We stared at each other a moment. The blue glow in his eyes seemed to intensify as he looked at me.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity he nodded. “We’ll do it your way, but please register the fact that I hate the idea and I wish you would let me do it, or that we could find another way.”
“What if she is your sister? You don’t trust her?”
He dropped his eyes from mine. “It’s not that. I don’t dare hope it’s her, but if it is her, how could I trust her when, as you say, she’s an entirely different person.”
His comment made me wonder if Helix knew her true identity? Was she really Sol? And if she was, did Helix know Fin was her brother?
I tugged Fin back to the couch and fished my phone from my pocket. There was one unread text from an unknown number. It said: Text when you’re ready for me to return.
Hitting the reply button, I typed out: We’ve talked it out. We’re ready.
Now, we waited. Despite Fin’s hesitation about the situation, I didn’t have the same feelings. It was a surety deep in my gut. These people wouldn’t betray us to Esteban. They would sure as shit leave us high and dry to save their own asses, but they wouldn’t go out of their way to get us killed. I could live with those odds, and to be honest, I’d do the same to them if it was Fin in danger, or the Chief. Hawk came to mind too but I wasn’t going to me
ntally admit how much I liked him.
It didn’t take long for a knock on the door. Fin rolled his eyes and shoved off the couch.
I laughed at the sour look on his face. “At least he knocked this time.”
When Fin threw the door open Helix sauntered in, his hands tucked tight into his pockets. “You two love birds work things out?”
I waved at the couch opposite me. “Obviously, or we wouldn’t have messaged you. Lord knows we don’t want to actually spend time with you.”
He grinned and took the seat I offered, then unbuttoned his jacket and tugged out a single sheet of paper which had been rolled up inside. “Then let’s get this done.”
I shifted forward so my knees butted against the coffee table. “What do I need to do?”
He jerked his head up from scanning the sheet and looked between us. “You can’t be the one to offer your magic. It has to be him.”
Goosebumps pebbled down my arms, as a wave of magic washed through the room, but I couldn’t tell if it came from Fin or Helix.
“Why does it matter?” I asked. “Power is power, right?”
“Melinda is a fae. Her magic is fae. She needs fae power to work it. You aren’t fae.”
Fin surged across the space and I put my hand up to stop him. To my surprise, he actually stopped.
I narrowed my gaze at Helix. “I’m half fae. I can access that power, so why does it matter?”
Fin threw himself onto the couch beside me and tugged me into him like he wanted to reassure me that I was enough for him. It was kind of sweet in a territorial testosterone overload kind of way.
Helix gentled his tone and that grated on me even more than the point-blank delivery. “It won’t work. There can’t be any variables and your power has too many variables to it. It might work if we had the time and a safety bubble, but we aren’t fortunate to have those things right now.”
I glanced up at Fin. “Well, I guess you get your way after all. But if you do anything stupid, I will kill you.”
“Noted,” Fin said, tenderness lining his eyes as he stared down at me.
I dragged my gaze away before I did something idiotic like kiss him. Helix cleared his throat.
“So what happens now?” I asked Helix.
“Now you wait here, and I bring the official contract with me, along with Melinda. She will have to sign for her half of it, of course. Other than that, there will be no further contact with her, or I terminate the contract and you two can find yourself someone else.”
“I get it. If you need to return again with the real contract, what is that?” I pointed to the table and the single sheet of paper he’d brought out.
He placed a fountain pen on top and slid it across the table. “This is a contract that ensures you won’t try to harm Melinda in anyway while she’s here.”