Chapter 204

Justin’s POV

In the pause, while I waited for Randy’s answer, the silence seemed to drag on like something physical. How could it take so long to spit out such important words? Had we killed that bastard of a wizard or not?

“I didn’t get to it myself,” Randy said. “I’m actually on my way to confirm now. Julianne’s husband, Peter, got ahold of Martin. He was the closest, and after we told him about Julianne being abused by the Huntsman, I’m sure he wanted a chance to take him down.”

I growled. “I wanted a chance to take him down.”

Randy let out an answering growl. “I did, too. But Peter was in the correct position to dish out punishment.”

Randy sighed. “At least poor Julianne didn’t have to go through what Helen went through.”

“We hope,” I added, crossing my fingers for that one.

“I’m gonna get off the phone now,” he said. “While I am verifying the body belongs to the wizard, why don’t you give Russo and Lisa a call and let them know that things seem to have gone pretty well here? They’re probably halfway to panicked by now.”

“You’re probably right about that one. I’ll call them right away,” I said.

I hung up with him and dialed Russo next.

Russo answered immediately. “Did it work?” he blurted into the phone so loud it almost hurt my ear.

“It worked,” I reassured him. “You guys did the ritual perfectly.”

I continued to explain the situation, or at least as much of it as I knew. I didn’t have real-time updates from Freya, so what was going on with Helen and the others? I couldn’t be sure.

“Freya confirmed the Huntsman burned,” I told Russo. “There’s nothing left but ashes. You and Lisa, you saved us all.”

Somehow my words brought relief, and I couldn’t shut them off, babbling like an excited child. “It was incredible what you did with your ritual!”

“How about everybody else?” Russo asked, interrupting my manic raving.

“Randy is verifying that we got the wizard, Martin. And I’ll check in with the rest of the warriors after I get off the phone with you. But at least our warriors in the area around me didn’t let anyone through. The Huntsman’s men are all gone. They weren’t expecting us.”

Russo let out a huge sigh, and behind him, I could hear Lisa burst into tears.

“Thank the gods and goddesses,” she sobbed out.

“I need to go,” I told Russo. “I’ve been in contact with Freya. They found survivors, pixies, and some werewolves who had been kept in captivity and abused. I’m going to take some of my warriors now that we’re done with those trying to run away, and we’re going to go rescue them.”

“That’s wonderful news,” Russo said. “I’ll let you go, and we’ll see you back at home. Are we meeting at your house or at Helen’s?”

I thought about this for a moment. “Helen’s house. I think after everything she’s been through, she’ll want to go to the place where she’s most comfortable. She’s really blossomed into herself there. So, we’re going to take her to her home.”

“Okay then. Everybody wants to see her, so we’ll meet you at her house.”

The line went dead, and I stuffed the phone back in my pocket, calling for some of the men around me to come with me while we went to rescue those that Helen and Julianne had found in the community clubhouse prison. The whole way there, my heart beat against my rib cage like it was trying to fly away like I’d captured a bird and kept it there.

I was both nervous and excited, plus a little sick to my stomach. I wanted to see Helen. I wanted to hold her and know that she was okay, to feel her in my arms again. I also had to wonder how I was going to react.

I knew what the Huntsman had done to her, but I would try to push those images from my mind. She must have been watching at the windows because as we approached the clubhouse, the door flew open and Helen rushed out straight for me.

She threw herself into my arms, wrapping her legs around me and burying her face in my neck. She sobbed, and I couldn’t understand the words that came out of her mouth. So instead of responding to whatever she was saying, I simply wrapped my arms around her and kissed her cheek and hair gently.

“You’re safe now,” I whispered to her. “I have your back, and you’ll be all right.”

She wiped her tears on the shoulder of my shirt and pulled her head back so she could look at me, sliding her feet down to stand on the ground.

“Do you really have my back?” she asked. “You have no idea what the Huntsman has done to me.”

“I do,” I said. “I’ve seen the tapes.”

She crumpled to the ground, her knees giving out, and I crouched beside her, pulling her off the cold cement. I ran my fingers through her hair and tipped her face up so that she couldn’t look away from me. She still wouldn’t meet my eyes.

I would have to calm her first. “It’s okay,” I said. “Well, no. I mean, it’s not okay, but I don’t blame you. I saw what that wizard Martin did to you. I saw the look in your eyes.”

I fought the contents of my stomach. They wanted to come up.

“I know that nothing that you did with the Huntsman was of your own free will. And I can’t say that it doesn’t hurt, that what he did doesn’t make me physically sick. It does. But I don’t blame you at all. This won’t be like when you stabbed me in the back. You don’t have to prove yourself to me again.”

She cried so hard that she could barely breathe, burying her face against my chest.

“Is there anything that I can do to help?” I asked.

She nodded, bumping her nose into my chest. “The last thing he did before he burst into flames was rape me again. I didn’t know it at the time because of the spell. I don’t know if any of the videos you got laid out his plan, but he was trying to get me pregnant.”

I grit my teeth. “We kind of got that idea from the tapes that he was sending us,” I growled.

“It all makes me sick. I want you to get rid of that. I don’t want those memories. And I really hope I’m not carrying his child. I wanted a child with you.”

Hope flared in my heart. “Do you still want that?” I asked.

She nodded. “I was trying to get up the courage to go all the way and sleep with you before he took me. Then I was so sure you wouldn’t want me back after he touched me. But to have you say it doesn’t matter—”

I brought my mouth down on hers, kissing her desperately. “Do you want me right now?” I whispered through our joined lips.

“Yes,” she breathed back. “There’s a pool changing room at the end of the hall.”

We rushed down the hall, kissing and touching one another. The other warriors would arrive soon, and Julianne could give instructions for helping the injured. I needed to help my wife forget.