“I highly doubt it.Just stay behind me.”
Madeleine didn’t look impressed.“You don’t think I can defend myself?”
“I know you can defend yourself.I’m afraid for that woman, not for you.”
Madeleine snorted, but before she could say anything else, the woman was in front of them.She was so angry that her hand shook as she raised her finger to point at them.“You’re ruining our pack,” she snapped.
At least she didn’t look like she was about to physically attack them.
“Are we?”Madeleine asked in a sickly-sweet tone.“Because from what I can see, nothing’s been ruined.”
“You’re going to take us down with you.You’re going to destroy this pack.“
“Oh?I didn’t realize I had that kind of power.”She turned to Ryan.“Do I?”
Ryan wanted to tell her not to make things worse with her attitude, but he understood where she was coming from.He had enough of being confronted by people who hated him just because of what he was.He didn’t have a choice about being a mage any more than this woman had a choice about being a shifter.
Why was she and the rest of the pack holding that against him and his people?Why couldn’t they see that they were here because they didn’t have a choice?
“You’re making us a target,” the woman continued.“Your coven is going to want you back, and they’ll attack us to get to you.So yes, youdohave the power to destroy us.”
Ryan winced.Okay, maybe she had a point.
From the glance he exchanged with his sister, he could tell that Madeleine felt the same, and probably slightly guilty.She didn’t let it show, though.She squared her shoulders and faced the woman head-on.“Well, I’m sorry, but I’d do it again if I had to.I was saving my family, and I don’t regret it.”
Neither did Ryan, but he wasn’t sure it had been the right thing to tell this lady.
* * * *
“INEED YOU TO STOPthinking about the coven,” Theo said as he walked Seth out.
Seth frowned.“Why would I stop thinking about the coven?If anything, I need tocontinuethinking about it.”
“No, you don’t.It’s not your job.”
“Who cares if it’s not my job.I care about the pack and the people who live here.Of course I’m going to worry.”
To be honest, Seth cared abouthispack, and they all lived here.He also didn’t want anything to happen to the people who’d welcomed them.Some pack members were assholes, but others were sweet and nice and didn’t have anything to say about Seth’s family and their presence here.
“All right, then.I don’t want you to stop thinking about the coven, but I do want you to start focusing on something else.”
Seth rolled his eyes.“You meansomeoneelse.”
Theo beamed.“Yes, I do.”
“You just can’t take not being able to meddle, can you?”
“I’m not meddling.”
“Looks like meddling to me.”
“I’m gently pushing you in the right direction.”
“You don’t know if Ryan is the right direction.”
“And you don’t know that he’s not.”Theo sighed.“I thought we’d already gone through this.You need to let someone in.I don’t care if it’s Ryan or someone else, but you’re not an island, Seth.You deserve to be loved and cherished, and while I know it’s hard for you to trust people, I also know that you can do it.You have so much love to give.”
He didn’t mention their parents again, but he didn’t have to.Their presence hovered over them, even though it had been years since they’d last seen them.
