Kaelen informed me last night that my parents would come for dinner on Friday. I had no idea how he convinced my dad to come here after what happened that first night, but based on the smug look on Kaelen’s face, it hadn’t been an option.
Anxiety bubbled in my stomach, adding a burned tinge to my scent that Kaelen was determined to fix.
A sound pulled me from my thoughts, and I saw Torin standing in the doorway, a pinched expression tight across his face.
I still wasn’t used to the two versions of Torin. The carefree beta boyfriend of Aidan and the serious, in-command soldier. This one unsettled me, the tension hanging over him, catching me off guard.
“Something wrong?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing, Miss Willow.”
Still with the whole Miss Willow thing.
“We’re married now. Can’t you call me, Willow? Surely, Kaelen isn’t going to have some primitive response to you addressing me by my name?”
A single brow rose into Torin’s hairline. Giving up, I tossed my head back onto the couch cushions. Who were we kidding? Now that Kaelen and I were married, the intensity around his alpha haddoubled. I loved and hated that he snarled at anyone who looked at me for more than a few seconds.
He had been extra growly since our wedding.
“Mrs. Finnegan, if you prefer,” Torin said, mirth twinkling in his words.
Mrs.It made me feel old, even if I liked the Finnegan part.
“You take that back,” I hissed, and Torin threw his hands up in surrender.
The knot in my chest loosened. He sank onto the other side of the sofa, staying a respectable distance away. I hated the pitying look that crossed his features, gone before I was certain it was there. His dark eyes swept over my face, cataloging my expression before landing on the place where Shadow slept in my lap.
“You’ve been keeping to yourself the last few days. You haven’t left the house.”
“So?” I asked, realizing that Kaelen probably sent Torin to question me under the guise of being afriend.“Tell Kaelen he can talk to me himself if he’s worried.”
“Kaelen didn’t send me. You’re family now, Willow.” My eyes raced into my hairline at the use of my name. “We take care of our blood.”
I offered a weak shrug, wanting to deflect the serious conversation that loomed between us. Aidan and Liam technically were my brothers now, but I didn’t doubt that Torin felt the same way as the other two alphas.
Sensing there was no avoiding this conversation, I stroked along the length of Shadow’s back.
“It’s Shadow,” I confessed, not willing to admit that it was maybe something more. “The vet said it’s not going to heal any more. The nerve damage is too extensive. It’ll always be like this.”
The tiny black puppy in my lap wiggled, burrowing further into me. I scratched behind her ears, relaxing when she leaned into my touch. Quiet understanding sparked in Torin’s demeanor. His body straightened as he shifted.
“How could someone do something so barbaric,” I hissed, acid wrapping around my icy words. “And they got away with it. They always do,” I continued, my voice getting louder with each word. “Even if they get caught. They get nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Meanwhile, she’ll be scarred for the rest of her life. People abuse animals because they are too weak, pathetic, and insecure to do anything else.”
If Torin picked up on the true meaning of my speech, he didn’t let on. My usual nurturing omega instincts flared into a protective rage, mirroring a mother bear with her cubs. Shadow wasmine,and someone had hurt her. It was my job to protect her.
Silence stretched on between us, the clock ticking ominously in the background. A muscle twitched by Torin’s eye, his face fixed into an unreadable expression.
“There are other kinds of justice,” he whispered, the words so quiet I questioned whether I really heard them.
“What are you saying, Torin?” I asked, afraid I was about to step over a line I could never come back from.
He nodded, a slow, deliberate movement as he rocked forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. Dark eyes glimmered like polished obsidian when he looked at me.
“Kaelen built this family on loyalty, Willow,” he said, his Scottish burr getting thicker. “On protecting our own. And you, lass, you’re family now. My loyalty to you is as strong as my loyalty to him. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Warmth spread through me, replacing the cold fury from earlier that choked me. My head fell forward, overwhelmed with the unwavering support. A pledge of devotion. Not something formed from love or bonds or instinct. Rather one from a brother, determined to protect his sister.
“Someone hurt her, Torin. That can’t be allowed,” I murmured, my voice thick with a command I didn’t recognize. “Can you find who did this to her?”
