Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
REID
I couldn’t sleep, but it wasn’t as if that was unusual.
Ever since I’d seen that guy drive past the Omega House, I’d been on edge.
Being used to it didn’t make it any easier though.
It was the middle of the night and I’d tossed and turned so much I thought I’d scream if I didn’t get a moment of peace.
Frustrated, I got out of bed and went to check the wards. I padded around the interior of the house, probing the wards for weaknesses and adding more power to make them stronger.
That done, I leaned my back against the front door and sank to the floor. The encounter with Trent’s associate wasn’t the only thing unsettling me. I kept recalling Zander’s expression as he’d asked Hamish about whether I was seeing a therapist.
He thought I was mentally unstable, and it hurt.
Apparently, while I’d been growing to trust him more day by day, he still saw me as broken and unreliable.
It made me question my judgment in letting him tiptoe into my heart.
He’d worked hard to earn every inch of trust I granted him, but I still worried I’d made a mistake in allowing him to get closer to me if that was how he viewed me.
With a sigh, I rose to my feet and glanced out the window. My heart thunked painfully as I spotted a vehicle parked outside.
Holy crap. How had I not noticed that earlier?
My palms turned sweaty. Was it Trent’s acquaintance? Had he returned?
Scarcely daring to breathe, I tiptoed closer and peered out. My weak eyesight allowed me to make out the silhouette of a vehicle parked on the roadside but not what type it was or whether there was someone inside.
I suspected there was.
Rain fell softly, trickling down the window and deadening any other sounds outside. Warily, I inched the window open and stuck my head through, hoping to get a better look.
It was a police car.
Zander?
My stomach fizzed and my pulse sped up. It did look like his vehicle. If it was, that meant my supposed mate was parked outside the house, in the rain, in the middle of the night.
But why?
I closed the window, uncertain of what to do. Should I wake Hamish and make him aware that an alpha was staking us out?
Yes, Hamish would know what to do.
I went to his door and knocked softly. When there was no response, I eased it open, crossed to the bed, feeling my way carefully so as not to trip over anything, and touched his shoulder.
He jolted, his eyes flying open. “What is it?”
His eyes were clear almost immediately, no hint of sleep in them. I couldn’t help wondering what had made him so hypervigilant. Was it just the knowledge that residents might need him or had something else happened in his past? I knew so little about him.
“Um, Zander is parked outside,” I said quietly.
He relaxed back onto his pillow. “He was there last night too. Don’t worry about it. Just go back to sleep.”
I frowned. Zander was making a habit of staking out the Omega House overnight? Strange.
Hamish closed his eyes and his breathing became regular within the space of thirty seconds. I left his room, closing the door behind myself, and went instead to the front door, drawn as if by an invisible wire stretched from me to Zander.
I undid each of the locks and stepped outside. Rain landed on my bare skin and the hairs on my arms stood on end as I walked toward the vehicle.
What the hell was I doing?
I had no idea, but I couldn’t stop myself from going to the driver’s door and knocking on the window. Inside, there was a flurry of motion and then the door opened.
“Get in.” Zander’s voice was thick with sleep. “It’s wet and I don’t want you to catch a cold.”
With the barest hesitation, I rounded the front of the car and climbed in the other side. It was slightly warm, as if the heater had been on at some point but he’d turned it off.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, cataloging his features in the dark. Deep brown eyes, hooded with shadows. Square jaw. The faint scent of pine emanating from him.
Even though I was alone with an alpha for the first time in weeks, I felt oddly safe.
Zander shifted, angling his big body toward me. “You’re my mate and there’s a chance you’re in danger. I’m here to make sure that nothing happens to you.”
I gaped at him. Did he mean to say that he was sleeping in his car rather than the nice house across town because he wanted to protect me?
“But you think I’m crazy and I’m making it all up.”
In fact, I’d been stewing over that for days, turning over what I’d seen and experienced.
Strung together in the way he’d phrased it when speaking to Hamish, perhaps everything that had happened did seem unlikely, and I’d even begun to doubt myself a couple of times before I reminded myself that I knew what I’d seen, and what I’d felt.
I was sane, whether he wanted to believe it or not.
