Days later, and I was still fuming about Evan’s appearance in the club. How dare he think he could intervene in my life all these years later? It was bad enough that he hadn’t helped me when I actually asked for it. To try and do so when I specifically hadn’t asked him…It beggared belief. I knew shifters often got stuck on an idea and then were unable to let it go, but if Evan’s wolf had gotten stuck on protecting me? Well, he could just fuck off. Him and Evan both.
I didn’t want protecting, and even if I did, I didn’t want it from Evan. I’d be happy if I went the rest of my life without our paths ever crossing again.
It wasn’t just that he’d let me down. It was that he was an echo of what I’d escaped. The posturing shifter attitude. The belief that they knew best. The constant reminder that I wasn’t as strong as they were. That I needed their protection if I wanted to survive in this world.
Well fuck them, and fuck Evan too. I’d done alright surviving this far. If something bad did happen, then that was fine. I’d accept that before I’d accept Evan’sprotection.
I’d been having a perfectly nice evening until Evan had come along. Sure, the bloke I was dancing with had decided to get a bit handsy, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle. And even if I had needed back up, Bryce was there, with Mac and Cole heading my way.
I didn’t need Evan’s protection. I might’ve thought I needed it when I was ten, but I’d been wrong. I hadn’t needed him to save me.
I’d saved myself.
Alright, it had taken me another eight years, but I’d done it.
I couldn’t decide whether I was pissed or grateful that Evan had used a compulsion net in the club. On the one hand, I was furious that he’d tampered with my friends in that way. But on the other, it was a relief to know I didn’t have a fuck-tonne of explaining to do.
Seeing a six-foot-five brick shithouse appear from nowhere would’ve caused a lot of confusion. That he’d then picked up the prick who couldn’t take no for an answer like he was no heavier than a feather and threatened him would’ve taken more explanations than I had.
Evan using a compulsion net meant I could escape without having to tell the others who he was. If my friends had realised Evan was in the club then they’d certainly have had a word or two to say to him. Especially Bryce. He might give me shit, but he’d defend me to the ends of the earth.
Even if Evan could crush him under his thumb.
Something told me Evan wouldn’t do that. He hadn’t attempted to stop me advancing on him in the club. To be fair, my punch had barely registered, but that wasn’t the point. He’d approached that man like the predator I knew him to be.
But when I’d been poking him in the chest and yellingat him, he’d behaved more like a kicked puppy than a wolf. If he’d been shifted, I knew he’d have been baring his stomach with his tail between his legs.
Don’t think about that,I told myself sternly for the millionth time.Evan deserves everything you throw at him.
I wished that made it easier to forget the wounded way he’d watched me leave. Maybe then I could stop thinking about him altogether.
That was the excuse I gave myself for not bringing the incident up to Chester or Finn. From what the McCarthy leader had told me, I knew he’d ordered Evan to stay away. All it would take was mentioning Evan’s presence at the club and he’d be punished. It’d stop him attempting something similar.
But if I did that, it’d mean giving him more brain space than he was already occupying. That was the only reason. It wasn’t because I kept picturing his wounded round eyes or protruding bottom lip.
Nope.
It was because I was rising above and moving on with my life. The faster I forgot about Evan’s existence, the happier I’d be.
Besides, Chester and Finn had finally slept together. Finn was going to have enough trouble wooing Chester into spending more than one night with him. He didn’t need me adding clan drama on top.
No, it was better to just pretend Evan didn’t exist.
My plan might’ve worked if I hadn’t walked into the shop after a busy round of deliveries to find Evan hunched against the wall.
I came to an abrupt stop, rage rising again. “You.”
Evan cringed, lowering his head. My nostrils flared at the sight. I didn’t want him coweringbefore me.
Dimly, I was aware that there were others in the shop. Chester, Finn, and two more shifters, if I had to guess. I only had eyes for Evan though.
“I thought I told you never to come back here.” Technically, I’d told him more than that, but I wasn’t about to share that. I might have been furious, but I still couldn’t bring myself to get Evan into trouble. That, evidently, wasn’t going to stop me giving him yet another tongue lashing though. “And not only have you come back, but you’ve brought the whole furry cavalry with you?”
“What?” Chester’s voice carried a note of confusion as the smaller shifter covered his laugh with a cough.
I ignored them both, glaring at Evan. Why the fuck was he back in my worldagain?
Suddenly Chester was between us, his hands held up placatingly. “Reid, they’re here because someone came into the shop looking for you earlier.”
