“Have you cooled down?” I asked him.
“As much as I’m going to until this is all over.”
“Then you’ll be worked up forever. Life never really calms down all that much,” I shrugged.
“Then figure it out with Pierce because do you really want to handle every problem life has in store for you while also trying to ignore your true-mate?”
“Not particularly,” I admitted.
“If I go batshit like her, you’ll kill me before I hurt someone, right?”
Mori thought about it for a second and nodded his agreement. That was the closest thing to a promise that I was going to get from him. So, I took what I could get and stood up.
“Let’s go see if the cabin is still standing,” I sighed and held out my hand to help him up.
“Let’s wolf it back. I know it’s not far, but a good run will do us both some good.”
Agreeing I gave in to my wolf. Maybe he had a better perspective on all this than I did.
Chapter Sixteen
Pierce
Sharon Claudis had a website. She claimed to be psychic. While I one million percent believed in seers of all sorts, I didn’t know many who had to advertise their services with websites. Maybe she wasn’t a fraud but her tacky pink and yellow website made my pupils want to crawl out of my eyeballs to the safety of some dark, dusty cave.
The front door of Moonglow Cabin opened and I slid my phone back into my pocket. While the guys needed to know what was up with Preston, I wasn’t sure how much of it was mine to tell. Sharon Claudis affected all our safety. So, I had to say something, but I figured I could give Preston until the morning to come clean. If she showed back up tonight, she’d be arrested by the Moonscale Guards at the very least. More likely, she’d be dead for waking up Medwin and Clarence Moonscale in the middle of the night.
Two wolves walked into the room. Crilus was as black as night with big moon eyes. Mori padded down the hall and I prayed to whatever god, land spirit, or ancestor who cared to listen that he went to sleep and didn’t pick another fight with his brother. Crilus kicked the door shut with his back paw and walked over to me. He sat on his haunch and looked up at me with eyes that glowed even under the indoor lighting. We stared at each other for what felt like forever and my thoughts danced like everything I wanted to speak about were flyaway maypole ribbons.
He rested his furry chin on my knee and for a second, I couldn’t breathe. Even in wolf form, the brush of his skin against me was enough to derail my train of thought. A second later,he climbed into my lap, taking up whatever inch of the chair I wasn’t touching. Wolf shifters were always so much bigger than I expected them to be. Wild wolves were big, but shifters were bigger. Tentatively, I wrapped my arms around him, and he rested his head against my shoulder. Against my better judgement, I whispered what Preston had told me. Only leaving out Sharon Claudis’s name. I told him I’d spoken with leaders of the GGB and let Clarence know what was up too. I hadn’t called Preston and Mori’s parents because that felt like overstepping a line, but I was leaning in that direction.
Slowly, Crilus’s raven black fur receded back where it came from, and he sat on my lap in man form with his arms and legs wrapped around me. He pressed his forehead against mine and closed his eyes for a long second.
“No one hurt him then? I mean no one made him---” Why was it so hard to say that word?
“No, he had a hook up. It sounds like he had some no strings attached fun and whatever birth control they used failed. He wants the baby.”
“Now we just need to keep him safe.”
“And we will.”
“About us,” Crilus started, and I shook my head.
He smelled so crestfallen at the gesture that I almost couldn’t speak.
“We don’t have to do this right now. Your bar is in shambles, and your cousin is being stalked and attacked by a crazy lady.”
“That’s why we have to do this now,” Crilus said, squaring his shoulders. “If we do this, you have to know going into it that everything may fall apart. Maybe fate has it out for me. You have to fully understand that I expect some magical tsunami or something to wipe us all out at any second, but I can’t not do it. Maybe if I was a better person, I could walk away and let you have an okay life – even if it was hard for you not to be with me.Only, I’m not a better person, Pierce. I’m not that strong of a person. The thought of what our lives might look like together is too much for me to walk away from. So, I’m letting you know. My whole family is probably cursed. Hell, even Kodiak had a crazy brother who took his girlfriend and then got himself killed. So, I just need you to get that going into this.”
I was quiet for a second, ensuring that my mate had said his peace. His eyebrows arched up as if he was waiting for an answer.
“I hear you loud and clear, but you should know that even if you are cursed, which I don’t believe for a second, I’m not afraid of that. Magic is merely energy, and every energy is used up eventually. I wasn’t going anywhere either way and as much as I hate myself for it – I wouldn’t have let you leave, Crilus. I don’t know what that says about me, but it’s true.”
“I didn’t want to leave,” Crilus whispered back to me.
“I know but it was easier for you if I said it wasn’t an option,” I said, flashing him a soft smile, careful not to flash my fangs at him. Out of all the creatures in the world, he’d never be food.
“So—What do we do now?” Crilus asked.
