Second Chance: Paranormal, Tattoo, Supernatural, Coming of Age, Romance (The Chronicles of Kerrigan Sequel Book 3)

by W. J. May

  This sank in for a heavy moment, and then Rae cleared her throat. “Well, there’s a simple way to find out. Jules,” she swiveled around in her chair so the two of them were facing, “try to see what she’s doing right now.”

  His face, still bleeding from his close encounter with Devon, lightened in surprise before he nodded quickly. “Oh! Right.”

  The room held its breath as the friends all angled towards him, waiting for his eyes to glass over to their customary white. He seemed to be waiting for it himself.

  But it never happened.

  “I can’t,” he finally murmured, strained with the effort of trying. His brow tightened in frustration as his hands gripped the edges of his chair. “Why the bloody—”

  “Because she told you not to,” Rae concluded. With the chilling clarity of hindsight, she remembered the exact moment it had happened. “By the front door, right after the interview. She told you not to go looking ahead to the future, that she wanted it to be a surprise.” She remembered the strange look that had clouded his handsome face upon hearing the words. She hadn’t thought anything of it at the time, just attributed it to the disastrous interview. “I’m sure it’s the same way she walked right into the safe house to talk to me.” Rae’s mind raced back over the last few weeks, kicking herself for not seeing it sooner. “Now that I think about it, she’s probably the one who incited the mob to come here the night of Thanksgiving.”

  “And the same one who made them leave,” Gabriel interjected with a frown. “No offense, Rae, that was a great speech you gave, but they didn’t come so far just to walk away. And it was more than that. They were… unnaturally persistent.”

  The room fell silent, and Rae realized with sudden clarity that he was right. She might have been on damage control since the moment she found her father at the factory, but it was Samantha who had been calling the shots. Every major event that happened since then, the girl had been there.

  From the safe house, to the interview, to the night of the mob. At this point, Rae was even willing to bet that it had been Samantha who had somehow tipped off the press that she had been going to visit her father that day in prison. There was simply no one else who could have followed the convoluted route she took getting there. For all she knew the girl had hailed her down, asked her where she was going, then asked her to forget the whole thing.

  “I just don’t understand.” She raised her voice in frustration, “First we’re friends, and the next second she’s telling us all to kill each other? What does the girl want?!”

  “Me.”

  The entire room went quiet as everyone turned to stare at Simon.

  He hadn’t said a word during the entire conversation. Neither had Devon, on whom he kept a continual grasp. And even now, as the very fabric of their supernatural society was ripping apart at the seams, he seemed remarkably calm. Truth be told, he hardly looked surprised.

  “That’s what she told me to do. The voice in my head.” The corners of his mouth twisted up into a humorless smile. “She told me to die.”

  There wasn’t a single sound. Not a single breath.

  Until…

  “Then, why didn’t you?”

  Rae’s eyes flew to Gabriel. Perhaps he hadn’t meant it to sound like an accusation. Perhaps the soft malice in his voice was completely coincidental. To be honest, it was only the second thing he’d said to Simon since his resurrection, and he looked a bit surprised to hear it himself.

  Simon met his eyes for only a moment before he turned deliberately to Rae. “I was wearing my anklet. I’m assuming it interfered with her tatù.”

  Rae nodded blankly, head still spinning from what she’d just heard. Then the implications of his words sank in, and her eyes flew down to his unshackled leg. “You aren’t…your anklet…”

  “I broke it off,” Simon said quickly but calmly, his eyes flickering automatically to where both Fodder and Keene were realizing the problem at the same time. “I had to. In the time since it happened, I’ve done nothing to—”

  “What the hell are you waiting for?” Angel demanded. For one of the first times ever, she was speaking directly to the Knights’ commander. “Do something.”

  Fodder took a tentative step forward but Devon cringed back, leaning into Simon’s grip on him like it was the only thing keeping him anchored to the planet.

