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“Are you sure your sister is safe there?” Mason asks, the first question to come up the second I’m done talking. He glances at his own brother briefly.
I nibble at my bottom lip. “I think so. She hasn’t had her first shift yet, so it’s not like Jakob could expect her to take my place. And I think the whole pack would rally against anyone who tried to take her.”
“You don’t think they would have done that for you too?” Willem frowns. He’s been deep in thought the whole time I’ve been speaking, his forehead creased.
I shrug uncomfortably. I don’t know how to admit to the fear that maybe they wouldn’t. That there was a possibility I could spend my whole adult life giving parts of myself to my pack just for them to sacrifice me the way my mother had been willing to do.
I know the pack’s feelings about mate bonds. They’re sacred, only meant to be broken in extreme circumstances.
I can’t imagine a scenario where the pack would approve of me rejecting my mate on the spot the way I did. And as the anticipated future Luna of Cupid’s Pack, rejecting a mate is unfathomable.
There’sneverbeen an unmated Luna in our pack.
“Let’s not worry about that right now,” Mason says, saving me from having to voice any of my worries about my pack aloud. “The only thing we need to worry about is what happens right now. We obviously can’t stay here.”
“I have a place,” Ian speaks up. Mason looks uncertain, but Ian’s voice is as firm as I’ve heard it yet. “Mason and I were raised in two different packs; I’ve been living with our father and stepmother. I’m not sure they’ll like the circumstances, but they swore I was welcome back home no matter what. We can go there for a few days, at least.”
I try to wrap my mind around Mason and Ian living separately, but I don’t quite understand it. Why? And how? Now’s not the time to ask those kinds of questions, but curiosity burns me up inside.
“Would you be okay with that?” Willem asks Mason before I get the chance to. My heart melts a little more, and I get the briefest flash of a future where this works out with all three of them.
Mason’s face is so sour he looks like he’s sucked on a lemon. “I haven’t spoken to our father in years,” he croaks out in a hoarse tone.
“There are other options,” I announce. I don’t want to make Mason uncomfortable like this. I’m sure there’s a pack somewhere that owes me a favor and will answer to me over my mom. I just have tothink.
“No.” Mason blows out a harsh breath as he straightens, shoulders setting in a determined line. “Ian is right. Our father’s pack is well hidden in the Appalachian Mountains and mostly off-the-grid. Even if we’re tracked there, it’ll take a few days to even pick their way safely to us. It’ll buy us enough time to regroup and decide what comes next.”
“Mason…” My heart aches for him; I can tell it's an offer he doesn’t make lightly.
“I can do this for you, Quinn, but there’s something I want in return.” He crosses his arms over his chest and clenches his jaw as if it’s a big ask, and that makes my heart race.
“Anything,” I breathe.
“No one exchanges a mate mark without a conversation first.” He scowls around the circle at the other three of us. “Our parents didn’t give us a say before they split us up.” His voice cracks. “I won’t live with someone else’s choices like that again. I want to have a say.” He clenches his jaw again, so hard I can hear his teeth grinding against each other.
I breathe a sigh of relief. “That’s a given. I won’t be marked by someone I barely know.” I raise an eyebrow and meet each of their eyes in turn. I need them to understand this is non-negotiable for me as well.
No one protests.
“I have one request too.” Ian sits up straighter, his eyes pinging between Mason and I. “We need to send a message to your sister that you’re safe. You don’t know what it’s like to wonder about your family like that.”
“I’m hardly going to argue that,” I murmur with a soft laugh.
The only one who hasn’t asked for anything is Willem, and the twins and I seem to realize that at the same time. We all turn our gazes to him, and he shuffles uncomfortably in his seat against our stares. He laughs, a wobble in the sound giving away his nerves. “I’m included in the plan, right? You’re not just borrowing my cabin to talk?” He looks a little green.
Mason snorts.
I push off the couch and practically throw myself into his lap. I wrap my arms tightly around this poor man who’s clearly terrified he’s going to be left behind. He wormed his way into my heart pretty much from the instant he tripped into my life a few hours ago—he doesn’t have anything more to worry about than the rest of us.
Maybe it’s the fact that he clearly needs someone, and I like being needed. But there’s nothing in the world that would make me leave him out. Nothing about him makes me think he could be untrustworthy, and while I might be a little hesitant to trust my gut, my best choice right now is to go with it.
At such close range, I know Mason and Ian’s shifter hearing will hear me no matter how low I talk. Still, I lean in and speak directly into Willem’s ear, wanting him to know my words are all for him.
He relaxes as I whisper, “You go where I go from now on. Promise.”
ELEVEN
IAN
