His head whips up, and he almost looks afraid…of me.
That can’t be right.
“Morning, Mommy,” Lucky says without looking up from his blocks. “Cormac lives here. He got me blocks!”
“Is that right?” I say on autopilot.
How the hell is the guy from the library here?
More than that, he was at the Christmas market…
What kind of setup have I walked myself into? Now I wish I would have landed more than a flesh wound when I accidentally shot Patrick. Having no idea what’s happening leaves me feeling out of control, and I hate it.
Did they bring me here to hand me over to the Jacksonville Demons?
Does that even make sense?
It might if they only wanted to lull me into a false sense of security.
“Hey, kiddo, why don’t you keep playing? I’m going to talk to your mom for a minute.” Cormac puts the yellow block he was holding down by Lucky’s side and pushes to his feet.
“Okay.” Lucky nods. “I need my guys. This where they live now. It’s their tower house!”
“I have a few in the car,” I tell him, talking about his action figures. “I’ll get them for you in just a bit.”
“Okay!” he agrees, continuing to stack blocks.
Cormac pushes up his black-framed glasses, prowling closer. Every time I’ve seen him, he’s been dressed completelydifferently. Today he’s in a pair of low-slung dark-wash jeans and a Henley. He’s so slender that I swear it makes him seem taller than he actually is.
I’m on the shorter side for an omega, at five-four, so everyone tends to feel tall compared to me, but I have to crane my neck back as he comes to a stop in front of me.
He gently grabs my hand, leading me somewhere. We stop right outside the living room, but I’m still able to peek at Lucky.
“Are you okay?” he asks, keeping his voice low.
I snort.
Is he serious right now?
I’m so far from okay that it’s not even funny. I’ve been in fight-or-flight mode since I woke up, and no amount of trying to convince my system that I’m safe has helped.
“I’m alive,” I say weakly. “I nearly had a heart attack when I woke up and Lukas was missing. He knows better than to run off while I’m asleep.”
“That’s my fault. I should have woken you up, but I thought you could use the rest, and I had nothing better to do. He was wandering around, opening doors. He popped mine open as I was finishing getting dressed, so I brought him downstairs, and we ate breakfast. He really loves hash browns and bacon. Oh, and ketchup. He really loves ketchup,” Cormac says, finally taking a breath. “After that, I dug out one of the toys I picked up last night.” His face twists into a frown, like maybe he didn’t mean to admit that.
“Yeah, about that…” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “Can you explain what’s happening? I’m trying not to freak out, but I have no idea what’s going on or why you’re here.”
“It looks bad, huh?” His head shakes, and he shoves up his glasses once more. “Patrick and I had a meeting yesterday with Wilder. He mentioned his girlfriend was attacked, and that she had a friend who might be in danger. Once he said your nameand that the job would be protecting her and her son…” He sighs. “I put the pieces together, but I was also afraid that it would look awful.”
“So you sent your brothers to watch me and stayed away?” I ask, trying to stay calm. “Because I’m not going to lie, seeing a friendly face would have been at least ninety percent less traumatic.”
Even that is an understatement.
I called out of work for the whole week and spent the entire day yesterday peeking out my windows.
It’s winter in Boston.
No one rides bikes, but one circled my apartment buildingmultipletimes yesterday. While it could be a coincidence, my gut told me not to risk it. I packed the things we couldn’t live without, and I was in a full-blown spiral as I loaded my SUV.
