Meanwhile, Carter hovered nearby, and after a moment he said, “I’m going to help myself to one of Abel’s abandoned SUVs and head back to L.A. I want to give Desiree an update, and I also want to make sure all the humans in the compound are set free.”
I asked, “Don’t you want to rest for a few minutes? That had to take a lot out of you.”
He adjusted his tie as he said, “I’m fine. I’ll check in with you tomorrow.” And with that, he took off.
As Griffin and Ari curled up together on the loveseat, Griffin asked, “Do you think it’s really over, or did we just make a huge mistake by letting Abel go?”
“He knows he’s outgunned,” I said. “Any of us plus Carter could take him down. But even without that threat hanging over him, I think I might have gotten through to him today. Abel made the choice to bring Elias back after he killed him, so that tells me there’s hope for him.”
Griffin’s eyes went wide, and he blurted, “Wait, what?”
“Elias died saving my life. He shielded me when Abel blasted us.”
Tinder said, “If he died, even just for a minute, that must mean your mate bond is—”
I finished for him. “Gone forever.”
He asked, “So, what does that mean for the two of you?”
“It doesn’t change a thing,” I said, as I snuck a glance at Elias. I could only hope he felt the same way I did.
Chapter 13
That afternoon, Elias and I decided we really wanted to go home, so we said goodbye to our friends and helped ourselves to the second of Abel’s abandoned SUVs. We took turns napping during most of the drive back from Big Sur, and the rest of the time we were both pretty quiet. We were both mentally and physically exhausted, and suddenly facing his own mortality had left Elias rattled—understandably so.
On top of that, we were trying to come to grips with our new reality, now that the mate bond was gone forever. One thing was clear—I had very real feelings for Elias, and I could only hope that was mutual. I’d already known the things I felt for him hadn’t been because of the bond, but its absence still left me feeling fragmented and insecure. There was a void where the bond had been, and neither of us quite knew how to handle it.
It was obvious now that when Carter had suppressed the bond, he’d failed to suppress all of it. Now that it really was gone, things between us just felt different, unfamiliar, as if the whole world had shifted beneath our feet and we were still struggling to find our balance.
Given that, it meant a lot to me when Elias asked, “Will you stay with me tonight?” I readily agreed.
When we reached August and Tinder’s house, we traded the SUV for my Barracuda. Then we continued on to Santa Monica. It was pretty late by the time we reached Elias’s upscale neighborhood. The multimillion dollar homes ranged in architectural style from classic to modern, all of them gorgeous and elegant. Elias’s house was another thing entirely.
I punched in the code he gave me on a keypad at the foot of the driveway, and as the gate swung open, I decided it was the most unwelcoming house I’d ever seen. It was basically an imposing concrete block that gave off a prison vibe.
When we reached the garage, he jumped out of the car and typed in another code to open the door. I pulled in next to a silver, vintage Jaguar, and the garage door closed behind us. Getting into the house and disarming the alarm required more codes and more keypads. All of that just added to the prison vibe.
Once inside, we made our way down a long hallway past a bunch of closed doors. When we reached the center of the building, I murmured, “Oh wow.”
The huge living room was mostly white and sparsely furnished. It reminded me of an art gallery, with several abstract paintings and sculptures on display. “I know this must seem sterile, but please reserve judgement for one more minute,” he said.
I followed him across the room to a locked door, which he opened with yet another code and keypad. I had to ask. “What’s with all the security?”
“Even before I got on the brothers’ bad side, I made plenty of enemies. That’s pretty inevitable in my line of work. This place was built to totally lock down if need be, including armored shutters that slide shut over all the windows.”
I muttered, “I see,” as I followed him down another long hallway.
“Whenever anyone comes over, which isn’t often, they only see that living room back there, which I consider the ‘public’ part of the house. These rooms are private.”