“What was the third thing?” I didn’t know why my brain chose that moment to remember it, but I’d given up questioning it long ago.
Evan blinked at me a few times. “What?”
I shook my head impatiently, annoyed that my thoughts weren’t presenting themselves in an orderly fashion. “The day of the snowball fight, you said there were three things I had to accept but that I wasn’t ready to hear the last one. So, what was it?”
He laughed. “I can’t believe you remember that.”
“Technically, I had forgotten, but my brain decided now was the perfect moment to recall it.”
“I love your brain,” he murmured, kissing my temple. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I said, “but what was the third thing?”
“That’s it,” he said, amusement coursing through the bond. “I wanted you to accept that I love you, but you weren’t ready to hear it then.”
“Oh.” I snuggled back into his chest. “I’m ready now.”
“Good, because I can’t stop saying it. Question is, after tonight, are ye happy, Reid?”
I knew he meant about the evening, but my mind couldn’t stop racing over the ways my life had changed forthe better. All in ways I could never have expected or predicted. I was a fully accepted part of a clan. I had a family. Friends.
Best of all, I had Evan. Evan, who saved me every day, just by loving me.
“Yeah, Ev,” I said softly. “I’m happy.”
Epilogue
CALAN
This battle was proof of my failure.
It hadn’t even begun, but that we had two clans surrounding us was proof enough.
We were going to die here today.
Because I’d failed.
Logan stood beside me his jaw tight. He carried the same shame. He was the spy, I was the enforcer. He hadn’t seen this coming until it was too late.Then, when he finally had, I had no plans in place to stop it.
That didn’t mean we were surrendering. Far from it. All of our warriors were assembled here on the front line. We hadn’t risked leaving any in the centre of the clan lands, trusting those there to defend themselves if necessary.
Themselves, and the humans. Chester, Reid, and the others were locked in a panic room, several shifters outside. None of us liked it, but the reality was that we needed all of our power here, ready to face what was coming.
If they got past us, it would be too late. It’d mean we were already dead.
And everyone else would be too.
Evan was already shifted, along with his friends Hamish and Brodie. The three of them were crouched in defensive positions, each facing a different direction.
We were being surrounded.
Herded.
Finlay stepped forwards. “McCarthys! This is our land, and we will defend it or die trying.”
As far as motivational speeches went, it wasn’t long, but that didn’t make it any less powerful. Those shifted howled, while the rest of us cupped our hands around our mouths and howled along with them.
There was no fear in Finlay’s voice as he stepped close to speak to me. That didn’t mean he wasn’t feeling it. With his human mate several miles behind us, he was terrified. As his brother, I was able to see it when others couldn’t. “They’re too far away.”
