"So what, she's a decent person?" I can't resist snarking.
"More than decent. To start with, she's spent months helping us locate sleeping survivors buried underneath the Entity's citadel without asking for anything in return. We finally got them out, but now the fae elders have taken issue with her, dug up her past, gotten the media involved, and now her life story is making headlines and blowing up on social media. I need her kept safe."
"Fromcameras?" I scoff. "I think she'll survive."
Everett's jaw clenches so hard that a muscle jumps in it. I expect him to snap at me or freeze me, but his shoulders slump, and he just looks bitterly defeated.
"She almost didn't, this morning. She got hit by a bus while trying to get away from some journalists who were harassing her."
No wonder this guy's in rough shape.
I squint at him. "How old is this top-secret sister of yours, exactly?"
"Twenty-two."
"And what House is she in?"
"Shifting."
The fuck?
"A twenty-two-year-old shifter should be perfectly able to fend for herself from somejournalists," I point out. "What the hell do you need me babysitting her for?"
Everett grimaces. "Heidi's situation is…unique. Firstly, she was born a type four empath."
"Rare," I admit, shrugging it off. I've never really met any empaths. I know some primitive-minded asshole legacies call anyone with that gift weak, but I've never paid it much attention. "So what? That doesn't explain why she can't protect herself if she's also a shifter."
He hesitates, seeming torn. "I'm only telling you this because you'll be her bodyguard?—"
"IfI take the job," I assert, mildly annoyed that I'm starting to entertain the idea.
"Heidi can't protect herself as well as other legacies, because…"
"Because…?" I echo, waving him to get on with it.
"She's—" The scarred elemental huffs, fidgeting with his sleeve. "She's a deer shifter."
I stare at him. "A deer?"
He nods, serious as hell.
"You're telling me a ridiculously powerful top-tier ice elemental killer freakshow like you has a prey shifter for a sister? A fuckingdeer?"
A bark of laughter escapes before I can help it.
Ice crackles up my legs before I can move, freezing me solid from the neck down so Everett can lean closer. His glacial eyes have gone from tired to lethal.
"Don't mock her again."
"Not mocking," I clarify, unable to move my arms as I feel cold sinking into my bones. A few more seconds of this and I'll have frostbite in my hands and feet for sure. "But come on. You've gotta admit, the juxtaposition's pretty damn laughable."
"Not from where I'm standing," he mutters, rubbing his temples. As he does, the ice covering my body melts at once, leaving me shivering. I don't handle cold well, so it's ironic that I ever took up with this asshole. "I already thought I lost her once. I'm not taking that risk again, so take this job and protect her with your motherfucking life."
Despite the burning cold still lingering in my body, I consider everything Frost has told me. Prey shifters are extremely rare these days, thanks to legacies “culling the weak” for so fucking long. Someone being born as a prey shifterandan empath?
I finally tip my head. "Why doesn't she just come here? Your quintet could protect her."
"Heidi made it clear she wants to stay at her place. She doesn't want to intrude on my quintet, and...we tend to rub her empathic abilities a little raw," he adds. "Even with mytherun.”
