Chapter 39 #2
I took Morgan’s hand in mine and squeezed. “You don’t have to look at them.”
“Why don’t you…” Then Morgan nodded. “There is something more to the second picture, isn’t there?”
I nodded and squeezed his hand tighter. I wanted to believe what happened back at the cabin with the wolf was the vision coming true.
Wishful thinking? Absolutely.
When I’d first seen that painting, I believed it showed the moment I would meet Morgan. Some unknown person, who wasn’t in the picture, injured him and I’d arrived in time to save him.
But that wasn’t how we met.
And I hadn’t survived on Gage’s team for so long by avoiding hard truths. My gaze sought out my former leader’s.
“Can Jake paint over it yet?”
Gage grimaced and shook his head. That meant the moment captured in the vision hadn’t come true yet. Morgan was still destined to be injured, which meant I was going to fail to protect him.
My heart sank.
“Hey, it’s okay.” Morgan pulled me into his arms. “I won’t look at it if it will upset you. I don’t need to see it.”
I pressed my face into his hair. I knew he’d used my shampoo earlier, but he still smelled of candy and sugar. I sucked in his scent.
“I can’t let anything happen to you, Sweet,” I whispered.
“Hey, you know what? I found out today that my mom is pretty badass,” he said as he rubbed my back. “I’m pretty much as magical as you can get. Nothing is going to happen to me.”
I prayed he was right.
“Where is he?” someone shouted from the entrance.
I pulled away from Morgan to assess the threat. I was already pushing him under the table. Another second and I’d have him cloaked in my shadows. With any luck, that’d be enough protection.
“Uh oh.” Morgan struggled out of my hold and jumped up. He waved his hand through the air at the couple standing in the threshold.
The woman scowled as she stalked forward. “You fucking jerk.”
I jumped in front of Morgan, blocking her before she could get to my mate.
“Who are you?” I wasn’t a shifter, but my growl still made the woman pause.
“This is my cousin.” Morgan patted my back.
“Get out of my way,” Violet said, trying to skirt around me. She waggled her finger at Morgan. “I love you, you asshole. But if you ever pull something like that again, I’ll kill you.”
Yeah. If she kept threatening Morgan, she wasn’t getting anywhere near him.
“That’s her way of saying she loves me,” Morgan said, as if reading my mind.
“She just threatened to kill you.” I didn’t move.
“Aw…” Jeremy said. “You guys must be close. My brothers are the same way.”
“We are,” Violet said. Then she came right up to my face. “Now move out of my way.”
“It’s okay,” Morgan said. “She’s family.”
He’d talked so fondly of his cousin, and I knew he loved her. That was the only reason I let him push me to the side. A moment later, they were hugging. Violet was squeezing him so tightly I wondered if he could breathe, but he didn’t seem to mind.
“I was so worried,” she whispered. “When you didn’t answer your phone…”
“I know, I’m sorry. We got stuck out in the middle of nowhere in the blizzard, and my phone didn’t work. We just got here today, I swear to you.”
She sniffled. “You’re all I have, you asshole. You can’t leave me.”
“Rude,” the man who’d arrived with Violet said. “I’m right here.”
Morgan opened his eyes to scowl at the man who had spoken. As soon as the cousins stepped apart, Morgan crossed his arms over his chest.
“What is Gary doing here?”
Violet shrugged. “He was there when you didn’t answer your phone. He offered to drive me to the hotel so I could keep phoning you while we travelled.”
“Hey, little dude,” Gary said. “Your cousin was really worried about you. I told her not to worry, but you know how she gets.”
Something about his words didn’t sit right with me.
Was he lying? I glanced over at Dillon to see if the hellhound heard any lies.
He was watching Gary closely, but when he caught my eye, he shook his head slightly.
So, not a lie. But then again, what had he said?
That he told Violet not to worry. He probably had done that.
Still, I couldn’t shake the idea that something was going on, so I turned to Gage next. His eyes were pools of red.
I didn’t know what the demon saw in Gary’s mind, but he didn’t look impressed.
I stepped closer to Morgan and pulled him against my side.
“Oh right,” Morgan said with a laugh. Little bubbles floated through the air. “You haven’t met my mate yet. This is Nelson.” Then he waved to the table. “And these are his friends. A lot of them used to work for the Supernatural Council.”
“The Supernatural Council? Fuck, Morgan, you can’t be here.” Violet paled.
She looked ready to throw Morgan over her shoulder and haul ass out of here. At least with her, I figured it was because she was scared for my little unicorn. Gary, on the other hand, lost just about as much color as Violet, and I didn’t think it was because he was worried about Morgan.
“Morgan’s safe here,” I said, narrowing my eyes at Gary.
“Morgan is part of the family now,” Jeremy piped up from behind us at the table. “Willow Lake is like that. You can be family too, Violet, if you want to be.”
I noticed he didn’t make the same offer to Gary.
It looked like we were all on the same page. Now I just needed to find out what the asshole’s problem was. If I was right, and he had something to do with my mate’s problems, well… He wouldn’t like the consequences.
No one ever saw a shadow coming after them until it was too late.