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He slipped under my arm, letting me balance myself against him. He was tall enough that I could rest my forearm against his shoulder a bit, which helped. It felt like at least one of my ribs was broken, which was making me hunch as pain shot up my side with every step. My entire body screamed in protest. I swore those assholes wore steel-toed boots daily in hopes of getting to hurt me. The stairs down to my apartment were a bitch, and I had sweat on my temples and upper lip by the time we got to my front door. Dante pulled out his key while I leaned against the frame with my eyes closed.

“How come you never teleport straight home?”

“They can track it,” I murmured. “I avoid it when I can because they don’t know where I live and I don’t want them to find out.”

It was rare that I’d teleport directly into my apartment. I avoided it as much as possible. In the past year, the only time I did was after I found out about the white tiger bullshit. And it pissed me off that we couldn’t avoid them anymore. Those brothers were the key to the information we needed to survive. If I wanted to live past next week, if I wanted Dante safe, I needed to spend time with them. And that scared the shit out of me.

Dropping onto the couch, I grimaced from the pain. Dante locked up behind us, coming to hover at my side with a deep frown on his face.

“What do I do?”

“Nothing. We used the last potions I had on you and Ollie. I’ll get more in the morning. I’m just gonna rest my eyes for a bit.”

Normally, the beatings I got were meant to hurt me but not kill me. Not while I was still useful to my uncle. This time, they wanted to kill me. Only Dante stepping in saved my life. The pain was excruciating, though, and I didn’t have the energy to do anything but give in to the pull of darkness. It wasn’t the first time in my life that I’d passed out from the pain, and I doubted it’d be the last.

I woke up to murmured voices and a potion being shoved down my throat. A familiar voice spoke, amusement laced in his tone.

“Damn, Athena. Couldn’t be a little nicer? The man looks like shit,” Felix snickered.

It took a second for me to open my eyes, my focus on not choking on the potion. I groaned as it swept through me, settling the aches and painsenough for me to breathe right. I blinked my eyes open, looking around the room.

“What are you doing here?”

I hadn’t seen my friends since the wedding. None of the mates were here, just my friends and Athena stood over me. Felix jerked his chin over my shoulder and I followed his direction to find Dante standing on the other side of the couch.

“Your cousin called Athena. Athena called us.”

Callum stepped forward, his frown deep and prominent. “Why didn’t you tell us your family was hurting you? We could have helped.”

I shook my head, slowly pushing myself upright, one arm hugging my side. The potions took the edge off, but until I could see an actual healer, the more severe injuries would still be there. There wasn’t anything I could do until morning.

“There’s nothing you could have done. He’s got a damn army.”

“Is that why you’ve been avoiding us?” Hendrix queried quietly.

I pressed my lips together, avoiding their gazes. It wasn’t the only reason. But I didn’t want them to know their matings drove me away. It wasn’t fair of me to put that on them. They found people to make them happy. They shouldn’t feel guilty about that.

“Why he stayed away is irrelevant,” Athena interrupted. “The only thing that matters now is that you are aware of the danger. There will come a time when he needs you. You need to be prepared for that.”

They all looked worried, but determined to help me. I hated it. I never wanted to need them. I didn’t want to drag them into my issues. I spent years keeping things vague enough that they wouldn’t ask questions. Now Athena wasn’t giving me a choice. If I didn't want them to get hurt, I had to come clean at least enough to keep them safe. They needed to know what to look out for. If my uncle came for them, they needed to be ready.

“There are things about me you guys don’t know…”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

DECLAN

“We were wonderingif you would watch Oliver for the week. We’ve been planning this trip for a long time, and we were going to send Oliver to his grandmother’s house, but she had a fall. She’s okay, but she doesn’t feel comfortable watching him anymore. We can pay you…”

No, they couldn’t. They only offered because they were desperate. I was their last option in watching Ollie. I knew they thought I’d taint him with my gayness. I’d roll my eyes, but I just didn’t care enough to fight with them.

“That’s fine. You don’t have to pay me. Did you talk to him about butting into people’s business?”

My mother’s lips pursed in a poor attempt to hide her displeasure. She didn't want me parenting Ollie, but they weren’t going to be the ones to do it. As long as he wasn’t gay, he could get away with anything. And since one of his closest friends was a little girl, they figured that was a good sign of his sexuality. I questioned that, but never out loud and never in front of them. I was worried about what they’d do if they thought he was gay at such a young age.

“Your father said he would talk to him. There’s nothing wrong with standing up for people–”

“There is when it gets him hurt. He can have the same effect by getting an adult instead of putting himself in danger. He’s lucky that the last boy apologized for his behavior. If his new bully was a paranormal, I’d be afraid for him at school.”