He can’t feel me, so I do my best to show him what I’m feeling. By kissing him. By holding him tight.
And finally, finally he says,
“I feel you, baby. Fuck, I feel you.”
His bottomless eyes… I might be willing to drown in them. I didn’t want to open up to let him in, but he busted the door down anyway. And I want him there behind that door now. Now and forever.
Finally, he starts purring. And it’s the best sound I’ve ever heard.
***
When we get up over the hill, walking hand in hand, I see Tyson and Ivy sitting on the tailgate of his truck, feet dangling. Ivy has her head on his shoulder and he’s smiling.
Her eyes land on me and I give her a smile. She returns it.
They hop down.
“She took off,” Tyson mutters. “Her sisters left in another car at the same time. I thought about stopping her, but I was settling Ivy down. I told her I could feel things were okay with you two. Ivy said to let her go.”
Mason thrusts his hand through his hair. “We had her in arms’ reach and now she’s gone? Riley is gonna lose it.”
“She knows she has to face him,” Ivy pipes up. “She gave us a message for him.”
“What message was that?” Mason asks.
“She didn’t mean it. She didn’t want to stay away, but she had no choice. It’s haunted her every day for almost seven years.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” he asks.
“We don’t know,” I reply, “But the look in her eyes… that girl looks like she’s suffered. A lot.”
We’re all quiet for a moment.
A little black cat with blue eyes winds its way around my legs and then around Ivy’s. We both squat to pet it. It purrs nearly as loud as a wolf shifter as it blinks at us and continues winding around both of our legs.
“Mom’s van won’t start. Ty tried to give it a jump but it’s dead,” Ivy says.
“I’ll take a look,” Mason offers.
***
A few minutes after the tow truck pulls away with Mom’s van, Tyson pipes up.
“Didn’t think about the fact we’d have to get you two home. Gonna be a tight fit.”
“We’ll ride in the back,” Mason says with a shrug. He looks at me.
I’m not riding all the way back in the back. I declare, “Shotgun!”
“I’ll drive!” Ivy calls out.
Tyson flashes a grin at Mason.
“Guess it’s the doggos in the back,” my man says.
And then he kisses me. Tyson kisses Ivy, and then the guys both climb up into the bed of the pickup truck.
Ivy slams the tailgate and I get in the passenger side.
“I’m controlling the music on the way home,” I state.
My sister rolls her eyes but mutters, “Fuzz.”
56
Mason
I wake up alone. But I feel her.
It’s ten o’clock in the morning.
And I hear her doing something downstairs. I fucked her until nearly dawn. I’m surprised she’s up so early.
I smell food.
I get out of bed and find my mate making something.
She beams a beautiful smile at me. “Just in time. It’s beautiful out. Let’s go eat on the deck. Go. I’ll be right out. Here. Take the coffees.”
I lean over and press a lingering kiss on her mouth.
Something smells different on her skin. I lean into her claiming mark and sniff. A pang of regret hits me when my eyes land on the little scab on the back of her neck from when I bit her yesterday. I drop a kiss on that, too.
“You smell funny, baby,” I say.
She swats at me playfully. “I haven’t gotten a shower yet and you made quite a mess of me, so don’t be so rude.”
“No, it’s not that kind of funny.” I take a closer whiff. I smell her and I smell something else. What is that smell?
“Breakfast is gonna get cold. Go outside. Bad Doggo.” She swats me again. “Take my coffee too.”
“Bossy little mate. What did you make?” I ask, slapping her ass.
“Stuffed French toast. Stuffed with cream cheese and berries. And bacon on the side.”
“Mm.” I like the sound of that.
When we got back last night after stopping for a meal on the way, we left the girls at Ty and Ivy’s and me and Tyson called a council meeting to fill them in on what happened. They already knew, because Greyson filled them in after his call with his cousins and our girls. Grey told us he knew what he had to do to implement the spell he’d worked on with the Young coven. He’d take Rick Bullock for a drive back to his car, utter some more words, and if all went well, he’d leave him there.
We ran it by Mitch and Eddy and could tell Eddy was already on our side, had no desire to drop the dime on us. Mitch stated that he’d still have to file a report but that he’d do it in a way that disclosed we’d fixed the breach with his recommendation that no further action was required provided that we kept an eye on Rick Bullock and informed them immediately if anything changed that would put things at risk. He wouldn’t guarantee that the rest of the council would be on side but stated he was 95% confident that it’d be enough.