it didn’t stop there. Just two weeks ago, we had fought against our mate, and it had fucking sucked. I would do all those things one hundred times over, if only to avoid the stillness of her body now. If only to avoid being in this fucked up situation without her.

It wasn’t that we were weak without her, or incompetent, or incapable… It was just a position we had never been in, not since we met Sloane. Beforehand, it was different, but since then? We hadn’t truly had to do what she was trusting us to do.

And we were failing, falling the fuck apart without her here to put us in our places and shut us the fuck up.

What did that say about us?

Were we so codependent after only a few weeks that we couldn’t get our shit together?

So many things had happened since that Saturday we showed up at her house… I could count the days, but they felt like lifetimes.

We had heard about how powerful she was, and then we had witnessed it firsthand. We’d seen her struggle with the responsibility and leadership of these supernatural creatures, and then we’d stood by her as she took care of them without their knowledge.

She knew a large majority of those people didn’t like her, but she still helped them. She just didn’t put her name on it.

We kept watching her do the right thing, even when she didn’t want to. Even if her math meant seven wrongs equaled one right.

I couldn’t decide if she was the Devil of fables or the saint wearing a mask and horns.

I hadn’t really thought about it, but maybe I needed to start reminding myself that she couldn’t die. She disintegrated before us, imploding into dust-like particles in the heat of the Lilk Desert, and then she was just… Back. Naked. But ready to fight.

And then… We saw a different side to her. She had hidden emotions and fears. She had more depth than I’d given her credit for, especially when I thought back to how angry she’d been over the shifters in the cages.

She had trusted us then too, trusted us to free the captives while she rushed York away before the scene could really trigger him.

The softest spot she had was Hyland Drake. And even that was hard to point out when Hyde was a force of fucking nature on her own. If she would burn the world down for us, then she would tear the universe apart for the little succubus.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t find it entertaining as hell to know that Arwen Osman was scared of my Kitten. The horde-member-turned-professor feared very little in life before he met his mate. I had seen him kill demons three times Sloane’s size without breaking a sweat.

In normal circumstances, one might be worried about Hyde’s brother, but no. Arwen knew better. Nothing was normal where Sloane King was involved, though I knew she wouldn’t step any further into their relationship than she already had.

Dolyn Drake took one look at the disappointed expression on Sloane’s face and knew he’d fucked up. Yet he ran a horde of criminal misfits in the Underworld and had the reputation to back up his exploits. And that was just another case of her caring about people she didn’t know. She’d had all of two conversations with Ripley, and Briggs had mentioned she was his cousin.

Then… Bam.

Now, Dolyn had to worry about keeping his throat intact, because he knew Sloane would fight him over the skittish panther who was his mate.

Seeing the intimidating side of my Kitten was mind-blowing, but seeing the vulnerable side of her was humbling. Like those moments when she would get overwhelmed… She’d walk away, take a shower, and let it all rinse down the drain.

That was more emotional control than I could comprehend, despite the fact that I had watched her wash away her chaos to form more coherent thoughts.

Those moments had led me to fall harder for her, but I knew the exact minute that I fell in love her.