Page 53 of Witchblood

“With the Volkov’s black cloud hanging over us? No. Go. It’s late.” Liam commanded.

“I’ll be back in the morning,” Carl conceded, like he could somehow contradict his alpha. He turned and headed toward the front door. A minute later he was gone, and I could hear a faint pounding on the wall.

“Put me down,” I told Liam.

“Sebastian…”

“No.”

“I don’t like it any more than you do. But he made threats.”

“What kind of threats?”

“To talk to the police, to get media coverage.”

Words spoken in desperate fear. I could sympathize. “The love of his life is missing. I know I’d make all sorts of threats if it were me.”

Liam’s expression softened. I gripped his shirt and tugged his face close to mine. He offered a kiss, which I accepted, enjoying the simplicity of just us. When the kiss ended, he set me carefully on my feet. Liam didn’t want totake care ofSean. He cared about Dylan. Dylan loved Sean. Hell, Liam might even like Sean too. But he was a practical man. Now he was mated to me, and I didn’t have to follow werewolf rules any more than a fae would have to.

I headed for the safe room and opened the door.

The man inside stopped banging on the wall the instant he saw us. Sean wasn’t at all what I expected, though I’m not sure what I expected to match the thin, blond Texan that was Dylan. But the tall, very beautiful looking Asian man was not it. I didn’t know enough about Asian men to tell if he was Japanese or Korean, but I knew he wasn’t Chinese. Just something in the face. He was tall. Over six feet, even towering a few inches over Liam. Thin, but more of a runner’s sort of build than that super high metabolism waif-look some men had. He had high cheek bones, large dark eyes, and a perfect top-long, sides short, haircut.

“You can’t keep me here forever,” the words came out of him in a huff, like he’d been yelling for a long time. He seemed to slump like he was just too tired to keep fighting. Was Carl feeding him enough?

“Will you put together some sandwiches for us?” I asked Liam.

He frowned down at me as I stepped into the room. Sean stumbled back a few feet and sat on the bed.

“I’m fine. Hungry and tired, but fine.” I gave Liam the shoo away gesture with my hands.

“Are you sure?” Liam asked, a loaded question. Was I sure about what? Him? My lack of fear of Sean? My lack of concern for whatApawould do when he found out about what I was going to be telling a human? Was I sure it was okay for him to leave my presence after being so recently mated? The last part was probably the worst. Because I really didn’t want him to stop touching me. It felt like a dream that would evaporate the second he left my sight, but I wasn’t a coward. Not anymore.

“Don’t you trust me?” I asked.

He smiled. The expression filled with warmth and peace. “Yes,” he breathed.

“Food first, then we can see if we can fix this den situation,” I told Liam, and closed the door, locking both Sean and myself in.

After I heard Liam walk away, it took a minute to regain my composure. Odd how strong I felt in his presence. Like nothing could touch me. Only to fall into worry again the second he left. I steeled myself for whatever anger Sean would rightly throw my way and turned to face him.

He looked beat. Bags around his eyes, lips drawn in a strict line of worry and shoulders tensed up almost to his ears.

“Can you do me a favor first?” I asked him.

“I owe you nothing. I don’t even know you.”

“True enough. I’m just asking for a few minutes of your time. I’d like to sort this whole thing out.” Without bloodshed, I thought. “My name is Sebastian. And you are Sean. Dylan’s boyfriend.”

Sean went very still. “You’retheSebastian.”

“You make it sound like I’m famous or something.”

“You are. At least around here. Liam’s been waiting a year for you, only for you to show up and vanish again. Dylan was so ecstatic when you showed up. Practically glowing, saying that Liam was thrilled.” Sean shook his head. “Their relationship is confusing enough, and then there’s you. I couldn’t get why he wanted you so bad if you wouldn’t just show up already. And if you couldn’t, why he wouldn’t go to you. It’s like he’d walk around in this love sick daze whenever anyone brought you up.

“Where the fuck have you been? Can you rein in these crazies? Dylan was telling me that you calmed Liam. Whatever the fuck that means. This whole place is a madhouse. They act like he’s a mob boss only he hasn’t been here and all the times I’ve met him he’s always been very polite and unassuming. He owns a bakery. And Maple Falls doesn’t seem like a big enough town to have a mob. Since he’s not taxing my auto shop forsecurityfees when it’s only two blocks from his bakery, I don’t know how this all fits.”

“He’s not a mob boss,” I assured Sean. “Dylan isn’t doing anything illegal.” Not technically. I didn’t think there was some obscure constitutional amendment that banned anyone from being a werewolf, or even worse, a gay werewolf.