  “No! Don’t!” He actually reached back and held Simon’s jacket, angling himself protectively between the two men. “He had to break it off to get my tatù. Otherwise, he couldn’t have…” His voice trailed hopelessly quiet as he lifted his eyes to Rae. “Otherwise, I would have…”

  A look of supreme pity flickered across Fodder’s face, and he paused where he stood. Both he and Keene shared a quick, confirmatory glance, before he sat back down with a sigh. “I suppose we can show a bit of restraint with Mr. Kerrigan, under the circumstances. And seeing as how you…you clearly have him, right Devon?”

  Angel scoffed and turned away, but Rae instantly understood. At some point in the not too distant future, minutes of this entire meeting would be read by some clerk somewhere in an office room she would never see. A man tasked with determining the judiciary repercussions of everything happening that day in Kent. The morning might have been surrendered to chaos, but everything that happened in the afternoon would have to be strictly above board.

  That being said, the notion that Devon had Simon was utterly ridiculous. Especially when it was so obvious that it was exactly the other way around.

  “Uh…yeah.” Devon flushed slightly, and dropped his eyes. “I have him.”

  Rae’s heart broke a million times over, and she was aching to reach out to him.

  But at that moment, Louis Keene leaned forward with a sudden frown. “Restraint must also be shown given the enormous debt of gratitude the tatùed world owes to Mr. Kerrigan for his actions today.” His face paled a bit as he remembered. “Simon, I truly don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t done what you did.”

  This time, it was Beth who dropped her eyes. Despite the fact that she had been just seconds away from passing out, Rae remembered the moment perfectly. How her mother had raised her hands, dripping with lethal fire, and aimed them at the crowd. How her father had swooped in at the last second and caught her in a fierce embrace. One strong enough to put out the flames. One strong enough to save the life of every single person who had come out to see him hang.

  Keene pushed to his feet, crossing the room to extend his hand. “On behalf of all of us… I thank you.”

  Simon hesitated a moment as the room froze still. Then, with the hint of a smile, he reached out carefully and shook the hand of the Vice President of the Privy Council.

  It was a tense moment considering the fact that, if Simon were to absorb Keene’s power, it was unlikely that even Rae could put him down in time. But there was something strangely natural about it as well. As if Simon hadn’t just come onto their side. As if there was a chance that he had already been there for quite some time.

  “It was my pleasure.”

  It was those four words that ended the meeting.

  Gabriel’s eyes locked upon their frozen handshake for no more than a second before he got to his feet and swept from the room. Rae finally succumbed to the pain surrounding her roadside stitches and quickly conjured herself a vial of morphine. And at that same moment, the doorbell rang. Alicia was back from making her battlefield rounds, ready to fix up any lingering injuries the gang might have suffered before collapsing for the night in utter exhaustion.

  The impromptu meeting silently dispersed as, one by one, people met with the doctor and vanished off to their separate corners of the house.

  First up was Molly, much to everyone’s great insistence, although she was one of the few people who hadn’t actually come under attack. But Rae was right after. She sat perfectly still as Alicia calmly rolled up her shirt and peeled back the bandage to examine the hasty patch-job.

  “You’re certainl
y not flinching,” she noted, frowning slightly as she leaned forward to get a better look. “Are you already on some pain meds?”

  “Morphine,” Rae breathed, leaning back in utter relief. “And not a second too soon.”

  “Yeah, I’ll bet.” Her cool fingers expertly prodded the edges of the wound, making careful note of the stitching. “Gabriel did this?” She sounded impressed.

  Rae glanced down, and under the influence of the morphine she couldn’t help but grin. “Yep. In a moving car, too.” Her eyes twinkled mischievously as the tops of Alicia’s cheeks blushed pink. “Note to self: the guy’s good with his hands.”

  Alicia blushed even deeper and refused to meet her gaze.

  Undeterred, and feeling the effects of the narcotics more with each passing second, Rae leaned forward with a loud whisper. “That was a sex joke—”

  “Yeah, I got it. Thank you…for that.” Alicia shook her head with a rueful grin, and shoved Rae down a little harder than necessary as her fingers lit up with their healing glow. “If this weren’t quite so deep, I’d just leave you to suffer… note to self.”

