“Hey, I’m fine. I promise. Perfect now that you’re here. Great timing, by the way.”
Eve’s answering laugh turned into a sob, and he rubbed her shoulder blades soothingly. Leaning back, he put his hands on either side of her face, looking his fill. Then he kissed her long and deep. His bone-weary tiredness came in second to his relief at being able to see his mate again and being able to hold her in his arms.
When Liam looked down at the lion’s body, he was just in time to watch it shift back into Silas’ still, prone form.
“He was a shifter,” Eve said.
Liam nodded. “Yeah, the son of a bitch said he knew about me too, that he’d always known.”
Eve’s mouth hung open. “And he never told you? He let you believe you had a mental illness?”
Liam nodded. “It would seem I didn’t know my old friend as well as I thought I did. How did you find me, anyway?”
“An informant saw that there was a lot of foot traffic around here and called us. They didn’t know if the Vipers had you, but we didn’t have any other leads to go on, so we came straight here.”
“Thank you for coming to my rescue.”
Eve frowned. “What else would I do? You’re my mate. I’ll always have your back.”
Liam shook his head. “How did I get so lucky?”
“I could say the same thing myself.”
Hawk burst into the room, weapon raised, then he caught sight of Eve and narrowed his eyes even as a flicker of relief passed over his face. He lowered his weapon as he strode over.
“Flint’s going to have your ass for that stunt,” he said to Eve, and she shrugged unrepentantly. Hawk just rolled his eyes in response and turned to Liam.
“You okay?” he asked, running an assessing eye over the injuries on Liam’s face.
Liam nodded. “What happened to all the Vipers out front?”
“They scattered when they saw the SWAT van pull into the lot. We chased down and caught as many as we could. We’ll bring them up on kidnapping charges if nothing else.”
Hawk looked down and frowned. “Why is he naked?”
“Shifter,” Eve supplied.
“No shit.”
“Come on,” she said, turning back to Liam. “Let’s get you out of here.”
He sighed. “I’m not going to argue with that. I feel like I could sleep for a year.”
She smiled at him and ruffled the top of his hair playfully. “And I’m inclined to let you.”
On the way out of the warehouse, a man from Eve’s SWAT team walked up to them. He was incredibly tall. Liam was six foot one, but even he had to crane his neck a little to look up at the man’s face.
“Liam?” the man questioned, looking at him with an astute gaze.
He held out his hand and Liam shook it.
“Yes, sir,” Liam replied, a tingle running across his shoulder blades and down his spine. Something about this man demanded respect, but not in the way Silas had.
“I’m Flint. Good to meet you.”
“And you.”
“Go home and get some rest, but afterwards, I’m going to need you to come down to headquarters to make a statement about everything that happened here today.”
