He watches me intently for a moment and then nods. “I’ll text Forest and head home with you. I’m sure he’s not ready to leave yet.”
The door to the town hall opens, and Ten appears, jogging down the steps.
“Forest in there?” Glenn asks, and he nods.
“Yep.”
“Is he okay?”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine. Zed is handling him. Oh, and…” Ten meets Glenn’s stare. “Just thought you should know, since you’re Skye’s brother and all, but Red just spilled everything. He admitted to messing with your family. He was apparently following orders when he made sure Skye and Mav broke their bond. He messed with the cellphones to ensure it would happen and to prolong their pain.”
“Why the fuck would he do that? For what purpose? Skye nearly died!”
Ten shrugs, looking unbothered by the fact that one of their own caused so much pain. “All Red would say is that’s what he was told to do. Seems the fae might have it out for your family, dude. But then again, the fae can be tricksters, so maybe it’s not personal at all. Maybe they’re just having a bit of fun at your expense.”
“What the fuck?” Glenn murmurs.
But before he can say anything else, Jex shouts for Ten to hurry up, and Ten throws a thumb over his shoulder. “Anyway, sorry for the bad news, but watch your back. Seems Red’s got himself into a bunch of shit, and he seems to be dragging everyone else into it.”
“You going to help him?” I call out as Ten jogs away. He turns around, and his shoulders lift.
“Up to Zed.”
And with that, he’s gone.
“Let’s just get you out of here. We don’t need to be here for any of this. Forest can handle himself,” Glenn says, and I sink into him.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. You’re my priority right now, Arbor.”
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
GLENN
I drive us back home,Arbor’s eyes watering a little too much for him to see clearly, but I don’t mind doing it. I like taking care of Arbor.
But as I drive, I have a lot on my mind. Red fucking with Skye, the way Arbor shrank in on himself when Jex told him he couldn’t take part in the town hall meeting…
I didn’t like it at all.
I don’t likethemat all.
His hand curled around mine as we pulled out of the dirt drive, and it hasn’t left since. I set my truck keys in the cupholder and shot Forest a text to let him know where I was going. He hasn’t responded, but I know he’ll be just fine. He seems to be in his element up there.
Arbor, however, feels completely out of sorts. I can feel it somewhere deep inside me. Is it the spring water we shared? Is it something we did in that cave?
Either way, his mood is affecting me. Is this what being mated feels like? A fraction, even?
Fuck, it’s intense, whatever it is.
I stop at a fast-food restaurant and grab us something to eat and drink, making sure Arbor eats what he can. I can tell he’s upset, not only from his muted scent of peppercorn and citrus, but I know his mind is processing everything in real time.
There are moments on the drive when he just blurts everything out and times when he’s completely silent, mulling over what happened again and again. He likes to ruminate on things.
It makes me like him even more.
