Hunter turned. His sharp blue eyes filled with worry. He adamantly shook his head.
“I need someone to stay here and look after Gem and Wyatt. They need your protection. Switch will also be here—the wolf you met last night. He’s gonna be your teacher for a while. If you like him, maybe longer.”
Hunter dashed into his arms, and Shepherd felt a pang of guilt. He rumpled the boy’s disheveled hair. “It won’t be for long. Sometimes I gotta go away for work. But I’ll come back.” He put his hands around the boy’s cheeks so he’d feel his sincerity. “I’ll always come back. I promise.”
Emotion flooded into the boy through Shepherd’s hands and calmed him. Sometimes it was the most honest way that the two could communicate.
“I want you to be a good boy and do as you’re told. I’ve got to follow the rules too, and sometimes it’s hard. But we can do it together.”
Teary-eyed, Hunter nodded and backed away. He dug in his drawer until he found his black Zorro mask and put it on.
Crestfallen, Shepherd watched as Hunter reverted to the child who’d lived with Patrick, the one who hid from the world behind a mask when he felt unsafe and alone.
Shepherd rubbed his clean-shaven jaw and briefly entertained the idea of staying. “Tell you what. When I get back, we’ll go buy you some new shoes. Just the two of us on a special trip, and I’ll let you pick out anything you want. Maybe after that we’ll get some ice cream. Or cupcakes.”
Hunter’s eyes lit up. Kids were too easy to distract with bribes. But in this case, Shepherd had every intention of following through on his promises. He had a lot of lost time to make up for.
“And after that we can ride on that mechanical horse you like. Remember?”
Hunter beamed and then galloped to his play table. Wyatt had given him a couple of his toy cars from his work desk, and Hunter rolled them from one end of the table to the other.
Shepherd didn’t want to make this into a big production and wind him up again, so he stood behind him and bent over, letting his hands rest firmly on Hunter’s shoulders.
I love you.
Give me a kiss.
Those were words that Shepherd couldn’t bring himself to say. He’d never said them to anyone but Maggie, and he didn’t feel like he’d earned the right to with Hunter.
So instead he said the only thing that would make sense with the emotions leaking from his fingertips. “I’m gonna miss you, little man. Be good.”
Chapter 6
“Where do you think we’re going?” I asked Christian.
He put his arm around me just as the van hit a bump. “To a land of enchantment.”
“Definitely not your bedroom then,” Blue said, her delivery deadpan. She sat across from us, flanked by Niko and Shepherd.
Christian nudged her boot with his foot. “I’ll have you know that there are plenty of enchanting activities that occur in my chamber.”
She studied her unpolished nails. “None of which include cleaning, I’m sure.”
Shepherd barked out a laugh. “She’s got you there, buddy.”
Rushing to Christian’s defense wasn’t something I did often, but I suddenly felt the urge to stick up for him. “I can vouch for the cleanliness of his room. Except for the spiders, there’s hardly anything in there.”
Niko snorted and looked away. “Apologies.”
Shepherd checked something inside his coat, a smile widening his thin lips. “I envisioned a coffin with candy jars everywhere.”
Christian shot him a baleful look. “You’re a real comedian. Anyone ever tell you that?”
Claude slowed down and looked at Viktor. “Which way?”
“Left,” Viktor said from the passenger seat.
None of us had any inkling of where we were going or what our mission would be. Sensing Viktor didn’t want us talking business while in a moving van, we kept the conversation as light as our luggage.
