No whispered comment. No subtle pressure. No wordless nudge.
Nothing.
It was so quiet.
“See?” Chase flung up his hands, entreating the ceiling to bear witness. “There you go again! And yet you still insist that this, this maiming is a good thing?”
“I’m afraid this is going to take some getting used to, Hugh.” Dai was still squinting at him as if he might be able to uncover Hugh’s missing beast if he just found the right angle. “Most of us didn’t even know you were a unicorn, and now we have to wrap our heads around you not being a unicorn? You insist this is better, but I can’t imagine anyone being happy to lose their animal.”
Ivy unfortunately picked that moment to come back into the kitchen. Catching the dragon shifter’s last few words, she flinched.
“It is a good thing,” Hugh said sharply. “Believe me, this is much better. I was in pain, and Ivy healed me. Griff, tell them I’m not lying.”
The griffin shifter’s golden eyes flickered over him, but jerked quickly away. “He’s telling the truth. He honestly prefers his state now to how he was…before.”
Chase sank down onto a kitchen chair, scowling. “Well, I don’t. And what’s this going to do to the case against Gaze, anyway?”
“That is a good point,” John said, his brow furrowing. “We cannot bring the evil-doer to full justice, if there is no evidence that his greatest crime was ever committed.”
“He’ll go down for assault and kidnapping.” Hugh shrugged. “That’s good enough to put him away for a long time. I was never going to stand up and publicly accuse him of trying to saw off my horn, after all.”
“He should be charged with murder,” Chase muttered. From the dark look he threw at Ivy, he didn’t think the basilisk was the only one.
Ash spoke before Hugh could snarl at the pegasus shifter. “Hugh, while you may not have been intending to reveal your true nature, I fear that the same is not true of Gaze. There is a very real risk that he will announce what you are during his trial.”
“Oh, perfect.” The sheer irony of it made him laugh out loud. “So now that I’m not a unicorn anymore, everyone is going to think I am one. Wonderful.”
From Ivy’s pale face, she hadn’t thought of this either. “Is there any way to convince him not to talk? Make a deal?”
“There’s an idea,” Chase said, straightening. “I know where he’s being held—the police brought him back to a secret shifter detention center not too far from here. We could go pay him a visit. Persuade him to hold his tongue.”
John Doe drew back as if Chase had wafted garbage under his nose. “One does not negotiate with honorless pondscum.”
Chase cracked his knuckles meaningfully. “I was thinking of a different sort of persuasion.”
“Leaving aside the legality of such action,” Ash said, looking rather pained, “I fear that it would be futile. We have no leverage. Apart from a certain amount of short-term discomfort, we have no way to threaten Gaze. He is already facing life imprisonment for his crimes. We have no power to either increase or reduce that sentence.”
“And he has every reason to want to reveal Hugh’s nature,” Griff said grimly. “Once Hugh’s secret is out, he’ll be a tempting target for other criminals. Not everyone is going to believe that he’s truly lost his animal. Someone might decide to see if he can be ‘persuaded’ to rediscover his unicorn. If Gaze goes down for life, that’ll be the only way he can get revenge on Hugh.”
“Damn it.” Hugh glared around at them all, his anger at his own helplessness spilling over. “Why couldn’t one of you have just killed the bastard when you had the chance?”
He regretted his outburst instantly as Ivy winced, looking stricken. Reflexively, he reached out to her, but she recoiled.
It made his heart hurt worse than his head ever had. She was in pain, and he couldn’t do anything about it.
She hadn’t let him near her since last night. She wouldn’t let him touch her, not even fully clothed. She’d insisted that they had to wait until she’d done…whatever it was she was planning. He still didn’t know how she intended to get around the problem of her venom.
He let his hand drop again, though it went against every instinct not to touch her. “Sorry,” he muttered, looking round at the rest of Alpha Team. “That was unfair.”
“But not wrong,” Chase said, his own fists clenching. The pegasus shifter looked as frustrated and helpless as he himself felt. “Damn it, there has to be something we can do.”
“There is,” John Doe said. He drew himself up to his full seven-foot height, chin lifting. “We can let it be known far and wide that any miscreant who thinks to threaten our shield-brother will very quickly regret it.”
“Right. If anyone comes after you, they’ll have to get through us,” Dai said, to general murmurs of agreement.
The unanimous show of support brought an unaccustomed tightness to his throat. He’d lied to them all for so long, about so much, and yet they still had his back. They’d forgiven him so easily, it was like they didn’t even think there was anything to forgive.
He was lost for words…but he had more than words available to him now. Reaching out, he clasped John’s forearm, in the sea dragon gesture of one warrior thanking another.