He touched her arm.
“I am with you on this one,” Ethan said. “Lance and the council happily takes our funding, so the least they could do is accept that Jet is part of our family.”
She calmed down.
“Thank you, EJ.”
He simply nodded.
In that moment, he knew he had to rebuild that trust that he’d lost when he said he didn’t have faith in her. She was the Raven, the matriarch of their family.
Leader trumped Shaman, and he knew it.
If backing down was what it took to cement their family back together again, that was exactly what he was doing.
There was silence as they watched as she headed toward Jet and crouched down.
“I got you, Boo. You’re getting the fucking nicest plot of land I can find for you. Then, I’ll be with you. You guys aren’t armor. You’re our family, and you’ll be treated as such. I promise.”
Ethan touched her shoulder, and she looked up, fully expecting him to argue.
“Can I be with you too?” he asked. “I want to be with my family, not the land that spawned me.”
She softened.
“Of course.”
Callen brushed some of her dark curls from her face.
“I call bottom,” he said. “I want to check out your ass above me.”
That chilled the mood out.
So much so, that she actually laughed.
Oh, it wasn’t a full laugh, but it was a little one, regardless.
“Do I have to remind you that we’re being cremated?” she asked. “I don’t want some nutter pissing on my grave when I’m gone.”
Callen helped her stand up, and he hugged her. Ethan hugged her too. They trapped her between them and gave her a minute to steal their strength.
That was all they could give her at that moment, and knowing Elizabeth, this was all a show.
For.
Them.
She held on, breathing in the scent of mates, and it helped stabilize her. There was the spicy scent of Ethan’s bodywash, and the cool-water smell of Callen’s cologne.
When she was stable, she set them free.
“Do I need to say we’re handling Vivian’s burial?” she asked.
Callen shook his head.
“We already are on it. We haven’t done a notify, simply so he doesn’t hear that he’s hit the target. We can’t risk it.”
Well, that was good. The last thing she wanted was Devon to know he’d taken another life. The less he knew, the more that would rattle him.
