My stomach roiled. I’d never been on a rollercoaster before, and suddenly I had no desire to ever try it.
There was a clucking noise from behind us. “Close your eyes, babe. It’ll help.”
Once more, I did what Logan said, squeezing my eyes tightly shut. I didn’t dare open them until Evan skidded to a halt, a low growl reverberating up from his core.
When I did open them, I wished I hadn’t.
The Clarksons had brought every warrior they had with them. They were armed to the teeth, standing in a loose battle formation. At the helm was Neil. He caught my gaze, shooting me a sinister smirk that had my blood running cold.
What was worse though, were the faces I didn’t recognise. They were stood off to the side, their size suggesting they weren’t jaguar shifters.
Bears, maybe?
“Mercs,” Logan muttered, holding his hand out to help me off Evan’s back. “Stay behind me at all times, and don’t leave Evan’s side.”
Evan, apparently, was going to stay shifted. Given how his fur was standing on end, that was probably for the best. I doubted he could be in this situation without his wolf forcing the shift.
I tangled my left hand back into his fur, tugging it lightly. “I’m right here, baby. I’m not going anywhere.”
His hackles lowered slightly as he edged closer. He didn’t lean into me—that would’ve knocked me off my feet—but he made sure he was touching me.
We were together. We were here. And we weren’t going to let the Clarksons separate us.
No fucking way.
It didn’t matter if we were outnumbered. We were on McCarthy lands. There was a whole unit of warriors on standby mere minutes away.
Really, you had to hand it to the McCarthys. They could’ve done the same as the Clarksons and brought everyone with them. Instead, it was just the inner circle. It wasa ballsy move.
Finn stepped forwards. I’d never seen such fury on his face. “Ye’d better have a good explanation as to why ye’ve invaded our lands.”
“Invaded is such a loaded word,” Neil drawled. “We’re simply requesting a meeting.”
Logan snorted. “Aye, I often go to meetings with numerous weapons strapped to me. Must be why I don’t get invited often.”
Neil’s eyes glinted. “Given the war declaration that was issued, ye can’t really be surprised.”
“This is how ye repay us after we showed ye mercy?” Finn growled. “We could’ve executed you, but instead we set ye free. Now, once again, you’ve broken the terms of the treaty. Make no mistake, if ye try and take Reid from our land, we won’t stay our hands. We’ll execute every one of you.”
“Ah, the treaty,” Neil said. Beside me, I felt Evan suddenly tense like a current had passed through him.From the corner of my eye, I saw the other McCarthys doing the same. What was that about? “I’m so glad you brought that up. We’ve been doing a little digging, and it appears there’s something that supersedes it.”
I didn’t get a chance to ask any of them what they’d felt. The question was answered from above. A beat of wings on the air.
My jaw dropped as two beings landed in the clearing on feather-light feet. Their wings were spread wide as they positioned themselves between the two clans of shifters, each of them facing a different group.
Angels.
I already knew they existed, but I’d never seen one in real life before. Whenever one had paid a visit to the Clarksons, I’d been locked inside my room and forbidden from leaving.
The two of them were so beautiful that it almost hurt to look at them. All supes were attractive, because life was just unfair like that. But these angels seemed almost…unearthly.
The one facing us was tall, his blond hair neatly styled. There was an aura surrounding him that exuded power and control. I didn’t need to see him in action to know he wasn’t someone to trifle with.
From my position, I could just about see the other angel. He was on the short side for a supe, his gaze completely focused as it swept over the Clarksons. Something about what he saw had his green eyes narrowing and his spine stiffening.
“What is the meaning of this?” the tall angel barked. “This is not what we agreed.”
Neil stepped forwards, his smarmy smile in place. “Forgive us, Micah. We got word that the McCarthys wereplanning to abscond with our clan member, so we had to move the meeting up.”
