Page 51 of The Enforcers: NOAH

Chapter 18

When Noah went back into the bedroom, Mina was lying spooned on the bed with Brock, holding him cuddled to her chest. He wanted to snuggle in behind her and wrap them both in his arms and hold them safe, but as soon as she heard him enter Mina bolted straight up, one hand protectively on her son’s shoulder.

Hell. All he wanted was to make her feel safe, and she was on the ragged edge of terror. How was he going to fix this?

“It’s only me,” he whispered, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “How’s he doing?”

“He’s exhausted,” she said. “He dropped right off in the middle of a sentence about lions and bears and woofs.”

Noah had to smile a little at that. “You should try to rest too.” He moved his hand to touch her, and she flinched away.

“Seriously?” she said. “You think I’m going to just lie down and go to sleep? I just found out werewolves are real, and werebears and who knows what the hell all else, and I’m hiding in a werelion’s house in the middle of a forest and people are out there with guns, looking for my son. I feel like I’m stuck in a horror movie that won’t end.”

Even though he knew this wasn’t about him, knowing she thought of him and his wolf as part of a horror show tore him up inside.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “We’re all doing the best we can. Flynn has patrols in the woods, and he and I are here. You and Brock are safe.”

“For how long?” she said. He could smell the fear on her, hear it in her voice. “I can’t go home. I can’t take the chance that Robbie and those other men will come after Brock again. I don’t have the money to go anywhere else. And I don’t know how to help my son. How do I stop this? How do I make him normal again?”

Normal. She thought her son was a freak—which meant she thought Noah was a freak too. He had to convince her it wasn’t like that, for all their sakes.

“You can’t stop it,” Noah said as gently as he could. “He was born this way—it’s normal for him. He has to learn to work with his animal so he only shifts when he wants to, and so it doesn’t get out of control.”

He could hear the ragged edge in her voice. “How do I teach him that?” she asked desperately. “I don’t know how to do that. What if he shifts in front of people and someone takes him away from me and hurts him?”

“Shh,” Noah said, reaching for her, needing desperately to comfort her. “It’ll be okay.”

“No!” She pushed him away and stood up, moving away from the bed. “You do not get to come in here and put your arms around me and act like everything is okay between us. You knew about this. You knew about Brock, and Robbie, and all of this, and you never told me any of it. How could you do that to me?”

Noah got off the bed, opening his mouth to explain, but she pushed him in the chest with both hands. “You stalked me to get to Robbie. You pretended to care about me, and you made me like you because you told me everything I wanted to hear, not what was true.”

Ah, hell. On top of everything else that had happened tonight, she felt like he’d betrayed her. She didn’t deserve this, and he didn’t know what to do to make it right.

Tears started pouring down her face, every one of them an accusation. “I really, really liked you,” she said. “You made me feel…like everything could be new and different and maybe I wasn’t so broken that no one could ever love me.” She shoved his chest again. “You made me feel what it would be like not to be all alone. To be happy. And it was all.” Shove. “A.” Shove. “Lie.”

She sank down on the edge of the big chair in the corner and put her face in her hands, shoulders shaking silently. Damn. Even as upset as she was, she was still thinking about Brock. She didn’t want him to hear her cry.

Noah couldn’t stand it. Dropping to his knees in front of her, he wrapped his hands around her wrists.

“Look at me, Mina,” he begged. “Just look at me for a minute. Please?”

She took a few deep shuddering breaths, and finally lifted her head. The sadness in her eyes stabbed him in the gut.

“It wasn’t a lie,” he whispered. “I swear to you, it wasn’t a lie. Those things I told you in your kitchen tonight, about how scared I am and how much I want this, they were all true. And if you listen to your heart, you’ll know I’m telling you the truth now.”

She stared deeply into his eyes, and he gazed unflinchingly back at her, trying to open himself, to let her see inside him.

Slowly she sat up and pulled her hands back, until they were resting in his. “Then why? Why didn’t you tell me?”

He didn’t know how to make her understand. He had a few hours, at best, to explain the complexities of life as a shifter, and to persuade her to be his mate.

He gazed into her eyes a moment longer, then stood up, still holding her hands.

“Come with me,” he said. “I need to show you something.”

She stood up, looking uncertainly at Brock. Noah knew she didn’t want to let him out of her sight.

“I swear to you, every shifter here would die to protect your son,” he said.

She bit her lip, then went over and dropped a kiss on the little boy’s head. Then she followed Noah out of the room.

As they passed through the living room, Flynn looked up from where he was hunched over on the couch, still drinking. His eyes were sharp and alert, though.

“We’re going to talk on the porch,” Noah said.

Flynn gave Mina a long look, scenting the air, then hoisted himself to his feet. “I’ll sit with the kid.” He added gruffly, “Take a jacket from the rack. It’s cold out for a human.”

Noah snagged a hunting jacket from a pegboard near the door and helped Mina into it. Then he opened the door and walked outside, instinctively checking for danger before letting her come out.

The night was clear with a hint of frost. The leaves would be turning soon.

Mina turned to him. “I still haven’t forgiven you, Noah Gray Wolf,” she said. “So talk.”