The Spirit Guardians Book 3: Fated

Chapter 40

"I've got to put Elijah to bed," Cassie said as Marc stood up.

"I'll help you," he offered, worrying that it might be the last chance they would put the child to bed together.

Cassie lightly tapped on Elijah's shoulder. "Bedtime," she said.

He frowned but grabbed her hand anyway as she led him upstairs. Marc helped him put his pajamas on while Cassie tidied up his room.

"Can we play outside tomorrow?" Elijah asked.

"We're going to fight bad guys tomorrow," Cassie told Elijah. "Francesco is going to watch you."

"Bad guys? For real?"

"For real," Marc confirmed, pulling Elijah's rocket-decorated pajama shirt down.

"So you need to be real good for Francesco tomorrow, okay?" Cassie said as she grabbed a picture book to read to him.

"I promise," Elijah said, nodding his head up and down.

Marc tucked Elijah into bed, pulling his covers up so they were nestled around him. Elijah sunk his head into his pillow, his blue eyes staring deeply at Cassie.

"When you coming back?" he asked.

"Hopefully in a day or two," Cassie assured him.

Marc watched the child frown and poked his cheek.

"Don't worry. We're all going to be okay. So you be good tomorrow and we'll have a lot of fun when we come back, okay?" Marc asked.

"Okay," Elijah said.

Marc took a seat in a spare chair as Cassie read to Elijah. He could feel his own eyes drooping shut as Cassie read and had almost dozed off when Cassie shut the book. He watched her bend over and kiss Elijah's cheek.

"I love you. Sleep tight," she said.

Marc walked over, rustling Elijah's hair. "We'll see you soon."

He watched the child give a cheeky grin before shutting his eyes. Marc shut the lamp off as they exited and let out a loud yawn as they headed back to their own room. He stepped inside, noticing the piles of clothes on the floor. He had almost forgotten that he hadn't finished packing.

As Cassie got ready for bed, Marc began shoving his things in a duffel bag. He heard Cassie take a seat on the bed and began to talk.

"You'd think I'd learn how to pack my bags neatly after all these years, but I guess not. I just kind of shove things in, and—" Marc broke off when he realized Cassie was not replying. He turned his head, noticing that she was looking downward at her knees and quietly crying.

"Cassie?" he asked, his voice softening.

"Sorry, just ignore me," she muttered.

He stood up and walked over to their bed. Without a moment's hesitation, he wrapped his arms around her and ran his hand through her hair. She loosely wrapped her arms around him and shook with her tears. Marc sighed and rubbed a hand up and down her back, trying her best to comfort her.

Slowly, he pulled away and pressed a hand to her cheek. "It's going to be okay. We're going to be okay," he promised.

"I'm sorry. God, I'm a mess," Cassie said as she wiped some stray tears from her cheeks. "I just started thinking about what it would be like when this thing gets even more real. I wanted to cry saying good-night to Elijah. I don't want anyone getting hurt, or anyone dying for me."

"I hate to break it to you, but we're not just doing this to you. We're doing this for ourselves. We want to bring down the Preservers as well."

"You know what I mean," Cassie complained, sniffing a bit.

"This operation has been in the works for months. Cherie already said we're in one of the safest ranks. We already fought the Preservers once when we got Elijah back. Hell, we escaped from their prison, Cassie. We can do this."

"That felt so long ago," she mumbled.

"We need to be active again, get back in the game. You just finished training. You're stronger than ever. It'll be okay. We'll all be together," he said, kissing her cheek.

"Thanks," she murmured, grasping onto his hands. "Time for bed, then?"

Marc nodded, zipping up his bag and crawling into bed with her. The autumn air made the cabin cooler at night, so Cassie was eager to snuggle up against Marc as soon as they laid down in bed. He wrapped an arm around her, tracing his fingers up down her arm as she relaxed against him.

"Good night," he whispered as he shut his own eyes.

...

Their blaring alarm clock woke them up early in the morning. Cassie let out a groan as Marc rolled over to shut it off. Already feeling Cassie beginning to drift off again, he lightly shook her and turned on a lamp.

"It's too early," she grumbled as she sat up.

Marc chuckled and grasped onto her hand. "Let's go kick some ass today."

"Yes. Let's," Cassie agreed, brightening up a bit.

After a quick change into new clothes for the day, Marc lugged his things downstairs with Cassie. The others were sluggishly moving about, eating some breakfast Francesco had prepared.

"Get something to eat you two, quick," Cherie urged. "We need to be out of here in fifteen minutes."

Marc took a seat, gulping down as much food as he could despite the fact he was barely hungry. Barely ten minutes later, they were piling into Cherie's minivan.

Marc climbed into the center row, Cassie climbing in behind him. The car settled into silence as soon as Cherie began driving. Marc let out a yawn and rested his head against Cassie's, hoping to get as much rest as he could before faced with real danger.