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Havana cleared her throat. “And Bree. Oh, and—”
“Go,” he told them, pointing at the door.
All three said quick goodbyes to Quinley as they melted out of the room and then promptly disappeared out of the house.
Rolling his shoulders, he let out a long breath and refocused on his mate. “Come here,” he coaxed, opening his arms.
She all but fell into them, her own arms winding around his waist.
He held her close, rubbing his chin on the top of her head; needing the contact and sensing she needed it too. His cat pushed against his skin in an effort to be closer to her.
“I was worried you’d get shot the moment you went outside,” she said against his chest. “I thought maybe the shooter was trying to lure you out of the house.”
“It wouldn’t have been Tommaso’s plan. Not when he’d be aware that we’d quickly work out his position. He needed to take a few shots and then run—plan successful or not.”
“I can’t believe he really came here, knowing the pride’s security would be stepped up and that we’d naturally be alert for a sniper. It’s reckless.”
“His pack has escaped consequences for so long it’s likely made them arrogant.”
She let her head fall back, revealing a pensive expression. “Huh. It would explain why they came after this pride in the first place. Only absolute dumbasses would target pallas cats.”
“I think the pack views it as pitting their strength against ours. The more powerful and dangerous the shifters they target, the more invulnerable they feel. But they’re not invulnerable, and they’ve forgotten that.”
“Samuele’s death should have served as a reminder.”
“It did to some extent, because the pack hasn’t tried swarming our pride. His death probably shook them a little. Then they came at me, but that didn’t work out. So they went after you, which also resulted in nothing. Each failure would have been unexpected and shook them that little bit more.”
Quinley really hadn’t thought about it like that. It made sense, though. The pack weren’t accustomed to being thwarted. Bending Alphas to their will over and over, evading detection and consequences, had made them cocky. It had really only been a matter of time before they became careless.
“I don’t suppose Vercetti told you anything helpful,” she said, lifting a brow.
“No. We didn’t bother questioning him. He wouldn’t have given up the location of his brothers.” Isaiah paused. “He did have the option of making the pain stop by telling us something, but he didn’t.”
Further proving that, no, he wouldn’t have blabbed under pressure.
Isaiah touched his forehead to hers. “He should never have gotten to you. Let alone here, in your own home. I promised you you’d be safe here.”
Oh, dominant shifters and their propensity to shoulder unnecessary guilt. “First of all, to state the obvious, this was not your fault. Second, I’m as safe here as it’s possible for me to be. Nobody is completely safe in any one place. You never heard of home accidents?”
“This wasn’t an accident.”
“No, but I’m making the point that being inside these four walls doesn’t give me some kind of magical immunity against all forms of danger.”
His gaze sank into hers, searching behind it. “Your cat’s all worked up, I see.”
Quinley nodded. “She’s tired of me and her getting shot at. And she was fretting like crazy that you’d be hurt, too. It only made her more cranky that your mom was mad at me.”
His brows flicked together. “My mom was here?”
“News of the shooting reached your parents pretty fast. They only left here about twenty minutes before you walked through the door. They’re elated that we’re imprinting, but it didn’t make Andaya any less mad.”
“Why was she angry at you?” he demanded, clearly outraged on Quinley’s behalf.
“For opening the front door when Havana knocked.” Quinley shrugged at his baffled expression. “She was a little shaken, I think. Fact is I should be able to answer my own front door. I didn’t do anything wrong tonight. The shooter did. I didn’t put myself in danger. He was the threat. Which was what I told her.”
“And her response?”
“Tears. Lots of them.” It had been one heck of a show. “I ended up apologizing for opening my door just so that she’d stop crying.”
