Chapter 22
Aiden changed into a T-shirt and a pair of well-worn jeans, brushed his teeth, and shuffled back out to the living room. Jamie was just finishing up his version of the story of Tessa’s transition. Aiden took a seat in the empty armchair opposite Jamie.
“So Grey Lake’s defenseless right now? I mean, aside from these Guardians of Tessa’s?” Frankie asked. “Your father can just run right in and take whatever he wants from the town?” She stared pointedly at Aiden.
“Well, not exactly,” Jamie interjected. He raised his eyebrows at Aiden in question.
“Tell them,” the phoenix said silently to Aiden. “They can help. People want to help. Let them.”
Aiden breathed in deeply and then exhaled slowly, his shoulders releasing the tension he didn’t realize he had held. “I’m a phoenix shifter. I’m going to help protect the town.” He gazed expectantly at the two women.
“Since when?” Edie asked, her tone huffy.
“What?” Aiden asked. She sounded as if she didn’t believe him.
“We heard you couldn’t shift. We all know you’re a phoenix shifter, but we were told you couldn’t shift,” Frankie said.
Aiden glowered at the woman. “Told? By whom?”
“I don’t think that’s important now, is it?” Jamie interrupted. He glanced between the two women and Aiden. “I mean, Aiden can shift now. We just have to help his beast get trained so he can fight his father.” He gave the women a confident look, as if this was all a simple matter to do.
“Why?” Frankie asked Aiden.
“Why what?” Aiden stuttered.
“Why would you go against your father—your blood—to protect a nothing little town in the middle of nowhere New Hampshire?” Frankie asked.
“Yeah,” Edie agreed. “You could just take your sister and your mate here”—she nodded at Jamie—“and leave. You don’t owe us or this town anything.”
Whenever Aiden thought too much about this, his chest burned with a rage of a thousand infernos. He forced his pulse to slow before answering.
“Because he hurt my mate,” Aiden answered. Tears wet his eyes, which surprised the hell out of him. He looked at a wide-eyed Jamie and closed his eyes briefly before turning them once more to the women. “He hurt him in unspeakable ways. He’s hurt so many people. He has no regard for people’s lives. He has to pay, so I’m going to train so I can make him suffer.”
“The Guardians will help, of course, “ Jamie added. He gave Aiden a watery smile of his own.
The two ladies stared at each other, seemingly communicating without words, and then back to Aiden.
“OK then. You have the senior most residents of Grey Lake at your assistance as well,” Edie said.
“What?” Jamie asked.
“Ever since something bad started happening to the elders in the village, we’ve been meeting—the seniors I mean,” Frankie said. “Your father and the bastards he has working for him have hurt and killed a lot of my friends.” She looked at Edie. “I should say ‘our friends.’ He almost killed my best friend.” She grabbed Edie’s hand and squeezed it. “We older shifters have been planning on how we could assist. We’ve seen outsiders in town. They don’t pay us much attention so we’re able to watch them close. We want to help. We were just waiting to be asked.”
“When we realized no one was going to ask, we decided to come to the source,” Edie said.
“The source?” Jamie asked.
Frankie patted Jamie’s leg. “Yes, sweetie. We know your mate here had a phoenix inside him. We also know Tessa would never leave the town unprotected. We figured the new firebird would be making an appearance sooner or later. We also know you are good men, and you’d see the value in the seniors of this town.”
Jamie reached for her hand. “Of course.” He glanced at Aiden and then back between the two women. “But you all need to be careful. These men are no joke. They’ve done terrible things. We need to discuss this with Heath, but we’re glad to have your support. I’m sure the others were just busy worrying about everyone.”
“That’s the problem. Sometimes when you’re too busy worrying, you don’t realize you have more help than you thought,” Edie said. She gave them both a sad smile.
“Don’t worry, I’ll speak to the Guardians and Heath. You know who they all are, right?” Jamie asked.
Frankie cackled. “Of course. My sweet new daughter-in-law, Leah, is a teleporter. She and Finn thought they could keep their secrets from me, but they realized quickly that mothers see everything.” She smiled.
“So, what can we do?” Edie asked.
Aiden shrugged.
“Let me speak with the others. We need to make a plan. This time, we’ll include the most experienced shifters in town,” Jamie said.
Frankie and Edie nodded and then stood. “We’ll be waiting to hear back from you,” Edie said.
Jamie led the two women to the front door with Aiden following. Edie walked outside, but Frankie stopped and turned back to Jamie and Aiden. “Thanks,” she said.
“For what?” Aiden asked.
“For listening to us. For not telling us to go home and hide,” she said with a soft smile. “For seeing us.”
Aiden was quiet. Jamie broke the silence. “Of course.” He walked Frankie out to her car while Aiden watched from the entryway.
“We’ll be in touch soon.” Aiden heard Jamie say before the women reversed their car out of the driveway.
Aiden waited until Jamie was back inside and the front door was closed before speaking. “Can you make the call?”
Jamie nodded and pointed to his head. “I’ll do it telepathically so I only have to say it once. I’ll ask them to come over here to talk.”
Aiden grunted and headed toward the kitchen.
“I’ll take care of the dishes. Just leave them,” Jamie said.
Aiden turned around and shook his head. “No, no. I’m not an invalid. We’re a team, remember? You go mind-meld with our friends. I’ll do the dishes and try to get my head in the right space.”
Jamie frowned. “Right space for what?”
He grinned. “For breathing fire, of course.”