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CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

logan

I ’d shared my strength with her, all of our strengths…

Before Acheron burned me through, before he killed me…

Then I’d died, and she’d healed me.

Silently, we rode along the country roads in the SUV, Torbin and Marcus in the two front seats.

Olivia, Emma, and I were in the backseat.

We’d tucked Riley in the spacious rear, trying to make her as comfortable as possible.

Flynn and Jasper had opted to shift and meet us back at Red Tail since the corner edge of their territory was the closest to Acheron’s bunker—if we traveled in a straight line at least.

Emma checked on Riley every few minutes, agitated over her nursing assistant riding in the back like she was. “Are you sure she won’t fit here in the seats?” she asked for the third time.

“It’s not far, and she won’t remember any of this,” I said, tugging Emma back down into the middle seat beside me and pressing her as close to me as she would go. “It’s the only way to get us all back at the same time.”

“I know, I know,” she murmured.

My hand smoothed over the place where the hole had burned through my chest, and I shuddered. Maybe bringing me back to life was a big deal, but I wasn’t ready to think about that yet.

Her primal power would get out to the clans, and we would have a whole new set of problems on our hands. I wasn’t ready for Six-Mile Manor to turn into a pilgrimage for our kind or a place to beg the multimorph to raise anybody from the dead.

I studied the faces around us. Maybe we would keep a lid on it.

“What do you think?” I asked them. “Is she the prophesied multimorph, the one meant for age?”

“That’s a stupid question,” Olivia said, glancing at me. “I don’t think she could be anything else, and I don’t even have to check with Dr. Wise.”

“Have you ever heard of any of them doing what she did back there?” Marcus asked. “I haven’t, and I’ve discovered some remarkable abilities in the shifter clans.”

Emma’s cheeks turned pink. “It’s not a big deal, and I have a lot more to learn.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “Oh, shut up. Modesty isn’t necessary.”

“Yeah, no modesty,” I said close to her ear, glad to see her pulse tick faster. “Modesty has no place among shifters.”

Emma turned to me, her eyes glittering in mirth. “If you’d told me two months ago that I’d be riding in an SUV filled with naked people, I’d have slapped you silly.”

“Like you wanted to slap the shit out of me after I accidentally let Sully-Boy out?”

She laughed. “Yeah, I was pretty pissed at you.”

I caught her chin and turned her face toward me. “Probably won’t be the last time.”

By the time we arrived at Red Tail, Flynn and Jasper met us at the gate, and Giselda watched from the tree line. Another vehicle idled at the entrance, and Flynn prepared to climb into the SUV we’d brought from the bunker.

“Coming with us, Torbin?” I asked the white-haired shifter and gestured to the other idling vehicle.

He tugged on his beard, and the little bells tinkled. “Believe I’ll head back to my own kind.” He slid out of the driver’s seat of the SUV, shifted, and lumbered away without another word.

I shook my head. Torbin had probably spent a whole year of words on the past month of spy hunting. No doubt he was ready for some peace and quiet.

“What about you, Jasper?” I asked.

He glanced toward Olivia. “Care for some company back at Six-Mile?”

“Sure, but I have a shit load of clean-up after the Conclave. Acheron or not, I’d be willing to bet none of the other clans came back after Logan threw them all out. You going to help with that?”

“If ye’ll have me.”

Emma gasped. “You threw them all out of the Conclave?”

I shrugged. “Had to. No way I was going to risk your safety on a bunch of shifters with questionable loyalties.”

“Asshole to the end,” Olivia quipped.

We climbed out of the SUV, and Emma opened the rear hatch. She whispered something in Riley’s ear. A breeze stirred her matted red hair as Emma healed her one more time before we left.

After Emma finished, Emma and I climbed into the back seat of the other vehicle, and Flynn sped away.

I wasn’t looking forward to the new list of casualties from Red Tail. At least he already knew where Riley lived. He’d check on Shannon, too. Hopefully, Emma’s other nursing assistant was fine.

“Am I driving?” Jasper asked, his hand on the door handle.

Olivia’s gaze narrowed, and she shoved him out of the way. “Think again.”

Jasper jogged around to the passenger seat, and as we left Red Tail, Giselda raised her hand in salute to the multimorph who had won the day. No doubt she wouldn’t leave Jasper and Flynn alone until they’d given her an update on the rainbow-haired vet.

