The Epilogues: Part I: Badge of Honor (The Potentate of Atlanta Book 6), Hailey Edwards [year 2 reading books TXT] 📗

Midas and I exchanged a wary glance, murmured our goodbyes, and left him in peace.

On our way to the elevators, I popped my head into Abbott’s office. “Keep an eye on him.”

“He won’t hurt himself.” Abbott sounded certain. “He’s zero risk until he learns his husband’s fate.”

“As a favor to me.” I made it a polite order. “Please keep watch over him. He’s got a plan, multiple plans, for worst-case scenarios. I don’t want him to jump the gun and land us in a Romeo and Juliet situation.” Clearly, Faerie-born gwyllgi didn’t study Shakespeare. “You know, where Cruz thinks Neely is dead and reacts badly. Neely turns out to be okay, but it’s too late to save Cruz. Then Neely finds out what Cruz did and reacts even worse. And they both end up for-real dead.”

From the expression on his face, he was still lost, and I couldn’t blame him.

As far as plot twists go, it was a good one. As far as romances go, it wasn’t one.

“I’ll ask Lisbeth to ghost him.” He reached for the phone on his desk. “She’ll keep him safe.”

“Thank you.”

On the ride up to the penthouse, I texted Grier.

>I’m worried about Cruz’s state of mind.

>>Neely is his whole world. Let me know if you need help with him.

>I will, vote or no vote. His mental health comes first.

Midas and I settled on Ben’s Fried Chicken for dinner, to show Sue what made living in Atlanta delicious. Then again, maybe we should have hit Sal’s food truck and fed her mystery meat so she would run screaming back where she came from.

In our apartment, Midas and I took turns showering and dressing in fresh clothes. I set the table, which we never used, glad I had homemade cookies to offer up as dessert. Even if they were this side of stale.

These days, I could afford the takeout life, but it got old fast. Everything started tasting the same, and nothing looked good after a while. Only home-cooked meals held any appeal, but I had no time to continue my cooking adventures.

Maybe for our honeymoon, I could convince Midas to go away to a weeklong barbeque camp with me. I couldn’t imagine anything better than seven days alone with my hubby, all the meat we could eat, and a whole entire week. Alone. With my hubby.

Gulp.

I was going to have a husband.

How crazy was that? And pretty frakking awesome. But mostly crazy.

Would that make me Hadley Kinase? Or him Midas Whitaker? Or us Kinase-Whitakers? Whitaker-Kinases?

As much as it had hurt to be stripped of the last name Pritchard, I wasn’t that person anymore. I wasn’t exactly a Whitaker either. But a Kinase? Hmm. That had potential.

Six

Midas would never bring it to her attention, but Hadley was humming a mashup of “Bridal Chorus” and “The Imperial March” under her breath that made him worry for the mixed signals their guests would receive at the wedding. But she was smiling, a bounce in her step, and he wouldn’t have broken the spell for all the steak on the hoof in the world.

Sadly, the doorbell did it for him, transforming her from bride-to-be into the future potentate in a blink.

At times, he worried how well she was learning to wear masks, but Linus had been her mentor. She might not realize how much she admired him, nor he how much she respected him, but Midas could see Hadley was working to mold herself into a version of a potentate that would make them both proud.

“Showtime.” She cast a quick glance around the room. “I’ll get it.”

Midas trailed after her, standing a little behind and to the side of her when she opened the door.

Had she not been hyper focused on playing the role of hostess, she might have called him out on what his posture implied, that he viewed their guest as a potential threat. She was either too frazzled to notice, had decided to let him get away with it, or agreed with his assessment.

“Hey.” She peered into the hall behind Sue. “No hubby tonight?”

“Five kids are a lot, even for us.” Her expression stretched tight. “An unfamiliar sitter is out of the question. We prefer to watch over them ourselves.” Her features smoothed into the beginnings of a real smile. “I wouldn’t inflict my darlings on you. They’re picky eaters, picky drinkers, and loud about what doesn’t meet their standards.”

The sourness of a lie flavored her words, but Midas couldn’t determine which part wasn’t true.

“Please, come in.” Hadley eased back to give her room to enter. “I’m Hadley, as you know, and this is my mate, Midas Kinase, who I was too close to heat stroke to properly introduce you to earlier.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” She smiled at him and seemed to mean it. “I’ve never met a gwyllgi.”

“I’ve met a few selkies in my time.” He recalled females being more easily captured than males. “How did you and your spouse meet?”

“Do you mean did I steal his skin?” Her lips twitched. “We met when I was contracted to resuscitate his sister. She had been involved in a near-fatal boating accident, and there was no other way to save her. He didn’t tell me she was a selkie maiden or reveal his true nature until after I brought her back as a vampire.” A faraway look entered her eyes. “I stayed close to his sister, as is customary, for the first six months. During that time, Sean and I fell in love.”

“That worked?” Hadley, who appeared to have skipped over the romance, was as curious as he had ever seen Linus. “You were able to resuscitate a selkie in her human form? Could she wear her skin after?” Her eyes rounded. “Are vampire seals real?”

Last week, she had conned him into watching a show on undead sea creatures pitched as a documentary. He had recognized it