Evan clucked, no doubt reading my feelings along the bond. “Aye, and I will have deserved them.”
“No, he didn’t,” I said quickly, looking at my friends beseechingly. “I was wrong about Evan in many ways. I’d love for you all to get to know him. The real him.”
“But if you’d rather save that for another time, we can,” Evan added. “I’m here because Reid asked me to be, but if you’d prefer to just have dinner with him, I can leave.”
Approval flashed in Mac and Cole’s eyes. Really though, it was Bryce we needed to win over.
He sniffed before nodding primly. “Well, if Reid wants ye here then that’s good enough for me.”
Bryce waited until we were all seated before launching into his interrogation. “Okay, let’s start with why you’ve avoided us for the last severalmonths.”
I took a steadying breath, letting Evan’s calmness in the bond ground me. “Because my family came hunting for me.”
Whatever the three of them had been expecting me to say, it hadn’t been that. Mac leaned forwards, concern marring his brow. “What do ye mean, hunting?”
“Exactly that,” I said firmly. “They thought they could drag me home and…force me into something I didn’t want to do.”
“What the fuck?” Bryce demanded, but it was Cole I looked at. Cole who was now on his feet and pacing.
I got up too. “Cole? Are ye okay?”
“Fine,” he muttered, gesturing for me to sit back down. “Just feel better if I move. Keep going.”
From the pinch in Mac’s lips as he watched our friend, I wasn’t the only one worried about this reaction. I was glad they had each other. I didn’t know what door this was opening for Cole, but maybe Mac did.
And he’d be there for any fallout.
“I don’t understand.” Bryce scowled. “Why didn’t ye go to the police?”
“I couldn’t,” I said simply, meeting Evan’s eyes across the table. We’d agreed that he wouldn’t sit next to me, just be close in case I needed him. He smiled sadly, knowing how hard it was for me to be only offering half-truths to my friends. “I canna tell you exactly why, but the police wouldn’t have been able to do anything.”
“Okay,” Mac said slowly, not taking his gaze off Cole as he spoke. “But why did ye push us away?”
“Because I didn’t want any of ye to get hurt because of me,” I said quietly.
Cole stopped his pacing to frown at me. “That wouldn’t have happened. Mac and I can take care of ourselves, and you.”
Mac nodded. “He’s right. Why didn’t ye come to us?”
Against other humans, they’d have a good point. See, this was the issue with knowing about the supe world and having friends who weren’t part of it. “I know ye would’ve tried to keep me safe, but ye have no idea what they’re capable of. If I’d come to stay with any of ye, they would’ve hurt you.”
Bryce scoffed. “Ye can’t know that.”
“I can,” I said sadly, meeting Evan’s gaze. He nodded, letting me know that Finn would be okay with me sharing this. “They attacked Chester just because we worked together and he refused to give up my location.”
There was a long silence before Mac and Bryce exploded. The two of them were talking over each other at speed, firing question after question at me.
“What the fuck?”
“Is he okay?”
“Did he go to the police?”
“What happened?”
“When did this happen?”
A whistle cut through the air and they both fell silent immediately. Mac shot a sheepish smile at Cole. “Sorry.”
