Somehow, I knew that this time would be different.
Chapter 18
Evan
I’d expected Reid to pull away. For the shock to pass and for him to remember all the reasons why he hated me.
But he didn’t.
If anything, he clung tighter to me as my clan finished up with the Clarksons. None of them had been ended permanently.
Not yet, anyway. The treaty didn’t just give us authority to take their immortality for violating the terms, it also allowed us to use whatever methods were necessary to extract information from them.
Something, I suspected, Logan was about to enjoy immensely.
He had an unconscious Neil over his shoulder as he strode for the tree line with a bounce in his step. Calan followed close behind, still shifted with Martha on his back. Hamish and Brodie had the other two.
Finlay didn’t follow, instead disappearing behind Reid’s building. When he returned, he had a hose in one hand and a bucket of salt in the other.
I should’ve offered to help him clean up the evidence,but Reid was still hugging me. His face was pressed into my throat, one hand in my hair and one cupping the back of my neck.
All of the tension, the darkness, the fear…it faded away with Reid in my embrace.
He shifted his head so it was resting on my shoulder and sighed. “Sorry. Your arms are probably getting tired.”
“Not at all. I could carry you for days if that’s what you needed.”
He chuckled weakly. “Tempting as that sounds, I’m not sure I’mthattouch starved.”
I was.For Reid’s touch, anyway.
“But this is nice,” he said sleepily. “Been dreaming of you hugging me like this.”
My voice was raw, filled with disbelief that this was actually happening. “I’ve been dreaming of you doing all sorts, so maybe this makes us even.”
Reid didn’t respond to that, just hummed happily. From how his breathing evened out, I suspected he was drifting between sleep and waking. That didn’t surprise me. It was a common trauma response in humans. Especially if the human in question was surviving on just a few hours’ sleep every night.
My wolf was purring so loudly that I worried that Reid might somehow hear it. He’d never been happier than he was in this moment—giving Reid the protection and comfort we’d wanted to offer him for months.
He stirred again. “Is the shifter who was guarding me okay?”
“Yes, Hamish is fine. Ego’s a little bruised, but he’ll get over it.”
“He should be proud of himself,” Reid muttered. “Took all of them to kill him. And he killed one of themfirst.”
I made a note to find him later and pass on the praise. It was daft—none of us expected Hamish to have single-handedly fought off five jaguars. But like all wolf shifters, Hamish had his pride. He’d be kicking himself for a while over this.
If Reid wouldn’t mind, perhaps I’d introduce them. He might be the only one Hamish would listen to about it.
Once Finn had scattered the wet area with salt, he approached us with a grim expression. “Reid? Are ye hurt?”
I knew Finn was asking the question out of courtesy. I wouldn’t be this calm if Reid was injured in any way.
“No,” Reid said softly, not lifting his head from my shoulder. “I’m good. Evan got here in time.”
My arms tightened reflexively at how close it had been. If the Clarksons had been faster, Reid could’ve been kidnapped. Injured. Tortured.
Killed.
