I shifted back to my human form and grinned mockingly at Brodie. “If you wanted me naked under you, all you had to do was ask.”
As I’d predicted, Brodie backed off hastily, cursing as he did so.
Hamish had already shifted, bent double as he wheezed with laughter. “Ye can’t catch the gay, Brodie.”
“I know that.” Brodie flushed. “He just caught me off guard, that’s all.”
It was so rare for shifters to identify as completely straight that I only knew of two in the entire clan—Brodie and Calan. “After all these decades, ye should know that’s the card I’m gonna play.”
“Whatever.” Brodie sniffed. “I still pinned you, Evan, so I’m counting it as a win.”
I got up slowly, stretching my aching muscles. My wolf could sit in the same position for as long as needed, but as soon as I shifted back to human, my body liked to have a grumble about it. “Surely ye have better things to do than torment me?”
Hamish gave me a pointed look. “Just because yer part of the ‘mighty inner circle’ now doesn’t mean we’ll put up with your bullshit.”
I cut my gaze away. Really, I should’ve expected this sooner. “I haven’t been giving you any bullshit.”
“Exactly.” Brodie crossed his arms over his broad chest. Even for a shifter, he was huge. “Ye’ve been too fucking quiet, Evan. Avoiding us. We won’t have it.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ve been busy.”
“Busy guarding the same little human.” Hamish ran ahand through his blond hair. It fell in waves to his shoulders, making him look like he belonged on a Californian beach rather than in a Scottish forest. “Who is he?”
“No one.” I turned to start walking back towards the centre of the clan lands. My friends were right; I had been avoiding them. Not because I didn’t want to see them, but because I didn’t want to have this conversation. The one where I confessed how badly I’d fucked up. “It’s confidential.”
Hamish and Brodie fell into step on either side of me. All of us were naked, but that didn’t mean a lot when you were a shifter. Brodie might have been thrown by my teasing comments, but he didn’t bat an eye at our nudity. You couldn’t when it happened so frequently.
Brodie leaned forwards to peer at Hamish. “See, now I’m confused. Is the human no one? Or someone so important that his identity, and why it’s taking up Evan’s full focus, is confidential?”
“Hell if I know,” Hamish replied, matching the impish tone of Brodie’s question perfectly. “We’re too lowly to be informed, obviously. Evan’s reached heights we can’t hope to ascend to.”
“I hate you both,” I muttered, kicking at a rock. “Why have you always got to give me shit?”
“Because it’s what we do.” Brodie clapped me on the back. “Come on, your mam has chicken casserole and mash plated and waiting.”
I stopped dead. “What the fuck? I’m not telling my parents. What have they got to do with it?”
Hamish laughed. “The wee human really has messed with your brain, hasn’t he? I know there wasn’t much there to begin with, but come on, Evan.”
I glared at him. “You know I have the authority to put you on night shifts for the rest of eternity, right?”
Brodie sighed, putting an arm around my shoulders and steering me in the direction of my parent’s cottage. “Be sensible, Evan. Ye’ll just be in more trouble with yer ma if you punish Hamish.”
I grunted. “Can’t see why. She doesn’t have anything to do with this.”
Hamish clicked his tongue. “See, that’s where you’re wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
Hamish gave me a smug smile that had me wanting to follow through on my threat. “Who do ye think sent us to track ye down?”
I clapped a hand over my eyes. “Oh, please tell me you’re lying.”
“Come on,” Hamish chirped, grabbing my arm and towing me forwards. “What yer ma wants, she gets. You know that better than anyone.”
Hamish was right, which meant Reid wasn’t going to be the business of just the inner circle any longer.
He was about to become the business of the whole fucking clan.
