The faith of friends is a special kind of magic.

Chapter 20

McHenry was damn lucky he wasn’t locked up right now himself. The faith these people had in him shocked him to the core. He never thought he would have a group of friends, really. How can you when you’re trapped in your home—the place that should give you solace, but instead feels like a cage.

Hells. He was turning into a moping fool. All he had wanted to do was convince Roderick to tell the damn truth. About him attacking Andrew and McHenry, that is.

Not the whole truth. Never the whole truth.

A century of secrets. And if they didn’t stop this trial, he was afraid hell would break loose—literally.

He had tried to get the team to drop this whole trial from the beginning. And after Julia’s questions today about the animosity between him and Roderick, he knew she was going to keep pushing it until she uncovered their past.

None of them could afford that.

So he did what any desperate male would do. Confronted Roderick. He had to appeal to something in him. And the one thing McHenry knew for sure was that Roderick loved his daughter.

He had stood in the room staring at the leader of the entire demon nation, who was slumped on a bed with shackles on.

He straightened when he noticed McHenry. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to talk some sense into you. Confess and stop this Tribunal.”

Roderick stood up from the bed. “No.”

“You saw what happened today. Julia is askin’ if we have a history. We can’t exactly tell anyone about that, now can we?”

“Of course not. We don’t want that secret getting out.”

“Then do the right thing. If not for you, then for your daughter.”

“I am doing this for my daughter.”

McHenry heard an odd rattle and looked down to see a chain zoom across the floor in a heartbeat and then swing through the air like someone was wielding it.

Roderick tried to block the chain, but his hands were cuffed.

McHenry lurched forward and grabbed the chain, trying to wrench it away from Roderick, but he couldn’t get a grip on the metal.

Then Darcinda had crashed into the room, and his only thought was finding iron to stop the spell from killing Roderick.

Now he stood in his own house surrounded by his friends. Friends he would do anything to protect. And his female friends were stubbornly fighting to stay with him.

Not that he was surprised in the least.

The conversation had devolved quickly, and the mates were bickering with each other.

“We don’t know who or what is behind the attack on the demon king,” Connor argued.

“Just because I’m human doesn’t mean I can’t take care of myself,” Olivia chimed in.

“We want to stay and help,” Sheila added.

“Darlin’…” Charlie cajoled.

“Don’t use your sexy voice with me, Charles Aristotle Tucker.”

Aristotle…seriously? And McHenry thought his name was bad.

Alex glared at Devin as she bounced JT in her arms.

“Enough!” McHenry yelled. He looked over at JT, whose eyes got big. “Sorry, little guy. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

JT giggled and held out his hands to him.

McHenry took the baby from Alex before continuing.

“My blusterin’ doesn’t work with you stubborn females.” He looked down at the smiling baby in his arms. “Or you either.”

“Nope,” Alex and the other women chimed in.

“Fine. Then let’s do this a different way.” He looked at the women gathered in front of him. “I appreciate everythin’ you’ve done for me. I never thought I would be blessed to have friends like you in my life. And since you’re my friends, I’m goin’ to ask you a favor.

“I need you to be safe. You are amazin’, intelligent, and competent females. It might be sexist of me, but if one of the most powerful supernatural leaders isn’t safe here, then we can’t risk you bein’ here. Your mates have a job to do with the Tribunal, and right now they shouldn’t be distracted by worryin’ about you.”

McHenry braced himself. He wasn’t sure what type of reaction he expected. Even JT stilled in his arms, as if anticipating an impending storm.

Alex smiled. “You had to go soft and mushy on us, McHenry. Now that I have JT, I have to think of him first, so we’ll go stay at Julian and Fiona’s house. That vampire mansion is like Fort Knox. I’m sure they’ll let us stay there.”

Sheila and Olivia nodded, and Charlie and Connor wrapped their arms around their mates.

McHenry turned to Julia. “Don’t fight me on this, counselor.”

“But I can’t leave. I’m the demon king’s defense attorney.”