He sighed and stretched as much as he could in the cramped space. “No, like I said before, I don’t.”
I glared. “You questioned my mental state.”
Groaning, he rubbed his temples. “I put it badly. I don’t think you’re lying. I just wouldn’t be surprised if you have PTSD or other trauma-related issues after everything you’ve been through. It’s reasonably common for victims to—”
“I’m not a victim,” I snapped, feeling stung.
Was that how he saw me?
As damaged? Broken?
I shouldn’t be surprised. I’d thought it of myself often enough.
“No,” he said tiredly. “You’re someone I want to protect and care for. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
I fell silent. Whether he’d intended to upset me or not, he had. But the fact he was here, parked outside in the dead of night when he had no way to know that I’d find him suggested that he was taking my fears seriously.
Maybe he did believe me.
And again, he wanted to keep me safe. He was giving up his cozy, comfortable bed for me.
No one had ever done anything like that.
I didn’t quite know how to respond. I’d initially assumed that Zander was an alpha who wanted something from me, but right now, there was nothing stopping him from claiming me except for his own sense of right and wrong.
Still, he chose to respect my space and not push for anything.
Perhaps I wasn’t so wrong to trust him, after all.
“Reid?” he asked, making me aware I’d been staring at him in silence for far too long.
I snapped my mouth shut. “It can’t be easy sleeping out here.”
He shrugged. “I can get by without much.”
“Still.” I swallowed, my words catching in my throat. I looked aside, reluctant to let him see exactly how much this meant to me. “Thank you. For being patient with me and for listening when I know that what I said might sound unbelievable.”
Despite the darkness, I could see his expression soften.
“I’ll always protect you,” he said, quiet but clear. “Whatever it takes.”
My heart gave a ka-thunk, and I offered him a shy smile. He smiled back. He smelled like a fall night and I leaned closer, holding onto his arm to steady myself. He stiffened but then exhaled slowly and relaxed.
I kissed his cheek.
His skin was warm against my lips and slightly stubbled. He radiated heat and feelings of safety. I wanted to burrow into him and beg him to keep protecting me, but instead, I made myself draw back.
“Thank you for trusting me, little warlock,” he murmured, his eyes sparkling with an emotion I couldn’t identify.
“Thank you for trying to take care of me,” I whispered back.
I shivered, the water on my skin cooling me, and he turned the engine on and cranked the heaters up, then passed me a fleece jacket. I pulled it on, breathing in the piney scent overlaid with that familiar trace of bergamot. Just how much tea did Zander drink to smell that way permanently?
“Here,” he said gruffly. “We need to keep you and the baby warm.”
“Thanks.” I was tempted to say that the best way to do that was to hold me in his arms, but if he actually tried it, I’d probably freak out. I might not think he was anything like Trent, but I was frustratingly aware of my own limitations.
We sat together in a pleasant silence for what could have been minutes or hours.
Eventually, Zander said, “There’s a warlock coming to Grizzly Ridge next week.”
Despite the gentleness of his tone, I tensed up. In the past, warlocks had never meant anything good for me. “Why?”
“To help us search for magical residue and see if we can figure out what’s going on.” He hesitated, then added, “If someone is searching for you or trying to psychically attack you, he might be able to work out who and where they are.”
I nodded, relaxing a little. It was a relief that someone would be here who actually knew what they were doing.
However, I couldn’t shake the feeling of inadequacy that settled over me.
If I’d been trained and wasn’t just an overpowered magical battery, perhaps I’d have already been able to get the answers we needed without needing someone else to help.
“Hopefully he finds something.” “If you say someone has been here, then I’m sure he will.”
I sighed. “I wish I’d had more training so I could help.”
“It isn’t too late.”
I didn’t know what to say to that since warlocks who were willing to become mentors were hardly waltzing into my life on a daily basis.
My eyelids drooped and I yawned. “I should get back to bed. Apparently, my back will get more sore, so I should be trying to sleep as much as I can while I’m still able.”
“Sweet dreams.” Zander turned, his expression strangely sweet. “Can I visit you again?”
I jolted as I reached for the door, caught by surprise. “I… uh…” My cheeks blazed and I looked down. “I’d like that.”