  Rae chuckled, but the grin faded the longer she stared down at the light. Already, the edges of her skin were magically sealing themselves back together as the row of sutures fell away. “…it’s really that deep?”

  Alicia sobered in an instant, and gave her a sympathetic squeeze. “Yeah, it is. But I guess, in a weird way, it shows how much Devon loves you, right?”

  Rae blanked and stared back at her, sure she must have misheard. “How the heck do you figure that?”

  The last of the stitches fell away, revealing a patch of unblemished porcelain skin, and Alicia pushed back up to her feet. “This is Devon we’re talking about. Devon Wardell. If he was handed a knife and told to kill you…you think he doesn’t know how to do that?” Her lips turned up in a wry smile as she headed up the stairs to tend to the rest of them. “You think he just missed?”

  Rae’s lips parted in surprise as the simple truth settled over her. She hadn’t even considered it. In the heat of the moment, it was impossible to consider it. But if there was one thing she could say for certain about her superhero fiancé, it was this…

  Devon didn’t miss.

  In a flash, she was on her feet. The realization propelled her forward, filling her with a sudden sense of purpose as she swept out of the living room and set off to find him.

  As desperate as he was to keep a safe distance between them, she was just as desperate to be in his arms. To tell him that he didn’t fail her, that there was nothing to forgive. That, if anything, his unconditional love had actually saved her life. Breaking through a supernatural grip so powerful, it was a testament to the bond between them that she was even alive.

  And speak of the devil…

  “Devon!”

  Rae rounded the corner to see both him and Simon on their way outside. The two of them paused by the front door as she hurried to catch up. She skidded to a stop, and for a split second it was all she could do to stare.

  The sight of it was still utterly bizarre. Her fiancé and her infamous resurrected father standing side by side in the doorway. Out for a casual stroll on a crisp November afternoon.

  Not that Simon knew she and Devon were together, of course. But at this point, Rae didn’t see how he could have possibly not figured it out. As if that almost kiss at her childhood home and Luke’s hastily halted speech wasn’t enough, Devon has basically asked that Simon rip off his arm just a few hours earlier, all to prevent him from harming one more hair on Rae’s head.

  Sure enough, Simon cast a quick look between them before stepping forward with a smile. “You’re looking better.” Unable to mask his extreme relief, he reached forward and gave her arm a tentative squeeze, careful to avoid her skin. “Finally, a bit of color to your face.”

  A series of chills ran down Rae’s arm, cascading out from the point of contact. It was the first time she could remember her father touching her since she was six years old.

  “Alicia healed you?” Devon asked quickly, scanning her shirt as if he could still see through it to the damage below. “There weren’t any…complications? You’re okay?”

  “I’m okay.” Rae emphasized each word carefully, willing him to meet her eyes. “As good as new, actually. It’s like it never happened.”

  If only Devon could see it the same way.

  A look of gut-wrenching remorse flickered through his bright eyes before he dropped his gaze to the floor, nodding quickly even as he edged to the door. “Well, that’s…Rae, I…” He pulled in a quick breath, and pulled open the door. “I think it’s probably best if I—”

  “Can I talk to you for a minute?” she interrupted. Over the years, she had been victim of enough of Devon’s ‘protect her from unseen danger’ schemes to swiftly nip this one in the bud. He would not walk away. She would not allow it.

  A look of fear flashed across his face, and he moved instinctively closer to Simon. As if the man was the only thing standing between him and the end of the world. “Uh…of course. Simon, do you mind?”

  Rae lifted her eyebrows as her father froze uncertainly between them. “You’re asking my father to chaperone?” She tried to lighten the mood.

  Devon missed the joke. “I’m asking your father to make sure I don’t kill you. Yeah.”

