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‘The danger is gone. She’ll calm down soon enough. Brock didn’t stay the night here. He stayed at the hotel I booked for the guests in town. I doubt we’ll see him again.’
‘I’m not sure that’s a good thing, Cory. I need to get rid of the fucking threat. If I don’t, she’s never going to feel truly safe. Not in the pack or by my side.’
‘She’s sleeping next to you, is she not? She would have run if she didn’t feel safe in your arms. She wouldn’t be asleep if she didn’t trust you to protect them. Have you slept?’
‘No, and I doubt I’ll be able to until everyone is gone.’
‘They should only be here for breakfast, if they even show up for it. We’ll get through this. Evie and I will wait for you guys before we go down together. Let me know when you’re ready. Evie left some clothes outside your door for the girls. No rush.’
‘Thanks, Cory. Truly.’
‘No thanks. We’re family.’
‘How’s she doing?’ Mom mind-linked me minutes after my conversation with Cory ended. I let her and Dad know what happened last night after we left.
‘I don’t know, Mom. She’s sleeping, but she was petrified last night.’
‘Just hold her. Help her remember that she’s safe now.’
‘I love you, Mom. I’m sorry for all the fucked up shit you went through.’
‘Oh, honey, what I went through isn’t even as bad as what Zi went through. Celeste protected me at every turn, and then I had your Dad to help me through it all. Zi needs you to be that person for her now.’
‘I will do my best.’
Zi woke up from a nightmare a few minutes after my mind-link with Mom and looked around frantically. I grabbed her hand, and she calmed down, finally giving me a tentative smile when her eyes landed on mine, making my heart speed up like they did the first time I laid eyes on her.
Her features were deceptively soft and delicate, and it screamed at all of my protective instincts to tuck her under my arm and surround her to make sure nothing ever touched her. It was maddening, because I knew she was one of the strongest people I’ve ever known to survive everything she did and raise a child as wonderful as Molly on her own. I will be eternally grateful to my cousin for not only bringing her into my life, but having helped her through all the years I wasn’t there. Evie was a goddamn gift from the Moon Goddess, not just for Cory, but for making my life complete when she brought me my family.
“He’s gone. He stayed the night in the hotel in town. Cory doesn’t think he’ll show up for breakfast.”
“Okay, so we just need to hole up through breakfast. I can grab Molly a few snacks and come back up,” she said, pulling the blankets off to stand.
“No. No hiding, Zi. This is our home. We won’t hide from him again. You’re safe, but you won’t feel comfortable in the pack until you see he can’t touch you here. Until you rid that shadow from your back.”
Zi’s eyes were pleading at me to give in, even while she didn’t say anything, and fuck, I wanted to. I’d give her anything she needed, but she’d never accept her place in the pack or by my side if she didn’t think we could protect her, or if she thought she was putting me in danger by doing so. I needed her to see me as the wall that would stand between her and anything that so much as looked at her or Molly the wrong way.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, James. What if it starts problems for the pack?”
“Your problems are already the pack’s problems, Zi. That is what it means to be in a pack.” I walked around, sat on the bed and pulled her onto my lap, hoping she could feel the way my heart beat protectively for her. “You’re not alone. We have the entire pack behind us. Give us a chance,” I whispered, desperately hoping she would give me a chance above all else.
I felt the moment her body submitted to mine. The way her tense muscles relaxed and the sigh that left her pink lips as the fear left her body in my arms.
“James,” she whispered when I kissed her pulse point.
“No one is taking you or Molly from me. I promise.” Zi shuddered at my words, turned around and buried her head in my chest, trembling. She didn’t cry this time. She just embraced me and allowed me to absorb her fears. She pulled back when we heard Molly stirring, her little, tiny stomach grumbling.
“Let’s go down to breakfast, then,” Zi said, standing up, then frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
“I need to go home and get some clothes.”
“Evie left some outside,” I said, opening the door and grabbing the bag of neatly folded clothing.
“This is why she’s the luna. She always thinks of everything.” Zi gave me the first full smile of the morning, and I couldn’t help but grin back and agree.
I got ready in a pair of slacks and a black button-down, then I let Zi get changed in the bathroom while I helped Molly into her baby blue dress with white daisies sprinkled on it. Max’s tail thumped happily in my head, and my heart jumped out of my chest and into her little hands when she looked down at her dress, smiled sweetly at me, and gave me a big hug.
