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“What would you tell me if our positions were reversed?”
“That it was fine. You can always cry on my shoulder, Jules. You know that. At least, I hope you do.”
“I do, and that goes both ways.” I saw the set of his jaw and pushed forward. “Seriously. I get you’ve got this whole white knight thing going—which I love, by the way—but I’m not going to let you tear yourself apart protecting me. I just won’t. You wouldn’t let me, right?” He nodded.
“I love you.”
I was never going to get used to that, that quick glance, that naked vulnerability on such a beautiful man’s face.
“I love you too. Now, let’s take your advice and head to bed. We need to find a way to save the day tomorrow.”
When I lay down beside him, Brandon rolled over, covering my back. He lay with me as I stroked Finn’s chest, right up until his breath evened out and he dropped off. Brandon moved closer, mouth to my ear. “Everything OK?”
“Better now,” I whispered. I felt a swell in my chest. While he might’ve been this cool, clinical switch in the bedroom, he cared a lot about the pack dynamic, more so than anyone. I had no fucking idea what I was doing, having a relationship with so many men, but I felt safer—floundering as I was—with Brandon at my side. “I wish we had bonded, then I could show you exactly how I feel.”
“I know,” he said, leaving the exact meaning of that open, but as I settled back against his bare chest, I was pretty sure we were on the same page.
25
Which was more than could be said for Jack the next day.
“This is a fucking suicide mission,” he said.
We sat around the dining room table, the remains of our breakfast spread across it along with pieces of paper hastily scribbled upon.
“So how many of these... flintlock type guns did they have?” Aaron asked.
“You’re not thinking about this right,” I said. “We had this brief glimpse at what was happening in Leifgart. I can’t give you reliable information about their arms stores.”
“That’s the name of their city, correct?”
“Yes, she’s said that about a million times,” Jack said. He leaned over and grabbed the cigarette packet from the table and stood up. “I’m going for a smoke. You comin,’ Hawk?”
“Not yet,” he replied. “We really need to wait for that bloke Sylvan to come back. He’s the one that lived there. He’d have the more accurate information.”
I watched Jack’s expression, saw the anger easily enough in the flash of his eyes and the thinning of his lips. Slade glanced at him as he stood there and shook his head. This was obviously the expected response from him, and no one seemed to like it. But nothing changed, he jerked his body away from the chair and stormed out.
“So, Jules, this building here—”
“Hawk’s right, we’re not likely to get very far without Sylvan. We’ll hopefully be able to talk to him soon, when Ophelia’s finished with him.” The guys watched me get to my feet. “I’ll be back in a second.”
“Where you off to?”
I turned to see Slade had followed me out, Buddy at his heels.
“I was just going to—”
“You’re going to find Jack, aren’t you?”
“I’ve got to get this sorted. We can’t go through the portal like this.”
“We have to go through the portal, not Hawk, not Jack. I get you like Hawk, I do too. But Jack, he doesn’t want this. I said I’d never bullshit you, love, but this guy, he might be worth cutting loose.”
“You’ve never liked him, have you?”
He shook his head, snorting in frustration. “What’s to like? You girls love arseholes, but he’s going to be less a sulky brat and more a fucking liability over there. I’m walking with the woman I love into a literal monster’s den. You can’t blame me for not wanting any weak links. I love you, Jules. I want every bloke that’s there ready to lay his fucking life down to save you, or I don’t want them there. That’s what you deserve, Jules, not this dickhead’s games.” He watched me turn to go. “Where are you going?”
I nodded, frowning. “To get some answers.”