  The air between them suddenly chilled and Rae took a step forward, lowering her voice self-consciously as Simon discreetly looked away. “Why are you acting like you’re mad at me?”

  Devon’s mouth fell open in surprise even as he took a step back, reestablishing the distance between them. “Like I’m…Rae—are you kidding? Of course I’m not mad at you; in what dimension would that possibly make sense?”

  “Then why—”

  “Why the hell are you acting like it’s safe for us to be around each other?” he interrupted. “Like I don’t pose some kind of threat?”

  Rae caught her breath, but forced her voice to remain calm. “It’s over, Devon. The whole thing is—”

  “Stop.” He shook his head. “You know better than that.”

  It was only then that Rae realized his arm was still hanging on by a thread, shaking with involuntary spasms as his jacket dripped blood all over the floor. Knowing him like she did, it was easy to imagine him refusing to be healed. Bearing the pain like a punishment.

  A punishment he didn’t deserve.

  “You didn’t kill me.” By now, Rae was no longer concerned with her father’s presence. They were past those kinds of embarrassments now. Her only goal was to make Devon understand. “She whispered it right in your ear, and you still made yourself miss—”

  “Once.” His face paled to a dangerous shade of white. “I missed once. I have no idea what would happen if I tried it again.”

  Simon’s eyes flickered over them, but he pursed his lips and said nothing.

  “But it’s done, Devon,” Rae repeated with a hint of frustration. “You and everyone else have completely snapped back to normal—”

  “It’s not done,” he countered. “Not by a long shot.”

  In a wave of frustration, he actual forgot about his self-imposed safety protocols and took a step towards her, leaving Simon standing by the door.

  “Don’t you get it? I have no idea what exactly she told me to do. What if she said to try again later? What if I’m triggered by a word? What if this thing never really turns off and I—”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Rae said firmly, stepping forward until they were standing toe to toe. Her fingers tentatively stretched towards his, as they stared into each other’s eyes. “This is you and me. It’s going to take more than a sixteen-year-old psychopath to tear us apart.”

  Well, if Simon didn’t know before, he certainly knew now.

  Devon pulled in a shuddering breath, and without seeming to think about it his fingers laced with hers, circling gently around the one that was supposed to be wearing her ring. “I just can’t…I can’t t
ake that risk.” His head snapped up with sudden illumination. “Maybe it would be different if Kraigan took my power. Just until we catch the little—”

  “Are you kidding me?” Rae snapped. “You want my immortality to come back?”

  Again, Simon lifted his eyebrows, but remained silent.

  “Actually…yeah.” For the first time, Devon’s lips twitched up in a hint of a smile. “That sounds kind of perfect right about now.”

  Rae flashed him a rueful grin and shook her head. “Well, that’s too bad. Because I have no intention of living forever, and you—you brooding bastard—are going to need your powers.”

  He opened his mouth to protest, but she lifted a silencing finger to his lips.

  “You’re right about one thing, Dev—this is just starting. And that means that we’re going to need everyone at the top of their game if we want to get ahead of it.” She squeezed his hand before pulling back to look seriously into his eyes. “That means you’re going to have to accept that you had no control over what happened, forgive yourself, and move on. I need you with me, Wardell. Not sulking powerless in the shadows.”

  Again, a hint of that sparkling smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “…I don’t sulk.”

  She threw back her head. “You are the biggest freakin’ sulker I know.”

  At this point, Simon seemed to think it wise to excuse himself. “In that case, if you won’t be needing my services,” he backed towards the stairs with a little smile, “I think I’m going to track down that doctor and see if she can help me with a couple of these broken ribs.” He caught the look on Devon’s face, and held up his hands. “It’s no problem. We all go nuts and break each other in half every now and again…” With that bit of way too soon humor, he vanished upstairs to find Alicia.

  Devon, in the meantime, tightly wrapped his good arm around Rae’s back. “Sweetheart, I’m so so sorry. I can’t even begin to—”

  She silenced him with a kiss. “I know.”

  They kissed again, and then she pulled back with a smile.