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Baer groaned and rubbed his temples. He was starting to get a headache with all this arguing in circles. “Then we need to rip out that page and burn it.”
“Baer—”
The Animal Weaver’s head snapped up and he glared at Clay. “Do you trust Grey or not?”
Clay paused and licked his lips. He actually paled before Baer’s eyes. “I don’t know,” he whispered. “A month ago, I would have easily said yes. He’s done nothing to make me doubt him. He’s a complete pain in the ass, but he’s a good man. But that note…if he betrayed the Circle in the past, how do we know it’s not a part of who he is? The man can read our emotions and thoughts. It wouldn’t be hard at all for him to manipulate and lie to us without us ever knowing it.”
That, unfortunately, was true, but Baer still refused to think Grey capable of it. There had to be more to this story.
“Fine. We keep digging quietly, but the man still deserves to be told the truth. Even if we find nothing. Maybe the last Soul Weaver made a mistake. Doesn’t mean this one will.”
Clay nodded. “Until I figure it out, let’s keep this to ourselves. I don’t even want you to tell Wiley.”
“Keeping secrets from our soul mates? You really think that’s a good idea?”
“I don’t have any good ideas right now, Baer,” Clay said, throwing his hands up in the air. “I’m flying just as blind as you are. All I know is, the past me decided to put out this warning, and he must have had good reason.”
Baer’s belly tightened into a hard knot. Keeping things from the others, especially Wiley, didn’t sit well with him at all. But he could see the logic in looking for more information first. He reluctantly nodded. “I’ll keep this to myself, but don’t let this color your view of Grey. I truly believe he’s on our side.”
“So do I. And right now, him knowing about this would only make him feel worse. He’s got blindness to deal with.”
Baer’s heart went out to his friend. He looked exhausted and emotionally torn. He and Grey butted heads constantly on nearly everything, but there had always been a mutual respect between them.
“Okay,” Baer sighed, “we’ll dig deeper, though I don’t entirely agree here.”
“I know. I’m not sure I do either. I’ll talk to the aunts the next time they’re here and see what they say about this. I’m sure they know something.”
“You know they won’t tell us anything about the past.”
“Well, this time, I’m going to insist.” Clay’s frown was fierce. “It’s time they spilled more about what happened to us.”
“Come on, let’s get out there before the others grow suspicious.” Baer turned to the door, throwing one last glance over his shoulder. Clay was putting the book inside a drawer this time, his shoulders slumped as if he felt the weight of the world on them.
Wiley gave him a questioning look when he returned to the family room, but Baer smiled and pulled him back under his arm. His slight body felt comforting against Baer’s, and he tightened his arm. Wiley hugged him.
Dane was now collapsed on the couch next to the others, his head in his hands. Clay sat next to him, putting his arm around his boyfriend. Dane leaned into him, moaning in relief.
“I still need to take care of the scratches on you and Clay,” Dane said, his voice gravelly.
“Don’t worry about us right now,” Baer admonished. “You can take care of us tomorrow.”
A weary laugh drifted from Dane. “You know I’ll sleep through tomorrow after this.”
“I think they just need peroxide and bandages,” Wiley offered. “I can help clean them up, and you can look them over.”
Dane conceded with a small nod, and Clay looked at Wiley with eyes full of silent gratitude.
“First aid kit?”
“Master bathroom under the sink,” Clay answered.
Wiley hurried out of the room and soon returned with the kit in hand. They doctored up the scratches and bites and against Clay’s wishes, Dane worked to heal a couple of bad ones. He was just too insistent. By the time he finished, he was barely able to move. Clay and Baer helped him into the master bedroom, tucking him into the bed. He was asleep before they even had a chance to leave the room.
Clay stared down at his boyfriend, concern pulling his brows together. “We might be asking too much of him. Can you imagine what it was like for us without a healer?”
“Now we know why we died so many times. We’re lucky to have him.”
“But is it too much? Are we hurting him?”
“Wiley said there are healing spells in the books.”
Clay nodded. “Yeah, Malek talked about a few that helped them. None did what Dane can do, though. But maybe if we use those along with him, it won’t take so much out of him. He’s a stubborn man.”
