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Ranger’s expression was unreadable. He was either constipated or…
I didn’t allow myself to finish that thought.
FOURTEEN
RANGER
Matt shivered as he sat in the kitchen while I made the cocoa.
He had a blanket over his shoulders and was wearing my dad’s purple slippers. Shit, I should have come down earlier and built a fire, but I’d been enjoying having Matt beside me. Until his nightmares began.
Mating him was a done deal. I couldn’t take that back. But he was free to live his life, with or without me. Perhaps I was kidding myself when I said I mated him to protect him from Dane. Perhaps I’d done it for selfish reasons.
Matt wrapped his hands around the cocoa while I strode toward the fireplace. There was a pitter-pattering behind me as he followed at my heels, dragging the blanket and holding the cocoa. He sat cross-legged on one of the sofas, Dad’s purple slippers poking out of the blanket while I got the fire started.
Hunter had brought in and stacked the firewood when we were last here and made sure there was kindling and matches, so I didn’t have to venture out to the shed. Matt slurped his hot drink behind me as the fire roared to life.
“That’s nice.”
I got my cocoa and sat opposite him.
“If I didn’t know who you were, I’d never believe you are part of a dark underworld. This house and everything in it, the way you cook dinner, make a fire, and a hot drink suggests a quiet normality.”
I wished I could stamp out his belief that we were different. Other than us being shifters, “We’re just like any other family.”
He didn’t respond, and we sat in silence. No snarkiness from Matt, no defensiveness from me, and no avoiding the truth from either of us.
But a trilling from somewhere in the house had Matt shriek and leap up, his cup flying into the air. Dad would have had a fit if the carpets were soaked in hot chocolate, but the cup was empty. I didn’t get up but outstretched my hand and caught it.
“No, you’re not like other people. Most people, most human beings, can’t do what you just did.”
“Hold that thought.” I tore over to the bottom of the stairs and skidded to a halt as I remembered Matt needing to stay within reach. I yelled over my shoulder, “I’ll be back. Going to get my phone.”
The ringing stopped before I got to my bedroom. Flint. It was six in the morning, but the dark sky had middle-of-the-night energy. The phone battery was at thirty percent, but it occurred to me I could charge it in the car if I had to. And I had the other phone, the one that stayed with the house.
“Ranger, do you have power?”
I told him we didn’t. They did at my place, though half the city was in darkness. He said that despite the awful weather, the crews were out fixing the lines.
“There are rumblings about your wolf destroying Dane’s car and injuring him and his bodyguards.”
I didn’t need that additional complication in my life. But what shifter gave a shit about that. If the injured party had a problem, our beasts would fight, and once one shifter dealt theother a decisive blow, we’d call it a day. For a more serious crime, we’d fight to the death as we had with Emilio and his traitors.
Something fishy was going on.
“Not true. How I described it yesterday is how it went down.”
“There’s been a complaint made to the Supreme Shifter Council.”
The Obsidian Circle didn’t have their own council as most packs did. Dane was the law. But the SSC as we called it was an overreaching council, where any shifter, not just wolves, could take their grievances. But Dane had never been inclined to consult with others or abide by their orders.
“They want to talk to you.”
“Well, until the flooding subsides, I can’t go anywhere.”
“Online.”
Fuck! I hadn’t expected those older shifters to be so tech savvy.