“I’ll defend the demon king,” Jack said.

Julia smiled. “I love you, husband, but you’re not a defense attorney.”

Darcinda spoke up. “Julia, do you and Jack have to be close to each other to use your telepathy?”

“No.”

“Then you can be away from here and still defend the king through Jack.”

“That might work,” Julia said. “I’ll have to explain to the Tribunal tomorrow.”

Jack grabbed Julia’s hand. “And then you’ll leave. I want you and the baby to be safe.”

Silence.

The women all turned to Julia.

“Baby?” Alex squeaked.

Julia nodded, and the women practically tackled the mother- and father-to-be.

After a couple of minutes, Devin hollered over the chaos. “Okay, everyone upstairs to pack so we can leave tomorrow right after we’ve met with the magistrates and explained things.”

Alex, Sheila, and Olivia headed upstairs.

“We need to work on what it means to keep a secret,” Julia said to Jack before kissing him and heading upstairs.

Maeve stayed put next to Darcinda.

“Aren’t you goin’ to go pack, Maeve?” McHenry asked.

“Nope.” Maeve snorted. “You do know that in this situation I can protect myself better than these guys, right?”

Connor sighed. “I can’t even argue with baby sister about that.”

Maeve nodded. “If Tim were in here, he would agree as well. Plus, you might need my help while Darcinda’s powers are still on the fritz.”

McHenry was well aware that the wolf-witch was powerful. “Fine. You can stay. That’ll also leave you here to spy and report in to Alex and the rest of the group.”

Maeve smiled before standing on tiptoe, kissing McHenry on the cheek, and then heading outside, probably to help Tim guard Roderick.

“Your females exhaust me,” McHenry muttered.

“Hey, you convinced four out of five to go home. That’s a win in my book,” Devin said.

JT giggled.

McHenry looked down at the giggling baby in his arms. “You think that’s funny?”

JT clapped his hands and gave McHenry a gooey, toothless grin.

“You have a way with him, McHenry.” Darcinda’s eyebrow rose, as if he kept surprising her. But the feeling was mutual. She’d surprised him over and over again.

“Can you keep watching JT for a minute while the team talks through a few things?” Devin asked.

“Sure.”

The team walked outside and McHenry watched them through the window as they headed toward the workshop.

He turned back to Darcinda. “It was pretty selfless of you to help Roderick.”

Darcinda scrunched up her nose. “I would help anyone who was hurt or injured.”

“Even someone who attacked you?”

“He bound my powers.”

McHenry shook his head. “Don’t dismiss what he did. I know how much it means to you to be able to help people.”

“You know me that well, huh?”

“You keep turnin’ up on my land like a bad penny. First to help Jack, and then Connor when he and Olivia were attacked, and then me. And I know for a fact that you also helped Maeve come into her powers.”

Darcinda watched him bouncing JT in his arms for a moment before saying, “Maeve hasn’t reached her full potential yet.”

He cleared his throat. “Maeve didn’t hurt your feelings earlier, did she?”

“No.”

“I know you’re used to being one of the most powerful beings in the room.”

Darcinda smiled. “That is true, but I’m not right now. Maeve was right to bring it up. And since I don’t pull any punches, I wouldn’t expect her to, either.”

“Very true.”

She smiled at him. “That’s something we have in common. You, too, don’t pull your punches.”

“I also don’t need to hide behind flowery words. Get to the point and be done with it.”

The baby stopped squirming in his arms, and McHenry looked down. JT’s expression had changed. Instead of his normal grin, he seemed to be concentrating really hard, like he was trying to solve a puzzle.

“What’s wrong, buddy?”

“I think JT is working on filling his diaper.”

Hells. McHenry held the baby away from his chest.

Darcinda laughed. “He’s not a bomb, McHenry.”

“I’m goin’ to take him upstairs to his mam.”

“You do that, big, tough demon.”

He hurried up the stairs.

Oh, that faerie was so ridiculous, but in the best of ways. He frowned. That was not something he could entertain. Not now, not ever.