I’d only stopped long enough to shower off the gore before coming home. I didn’t want to hide anything from Reid, but equally, he didn’t need to see the evidence of just how bloodthirsty I’d been.
Very, it turned out.
Reid carefully set down the photo he’d been looking at. “They’re still alive, then?”
“Aye. For now.”
“Can you…” Reid cleared his throat, squeezing his eyes tightly shut.“Do ye think Finn would spare them?”
“Why would ye want him to? You didn’t care about Clyde.” Not in the way I’d mistakenly thought he had, anyway.
Reid’s fingers drummed on his thighs. “That was different.”
“How?”
“Because,” he said stubbornly. “It just was.”
“Reid.” I squeezed his knee gently. “Howwas it different? Clyde came onto our lands and violently threatened a human. Those shifters last night didn’t just use violence, they planned on kidnapping you. Their lives are ours to take.” He made a small moue of protest but I rubbed his leg soothingly. “I’m not saying that’s going to happen, Reid. I suspect Finn is already planning to spare them, if for no other reason than to stop a full war breaking out. Neil is the new alpha, and the last thing we want is to have deposed two in a row. That’ll cause all sorts of fucked-up shit. But I want to understand why ye think they should be spared.”
“I already told you—because it’s different.”
I was about to push him on it when realisation dawned.With it, a yawning pit opened in my stomach. “Wait, are you saying what happened with Clyde was okay becauseChesterwas the one in danger?”
Reid nodded, drawing his legs up to his chest. My hand fell away as he did so, and I was too shocked by what was happening to protest. “Exactly. Clyde threatened Chester, so he deserved to lose his immortality.”
My wolf growled. I was in full agreement with him, but my instincts were warning me to tread lightly. “But whenyou’rethe human who was endangered, it doesn’t matter?”
“Not in the same way,” Reid muttered, leaning his forehead against his knees. The weariness I’d observed in him during my shifts was even harder to witness up close. “They’re my family, so it’s kind of on me that they’re even here.”
I ran my fingers through my hair as I exhaled. “Reid, I canna say this clearly enough. You arenotyour family. Their decisions are not your decisions. You deserve protection just as much as any other human in our lands.”
He shrugged, picking at a loose thread on the hoody. “Maybe. Maybe not. I’m just saying there’s no point causing more trouble just for my sake. It’s not worth it.”
There was a strange ringing in my ears. “Do ye meanyou’renot worth it?”
“Well, it’s not like there’s anyone who’d really care or miss me. My friends might, but they probably hate me now given I’ve ghosted them. And I know all of ye would fight for me, and I’m grateful, but it’s not like with Chester and Finn.”
I stared at him as he let his legs fall to the ground, his head dropping onto the back of the sofa in defeat. How could he think that? Did Reid not realise that thiswasexactlylike with Chester and Finn? This man consumed my every thought, and he believed that if he disappeared or was killed, I’d just…move on?
That was when it hit me. I’d spent months watching Reid. Countless hours spent learning his habits. His routines. His preferences. I knew more about him now than I knew about myself.
But he couldn’t say the same about me. Looking at this from his point of view, I was some bloke from his past who he’d had a handful of encounters with.
He didn’t see a future for us…but I did. Fuck. When had that even happened?
Ages ago, moron. It’s just taken you this long to acknowledge it.
I didn’t just want to protect Reid—I wanted to love him.
I couldn’t expect him to be in the same place as me. That was unreasonable. But there was no fucking way I was letting Reid think he wouldn’t be missed if he was taken. There were a few things Reid needed to learn, and this one was at the top of the fucking list.
Sliding off the sofa, I knelt before him. Thanks to our height difference, it put our eyes at pretty much the same level. “Reid.”
He lifted his head, eyeing me cautiously. “What?”
“I wouldn’t just fight for you,” I said quietly. “If you had been taken from us last night, I would’ve slaughtered every being who stood between the two of us. I wouldn’t have waited. I wouldn’t have rested. I wouldn’t have planned. I would’ve gladly surrendered control to my wolf until ye were back at my side.”
Reid’s mouth parted in shock. “Are you serious?”
