Chapter 32
Reid
The good mood lasted for the next several hours. Through our shared shower, our whispered conversation, and while we cuddled up and drifted off to sleep as a storm raged on outside our windows. All the way up until dawn.
When Evan bolted upright in bed beside me.
“Shit,” he hissed, his whole body vibrating. “Sweetheart, get up.”
I sat up drowsily. We’d only fallen asleep a little while ago, and my brain wasn’t online yet. From the sounds of it, the storm had ended. I couldn’t understand what was so urgent. “Huh? What?”
“Shifters just crossed the borders,” he said, throwing a pair of joggers and a hoody at me. “Dress quickly. They’re coming.”
A chill went through me, and then I was moving. Nothing like a bolt of adrenaline and bloodcurdling fear to get you out of bed in the morning.
Evan didn’t bother dressing. That fact alone had my hands shaking as I pulled his hoody over my head.
He knew he’d be shifting soon.
“Come here,” he said urgently. “I’m going to scent mark you, okay, sweetheart?”
I nodded, tilting my head to the side, exposing my neck.
“I love you,” Evan breathed, rubbing his cheek down one side of my throat, then the other. “Nothing bad will happen to you, I promise.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about,” I whispered. “It’s you. All of you. I don’t want any of ye getting hurt.”
“We won’t.” He smiled reassuringly, stroking my face.
This time, it wasn’t to soothe me, but to mark me as his.
To show I was under his protection. To be fair, I was wearing his clothes and coming from his bed, it was pretty fucking obvious who I was with, but I understood shifters.
I wanted Evan’s scent on me for this confrontation as much as he did.
When we got downstairs, both of his parents were there. His dad was lacing his boots with grim determination, his ma winding the belt of her dressing gown around her hands.
Evan paused, as surprised to see them as I was. “Pa, you don’t need to come.”
Jameson huffed, slapping his knees before standing. “My family is under threat, so I’m going too.”
“You don’t need to,” I protested, unable to bear the thought of another person defending me, putting themselves at risk for me. “It’s me they’re after, not Evan.”
Jameson clapped me on the shoulder. “Aye. My family, like I said. Come on now. We want to meet them before they draw too close to the main lands.”
“Wait.” June stepped forwards. For a heartbeat, I felt relief. Surely she’d ask Jameson and Evan to stay. They’d listen to her, right? But that wasn’t what she asked. “Are ye sure it’s a good idea for Reid to go with you?”
I blinked. I hadn’t considered staying behind. It hadn’t even occurred to me.
Probably because the idea was abhorrent. If Evan was walking into danger, especially danger caused by me, then I wanted to be right at his side.
“Aye,” Evan said, dropping my hand to embrace his mother. “I don’t want them slipping past us and attacking here.”
June glared up at her son, hands on her hips. “Are ye insinuating that I can’t defend the lad? Because if that’s the case, I’ve got no problem putting you on your arse right here and now.”
In any other circumstances, her indignation would have had me laughing. Now though, it was just striking my heart with yet more terror. “June, it’s fine. I want to go with him. I need to.”
June wavered, gesturing helplessly. “I just want to keep ye safe, Reid.”
I tugged her out of Evan’s arms and into my own. “Thank ye, June. You’ve got no idea what it means to hear that.”
She hugged me back just as fiercely. “Aye, Reid. I think I do. Like Jameson said, yer part of our family now. So you go out there, and come back in one piece, ye hear me?”
“Aye.” I chuckled, wiping at my eyes as I pulled back. “Dinna worry. Evan will keep me safe.”
When I looked up at him, he was blinking away tears. “That’s right, sweetheart. I will.”
We stepped outside the front door to find a naked Calan waiting for us. It didn’t throw me as it would have other humans. That was one bonus of my upbringing, I supposed.
Up until now, I’d known Calan as a wonderful cook with a dark sense of humour. A permanent grump who secretly had a heart of gold. Seriously, the bloke kept bunnies. As pets. I’d caught him singing to them one morning and everything.
There was none of the male I’d come to know evident as he nodded sharply at us in greeting.
This was the clan’s enforcer, and he was ready for blood.
“Do we know how far out they are?” I asked anxiously.
“Between markers six and seven,” Calan grunted.
Helplessly, I looked to Evan to translate. “They’re about three miles out. We have wards called markers spaced approximately half a mile apart. The closer to here they get, the lower the number. They should’ve crossed marker six by now…but they haven’t.”
“Which means they’re up to something.” I spun to see Logan striding towards us. Unlike Evan and Calan, he was dressed. Either he didn’t give a shit about his outfit, or he knew he’d be more useful in his human form. “I don’t like it.”
