Page 41 of Shifters Unifying (Shifters Destiny: Willow Creek Shifters #2)

“I think Acheron tied me to my sister somehow. Or forced my sister to do it. Some kind of link. That’s how they found us.

Probably had to be her since our genetics are similar.

” He turned his head toward me, but his eyes didn’t quite focus.

He stared at the wall behind me. “You know what that probably means for you.”

“I know what it could mean. If we’re related.” Telling him about the location map his sister had left behind in his brain didn’t seem prudent. Not yet. It could still be a trap.

“You ready to talk about the possibility of her being your birth mother yet? What might that mean for you?”

“No.”

“Will you ever be ready?” he pressed.

“Not until after I tell Logan. Even then, the jury’s out. Don’t push me, Marcus. I have a mother, and I’m not sure I have room for another one, especially not one who’s working for Acheron.”

He sighed. With a pain-filled groan, he sat up, blinked rapidly again, and waved his hand in front of his face. Then he paled. “Well, I have some bad news, Emma.”

“What’s that?”

“You’re going to have to leave me behind,” he said.

“Oh, I don’t think so, Bob. You’re going to help me carry that rock back to Six-Mile.”

“No can do, multimorph.”

“I’m not going to talk about that. Stop trying to force me into it, Marcus.”

He cleared his throat. “That’s not it.”

“Then what?”

“I’m blind.”

My heart clenched in my chest. As much as I wanted to see the trove, I couldn’t leave Marcus at the front of the cave, defending it alone. Not without his sight. Dragging him and the cube into the rear of the cave didn’t make any sense either and wasted more time than we could spare.

“Guess that means you won’t be leading me into the booby-trapped relic trove any time soon,” I said.

“Not this time, I’m afraid. That’s why you have to leave me behind. It’ll take you too long to get back to Six-Mile.”

“Doesn’t matter. It’ll take as long as it takes.” I hooked my arm through his and dragged him to his feet. “Come on, then. You get one end of this rock, and I’ll take the other.”

Together, beneath a waning moon, Marcus and I trudged into the main Six-Mile compound, hours and hours later, supporting the stone between us.

Thankfully, we hadn’t met any more shadow mages or corrupted shifters.

I assumed that meant Acheron knew of my new skills and was busy working up some other way to attack us, but I wasn’t going to complain about a reprieve.

A shout came from somewhere near the big house, and a horde of shifters engulfed us, carrying us along toward the manor. Logan must have managed to convince nearly all the conclave attendees to come back with him.

“Where have you been, multimorph? Have you been training in another territory?” someone asked and the questioned echoed through the crowd. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

Marcus stiffened as the crush of people bumped into him. He tripped on another’s feet, and his expression hardened.

“Taking care of business,” I answered, forcing a light tone into my voice despite grunting under the weight of the block. “Need to know business. I’ll tell you about it when I can.”

“What’s that you’re holding? Can we carry it for you?”

“No, that’s alright. I found a pretty rock and brought it back for my mate.” It sounded like lie even to my own ears, but none of them challenged me on it.

“Let’s set the stone down here,” I whispered to Marcus. “You can get out of here, if you’d rather. I’ll stay with it until Jasper or Logan gets here.”

“Thanks,” Marcus answered. “I don’t want to deal with the pity yet.”

After we lowered it to the ground, Marcus shot an unseeing glance over his shoulder and filtered into the crowd and disappeared.

Shifting hadn’t fixed his sight, and my healing him hadn’t worked either, but thanks to his honed shifter senses, he hid his blindness well.

When the Ville Platte Cats discovered his blindness, they’d probably depose him as the alpha.

Anything construed as weakness wasn’t easily tolerated in clan alphas, and Ville Platte Cats were worst of them all.

Jasper appeared at my elbow. “Anything I can do for ye?”

I pointed to the block. “Can you get that relic to a safe place?”

“Yer wish is my command,” he said. He waved Phil over, and the two hustled the block toward the gym and the locked relic trove at the rear.

The fated mate bond throbbed in my head. Logan was close. I spun in place and scanned the crush of shifters. Finally, I caught sight of the face I’d been searching for, his sexy scruff unshaven, and I jumped at him.

“It’s been a helluva a day, mister. Am I glad to see you.”

Logan caught me in his arms and lifted me until we were eye-to-eye. The storms in his icy blue irises still raged, but the corners of his eyes crinkled. “What were you thinking, running off like that?”

I dropped a kiss on his mouth but didn’t deepen it. Not with all the others around. If I started that, we’d be in the middle of reunion sex before I could stop it, and I wouldn’t want to. “I was thinking and acting like the multimorph,” I countered. “You know, since I’m in charge of everything.”

He lowered me to the ground and chuckled, low and close to my ear. “I should wring your pretty little neck, but I’m just glad you’re safe.”

I pressed my ear to his chest. The pink of the new flesh in the center of his chest had finally disappeared, and I relished the thud-thud-thud of his beating heart. Not dead. No matter what Acheron threatened.

“We found what we needed,” I murmured. Missed the shit outta you.

“That’s good.” And I’m not thinking about a relic… Just some magical ass.

My cheeks warmed. However, I leaned away from him and gave him a serious look. “There’s more.”

He studied my face and frowned. “What is it?”

“Logan,” I whispered, for his ears alone. I think I know where Acheron is hiding.

His eyes widened. How did you come by that?

I’ll explain later. Worry snapped through our bond, but he didn’t argue.

After we reached the front steps of the manor, I climbed onto the porch and turned to the dwindling group of escorts. The steps creaked as Logan joined me.

“I know you have many questions. But for now,” I announced. “I want food and a fuck. Then maybe a nap. In that order. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

“Yes, multimorph,” Logan announced and dramatically bowed. “As you command.”

Laughter worked through the few who had followed us all the way to the manor before they dispersed without complaint. I covered a yawn.

Then I started as another, decidedly unhappy, woman’s face remained at the bottom of the stairs. She crossed her arms. “There you are, Emma. You owe me a conversation, young lady.”

I reached for Logan’s hand and grasped it to steady myself. “Uhm, Logan… What the hell is my mother doing here?”