House of Royale (Secret Keepers #4)(26)

I didn’t realize that the others had caught up to me until Emma startled me. “That’s mine.” She pointed toward one of the little houses in the middle. She then paused for a beat, her brow furrowing. “It kind of looks different,” she murmured, moving closer. “They all look different.”

The bright red door of her place flew open then and two people stepped out, a dark-haired African-American woman, and a red-headed, very fair-skinned man.

“Emma!” the woman exclaimed, racing down the stairs and throwing her arms around Emma. “We haven’t seen you for days,” she scolded as she pulled back. “You need to keep us updated.”

Joy replaced the sadness that had been etched across Emma’s face. “Sorry, Sara. We ended up in a safe house and it wasn’t that easy to call out in case it was traced.”

“But you’re all fine?”

Emma nodded. “Yes, we did have a run in with Laous, but we found Ava and got the stone back, so I’d say we came out in front.”

Sara’s eyes were on me then. She released Emma and took a step closer to me. “Ava … oh my, you’re absolutely stunning.” She flicked a glance at Xander. “Lucky guy, Xander.”

He just crossed his arms and shook his head, but he didn’t say anything. I expected him to deny it, but he didn’t. Which, of course, immediately had Maya and Emma shooting him knowing grins.

The red-headed man distracted everyone when he took a few steps forward and wrapped his arms around Emma. “Missed you, sweetheart.”

“I missed you too, Michael,” Emma said, her voice muffled.

When they pulled apart, Michael moved to stand beside Sara, draping one of his arms around her. “So, what is the next part of your plan?” he asked, looking between all of us.

Lexen answered. “We’re heading to Overworld. First step is to uncover the map Ava holds, so we can figure out where the starslight stone is.”

“We have to get the stone before Laous and give it back to the humans,” Chase added. “They’re going to figure out a better way to hide it this time.”

Michael nodded, face serious. “Yes, we’ve been in touch with Maya’s parents. They said there is a new agreement all ready now—they’re just waiting on Daniel’s signature as the last overlord. They’re not going to let something like this happen again.”

Maya cleared her throat, drawing our attention. “Clearly someone is going to have to break the bond between us and the stone. Will that also break the connection the eight of us have?”

There were a few beats of uncomfortable silence.

“We have no idea,” Michael admitted, shrugging.

“I don’t think it can,” Lexen told her. “There are multiple bonds between all of us. This would just be one specific one that connects you all to the stone.”

Emma nodded, turning back to examine her house again. “Did you paint our door?” she asked suddenly. “Actually, are all of the doors painted now?”

Sara clapped her hands, her face transforming into one of delight. Michael just shook his head, watching his wife with a soft stare.

“We’ve been overseeing the renovations of the street,” Sara said with a chuckle. “It has been so much fun.”

Emma turned back to her family. “Renovations?”

Sara nodded. “Yep, my job for the past few weeks. You haven’t noticed because you’ve barely been here.”

“Lexen, Daniel, Chase, and Xander organized it all,” Michael added. ‘We’ve just been overseeing the work.”

Emma let out a low breath of air, turning to the man at her side. “You … you did this?”

Lexen laughed. “You don’t have to sound so surprised. I can, on occasion, think about helping others.”

Emma shook her head, sniffling. “It’s not that. You are very involved when it comes to Daelighters. You’re an amazing leader. But humans … you don’t often think about humans.”

He wrapped her up before she could blink, hauling her into his body so her feet were dangling off the ground. Emma didn’t seem to mind; she flung her arms around his neck and clung tightly to him. “I think about you every second of every day,” he said softly. “I know it bothered you that these shacks were for humans.”

“So we fixed them up,” Chase added. Maya let out a little sound of happiness, and then she was throwing herself into his arms.

I wrinkled my nose at Xander. “While I think this is a nice gesture, don’t expect a hug from me.”

He quirked an eyebrow in my direction. “Bad form not to show your gratitude.”

“I said it was a nice gesture.” I shrugged. “That’s as much as I’m giving you.”

Oh, and me, naked beneath you. Because we were going to do that.

Turning away, I pretended to be very interested in the scenery. “That’s my house there,” Xander said. I jumped when his voice was much closer than I expected. I glared at him.

“Back up, dude. You’re way too close.”

He actually laughed at me, and somehow I managed not to throat punch him. “You definitely embrace the surfer vibe. I like it.”

Placing one hand against his chest, I attempted to shove him back. He barely moved, which was freaking annoying. Why were men always so much bigger and stronger? Okay, human men usually weren’t. I held my own with a lot of them, but Xander was built like a fucking tank.