I rubbed my arms. “I don’t like any of this.”
“Aw, don’t worry.” Logan gave me a sweet grin that was at odds with the number of deadly weapons strapped to him. “We’ve got your back, boo. Who knows? This might even be fun.”
Finn appeared next, also clothed. “I think we have different ideas of fun.”
Chester was at Finn’s side, shooting him anxious glances. It had me wanting to apologise. If it weren’t for me, the two of them would still be snuggled up in bed.
This is all my fault.
Like he could sense my spiral, Evan tugged me into his side. “We’re going to be fine. You’ll see.”
My lips thinned, but I didn’t argue.
“Jameson, can Chester sit with you and June while we deal with this, please?” Finn asked. “I’m going to ask a few of the warriors to guard the house, but I thought it better he not wait on his own.”
Jameson’s eyes darted between us and his leader.
Evan understood the issue. “It’s okay, Pa. I know ye want to help, but you’ll be doing that by staying here and guarding Chester. Besides, Ma won’t be as stressed if you stay.”
“You’d be really helping me out,” Finn added. “I wouldn’t entrust Chester’s safety to just anyone. I know you’ll protect him.”
Jameson’s face cleared. “Of course. We’ll guard him with our lives.”
I almost sagged in relief. I couldn’t live with myself if Jameson or Chester got hurt. At least here with June, they’d all be safe.
“I told you I’d rather go with you,” Chester muttered.
“And I told you it’s non-negotiable, m’eudail.” Finn kissed him and smiled. “Yer too distracting, and I canna be distracted this morning.”
Chester shuffled on his feet. “Reid gets to go.”
This conversation felt too private for me to be overhearing.
I pretended to find a nearby bird very interesting, seeing the others do the same.
Was this what it was like for them all the time with their superior hearing?
Did they find it annoying or did they get used to it?
Were they just constantly trying to distract themselves or were they making mental notes in case it was useful later?
Logan definitely fell into the latter category as spy. For the rest of them, it wasn’t something I could Google. Instead, I made a mental note to ask Evan.
If we survived whatever was coming.
“Reid has to go,” Finn said gently. “We don’t have a choice in the matter.”
“If I did, he’d be staying too,” Evan said. “I’m not happy about him being there, and if I could lock him in Ma’s house with you, that’s what I’d be doing.”
I didn’t bother to argue because it wasn’t going to happen. Besides, I didn’t want Chester there either. He might be near immortal like Finn now, but that didn’t mean I was okay with him being hurt, or even at risk of it.
I wasn’t okay with the others risking themselves either, but at least they had claws and teeth to rival the jaguars’.
It didn’t take much longer for Finn to persuade Chester to step inside the cottage. June swept him up immediately, shooting us a wink as she started talking his ear off.
Chester would be more than safe with her. He’d be distracted and entertained, and hopefully having him there would make this easier on June and Jameson as well.
“Let’s go,” Finn said. His face was hard now, no sign of the affable male he was around Chester. “I don’t know why they’ve stopped, but it works in our favour that they have. The further away this happens from here, the better.”
Evan let me go. “Yer gonna want to ride me, sweetheart.”
My lips twitched. “Not sure we’ve got time for that, Ev.”
There was a long pause before, as one, the shifters burst into laughter.
Logan was clutching his stomach. “Thanks for that, Reid. We needed that.”
I bowed. “Always happy to be the entertainment.”
Evan winked at me. “We can do that one later, I promise.”
He shifted so fast that I barely registered it. His wolf approached to nuzzle my throat, scent marking me again.
I wrapped my arms around his neck. Well, I tried. Thanks to the size of him, they didn’t meet in the middle. “Please don’t drop me.”
He chuffed before pulling back and lowering himself into a crouch. He didn’t have a human tongue, but he didn’t need one.
I’ll keep you safe, sweetheart.
He would. I knew that.
But I wanted to keep him safe too, and I had no idea how to make that happen without leaving with the Clarksons. After our conversation last night, I couldn’t do that willingly. It’d break Evan’s heart.
It’d break mine too.
I straddled Evan’s back, my fingers diving into his thick fur. “So soft.”
He made that chuffing noise again.
“Are ye laughing at me?”
“He is,” Logan said. “But maybe you should shut him up by telling him you want him to watch you jack off in this form. He won’t be laughing then.”
Evan growled at Logan, snapping his jaws at him warningly. Logan was right, Evan didn’t think it was funny. But I did.
Kinda hot too.
I leaned forwards, bringing my mouth to his ear so the other nosy fuckers didn’t hear. “Not a bad idea.”