Ten miles later, Emma leaned against my chest, and her hair grazed the sensitive new skin that felt a little like a bad sunburn. “You think Shannon’s okay? ”

I’d hoped she hadn’t thought of it yet but leave it to her to think of the woman she’d been working with for years. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

“She has kids, Logan. What are they going to do if something happened to their mother?” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, and her eyes turned glassy with unshed tears.

I pulled her close, captured her chin, and turned her to face me. My lips grazed hers. “We’ll take care of them.”

“Will Flynn?—”

“He’ll let us know.” I kissed her again, smoothing my tongue over her quivering bottom lip.

“Feck, ye two needa get a room or save it fer the wedding,” Jasper snarked as he gave me a pointed look in the sunshade mirror.

Emma grinned at me, a blush spreading over her skin. “Oh, we intend to.”

“Wedding, aye?” Jasper asked, wagging his eyebrows.

“Not so fast,” she said. “Not sure how that works with shifters, and I’m not ready to do anything official. He hasn’t even met my mother.” She groaned. “Shit.”

“What is it?” Olivia asked.

“My mother. That’s probably the first phone call I need to make when we get back to Six-Mile.” She scrunched her nose and turned thoughtful. “I’m not really sure where my cell phone is at this point, so I might borrow yours, Logan.”

“Sure.” My smile spread across my face.

Emma didn’t know how this fated-mated shit worked, and that was fine by me. She didn’t understand that we would be connected in ways we could never change or never want to change.

Even rejected fated mates eventually gave in to the pull that lasted until death. At this point in our bonding, marriage would just be an excuse to throw a party.

As the tires ate away the road, Emma’s head nodded until she relaxed against me, the drive lulling her to sleep.

Every bump and pothole startled her awake with a gasp, sometimes a whimper, and she gripped my knee as though expecting to have to defend from an attack, and I vowed once more to always keep her safe.

T he gravel crunched beneath the tires as we rolled down the Six-Mile driveway, and I rubbed my hand over Emma’s back to wake her slowly.

When she lifted her head, she wiped her chin. “Oh, sorry,” she said. “I think I might have drooled on you a little.”

“A little spit goes a long way,” I said, winking at her.

Olivia snickered. “He’s not wrong.”

At that, Jasper groaned. “If ye do yer job right, man, ye don’t need it.”

“Not true,” I countered. “More wet never hurt anybody.”

“Besides,” Olivia said, elbowing Jasper in the side hard as the vehicle rolled to a stop in the circle drive in front of the manor. She shut off the engine. “You never once complained about extra spit. In fact, I think you prefer it.”

Jasper rubbed his side and feigned surprise. “Are those sweet promises coming out of yer sexy lips now?”

They exited the vehicle, but I wasn’t in a hurry for Emma to leave her spot by my side, and she’d grown quiet.

I hugged her to me. “You okay?”

“Fine,” she said.

“You mean not fine.”

She twisted around, and her gaze landed on my face before darting away. “I mean, I guess we’ve got plans tonight, huh?”

“Only if you’re ready.”

She remained silent.

If she asked for my honesty, I would admit that I expected to make love to her for hours tonight, but I braced for her rejection.

Or her caution. Our relationship hadn’t been the standard human one.

Shifter mating bonds condensed the timeline for everything romantic.

However, since Emma was raised only as a human, I was more than aware it wasn’t necessarily something she could process easily or quickly.

Finally, she asked, “Can I get back to you on that? I could use a shower and maybe a nap and maybe a drink.” Her mouth twisted in a wry little grin. “And decide if I want to move in with you or go back to Willow Creek to check on Mom or Shannon or Riley.”

“It’s been a helluva day,” I said. “Hasn’t it?”

“Something like that,” she murmured, scooting away from me and hopping out of the door on the opposite side of the vehicle. She darted into the manor without waiting for me, probably intending to call her mom. Before she disappeared inside, she spun around. “Which bedroom should I use?”

I stepped out of the car, wanting to put my fist through the window glass. “The one you woke up in the first night.”

“Got it!” She waved, and the front door opened and closed.

Basically, she’d shut down every goddamned fucking fantasy I’d been dreaming up for the past month, and I leaped away from the manor.

Her hesitation stung my ego, and I was shocked she was already thinking about leaving.