“Come here,” he said urgently. “I’m going to scent mark you, okay, sweetheart?”
I nodded, tilting my head to the side, exposing my neck.
“I love you,” Evan breathed, rubbing his cheek down one side of my throat, then the other. “Nothing bad will happen to you, I promise.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about,” I whispered. “It’s you. All of you. I don’t want any of ye getting hurt.”
“We won’t.” He smiled reassuringly, stroking my face. This time, it wasn’t to soothe me, but to mark me as his. To show I was under his protection. To be fair, I was wearing his clothes and coming from his bed, it was pretty fucking obvious who I was with, but I understood shifters. I wanted Evan’s scent on me for this confrontation as much as he did.
When we got downstairs, both of his parents were there. His dad was lacing his boots with grim determination, his ma winding the belt of her dressing gown around her hands.
Evan paused, as surprised to see them as I was. “Pa, you don’t need to come.”
Jameson huffed, slapping his knees before standing. “My family is under threat, so I’m going too.”
“You don’t need to,” I protested, unable to bear the thought of another person defending me, putting themselves at risk for me. “It’s me they’re after, not Evan.”
Jameson clapped me on the shoulder. “Aye. My family, like I said. Come on now. We want to meet them before they draw too close to the main lands.”
“Wait.” June stepped forwards. For a heartbeat, I felt relief. Surely she’d ask Jameson and Evan to stay. They’dlisten to her, right? But that wasn’t what she asked. “Are ye sure it’s a good idea for Reid to go with you?”
I blinked. I hadn’t considered staying behind. It hadn’t even occurred to me.
Probably because the idea was abhorrent. If Evan was walking into danger, especially danger caused by me, then I wanted to be right at his side.
“Aye,” Evan said, dropping my hand to embrace his mother. “I don’t want them slipping past us and attacking here.”
June glared up at her son, hands on her hips. “Are ye insinuating that I can’t defend the lad? Because if that’s the case, I’ve got no problem putting you on your arse right here and now.”
In any other circumstances, her indignation would have had me laughing. Now though, it was just striking my heart with yet more terror. “June, it’s fine. I want to go with him. I need to.”
June wavered, gesturing helplessly. “I just want to keep ye safe, Reid.”
I tugged her out of Evan’s arms and into my own. “Thank ye, June. You’ve got no idea what it means to hear that.”
She hugged me back just as fiercely. “Aye, Reid. I think I do. Like Jameson said, yer part of our family now. So you go out there, and come back in one piece, ye hear me?”
“Aye.” I chuckled, wiping at my eyes as I pulled back. “Dinna worry. Evan will keep me safe.”
When I looked up at him, he was blinking away tears. “That’s right, sweetheart. I will.”
We stepped outside the front door to find a naked Calan waiting for us. It didn’t throw me as it would have other humans. That was one bonus of my upbringing, I supposed.
Up until now, I’d known Calan as a wonderful cook with a dark sense of humour. A permanent grump who secretly had a heart of gold. Seriously, the bloke kept bunnies. As pets. I’d caught him singing to them one morning and everything.
There was none of the male I’d come to know evident as he nodded sharply at us in greeting.
This was the clan’s enforcer, and he was ready for blood.
“Do we know how far out they are?” I asked anxiously.
“Between markers six and seven,” Calan grunted.
Helplessly, I looked to Evan to translate. “They’re about three miles out. We have wards called markers spaced approximately half a mile apart. The closer to here they get, the lower the number. They should’ve crossed marker six by now…but they haven’t.”
“Which means they’re up to something.” I spun to see Logan striding towards us. Unlike Evan and Calan, he was dressed. Either he didn’t give a shit about his outfit, or he knew he’d be more useful in his human form. “I don’t like it.”
I rubbed my arms. “I don’t like any of this.”
